For Harry Evans, the starting point of any SEO strategy isn’t a keyword — it’s the audience. In July 2023 he co-founded TwelveTwentyFive alongside Brendan Gilbert to build an agency around exactly that idea: an audience-first approach to growth marketing. In this Unscripted SEO conversation with Mark A Preston, Harry explains what that philosophy means in practice and how it reframes the entire craft of search.
It involves understanding and prioritising the needs and behaviours of the target audience to guide marketing strategies, ensuring content and outreach efforts resonate more effectively.
Harry Evans
From there Harry walks through how modern SEO has outgrown pure keyword optimisation into a more holistic discipline — one that blends creative content, new formats like short-form video, and a close read of how people actually engage. He is pragmatic about integrating new platforms only where they fit the audience, insistent that direct communication with clients and their customers is what surfaces the real strategy, and clear that user experience and mobile performance now sit at the heart of rankings. Underpinning all of it is data.
Analytics provide insights into audience behaviour, enabling data-driven decisions to optimise content and outreach efforts for better results.
Harry Evans
Watch the interview
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The full conversation
What is audience-first growth marketing?
It involves understanding and prioritising the needs and behaviours of the target audience to guide marketing strategies, ensuring content and outreach efforts resonate more effectively.
How has SEO evolved from traditional tactics?
SEO now encompasses a more holistic approach, integrating creative content strategies and understanding audience engagement patterns beyond mere keyword optimisation.
What’s the significance of direct communication with clients and their customers?
It allows for a deeper understanding of their needs, enabling the creation of tailored strategies that address specific challenges and opportunities.
How do new technologies impact content consumption?
They necessitate adapting strategies to include varied content forms, like short-form videos, to meet audience preferences across different platforms.
How do you integrate new platforms into an existing marketing strategy?
It involves evaluating the platform’s alignment with the audience’s preferences and gradually incorporating relevant content types to maintain engagement.
What role does analytics play in shaping marketing strategies?
Analytics provide insights into audience behaviour, enabling data-driven decisions to optimise content and outreach efforts for better results.
Can traditional SEO techniques still be effective in today’s digital landscape?
While foundational, traditional SEO needs to be complemented with innovative approaches to remain effective amidst evolving search algorithms and user expectations.
How does user experience impact SEO?
User experience is crucial as it affects engagement metrics and user satisfaction, which are important factors for search engine rankings.
What’s the future of voice search in SEO?
Voice search is becoming more prevalent, necessitating optimisation for conversational queries and local search terms.
How important is mobile optimisation for websites today?
It’s essential, given the increasing use of mobile devices for internet access, impacting both user experience and search rankings.
Connect with Harry Evans
- Agency: TwelveTwentyFive
- LinkedIn: /in/h-evans
More from the Unscripted SEO Podcast
- Adrian Nikolov on Organic Growth Engineering
- Patrick Stox on Building in the GEO Era
- Kevin Indig on Becoming a Fortune 500 Growth Advisor
Turn conversations like this into rankings
The Unscripted SEO Podcast is produced by SEO Arcade. If you want expert interviews working as an SEO and link-building engine for your brand, explore podcast-powered link building or book a call with Jeremy Rivera.
