James Richardson Author page
James Richardson
Co-Founder, Optimising - Melbourne, Australia
James Richardson co-founded Optimising in 2008 with Daniel Zuccon. He's spent close to two decades helping Australian brands get found online, first on Google, and now across the AI tools people use before they ever reach a search results page.
Optimising does one thing. SEO, and the AI search work that now sits alongside it. No paid media, no bolt-on services, no distractions. James built the agency he actually wanted to work at, and 18 years later that focus hasn't shifted.
What James works on
Most weeks James is doing three things: pitching search strategy to national brands, working with partner agencies on shared projects, and getting into client work himself. Technical audits, migration planning, AI visibility reporting. He's still on the tools more than most agency founders his age would admit to.
His current obsession is measurement. Not the "AI is coming" think pieces, but the harder question underneath them: how do you actually prove a brand is showing up in ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews, and what do you do about it when it isn't?
Areas of expertise
- Technical SEO and site architecture
- Platform migrations, including Magento to Shopify, Commercetools and headless builds
- AI search visibility and generative engine optimisation (GEO)
- Ecommerce SEO (Optimising is a Shopify Plus Partner)
- Franchise and multi-location SEO
- Search strategy for enterprise and national brands
Selected work
James has worked on search programs for some of Australia's best-known brands, including Chemist Warehouse, adidas APAC, Nando's, Forever New and Jim's Group. That work has ranged from franchise-wide local search across hundreds of locations through to multi-market platform migrations where the downside risk runs into millions of dollars of organic revenue.
Writing and commentary
James writes and speaks regularly on AI search, search measurement and the business of running an agency. His commentary has appeared in AdNews, Mediaweek and SmartCompany, and he publishes research and analysis on the Optimising blog.
He's also a vocal critic of the standard of SEO work in Australia. It's an unregulated industry with almost no barrier to entry, and he'd like to see that change.
Some recent mentions:
- Adnews: We ran the numbers on whether AI visibility makes you money (29/07/2026)
- Mediaweek: "AI visibility is the new keyword ranking: a number you can win while losing" (29/06/2026)
- Adnews: "Your agency told you they do AI search. Ask them to prove it" (3/05/2026)
- Inside Small Business - "To AI or not to AI?"
- SmartCompany - "ChatGPT drives 90% of AI website visits in Australia, but converts worse than Perplexity, Gemini"
- B&T - "Shopify Plus Team Up With Optimising To Reach Greater SEO Results"
- AdNews -"Industry Profile: James Richardson at Optimising"
- AdNews - "SEO agency Optimising commits to environmental support"
- Mumbrella - "Optimising joins forces with 1% for the Planet to further environmental commitment"
- Mediaweek - "Optimising partners with Shopify Plus as preferred SEO partner”
Beyond Optimising
Optimising became B Corp certified in 2021 and is a member of 1% for the Planet. That was James and Daniel putting the business behind something they'd been saying for years: purpose over profit, and proof rather than a values page.
Outside work, James is usually on the basketball court or the golf course, tinkering with a side project, or being comprehensively out-negotiated by his three daughters.
Elsewhere
Want to talk search?
Whether it's a migration you can't afford to get wrong or your brand going missing in AI answers, James and the team are happy to have the conversation.
