It’s a frustrating reality for many small and medium-sized businesses. And while poor results can stem from any number of internal or external factors, there’s often a common thread tying them all together:

There’s no clear, strategic plan for how to attract, engage, and convert prospects into paying customers.

Some small(er) businesses have something that resembles a plan, but it’s usually an improvised series of disconnected tactics. Rarely is it built with the psychology of customer decision-making in mind. Even when it is, execution tends to be rushed—focusing more on quick wins than long-term results.

It’s not always a lack of effort—it’s a lack of structure.

Most companies want fast sales, but they don’t realize that skipping the foundational steps of building trust and nurturing and marketing qualified leads is actually costing them more in the long run.

So what’s the fix?

It starts with understanding how people actually buy—and building a system that mirrors that customer journey.

That system is called a marketing funnel. And once you understand how it works, you’ll start to see that nearly every successful business follows the same proven framework for moving prospects from strangers to loyal customers.

In this post, we’ll break down:

• What a marketing funnel is (and isn’t)

• How the marketing funnel mirrors real-world customer behavior

• The types of content and tactics that work best at each stage

• How to build a scalable marketing funnel that drives consistent, qualified leads

Let’s get into it.

What is a Marketing Funnel?

Let’s begin with the basics.

A traditional marketing funnel is essentially a visualization for understanding the processes that take place when a prospect turns into a customer (through a sales lens).

The basic gist is this: A prospect has no clue that your business exists. She then becomes aware of your business and its products, interest is sparked, she evaluates whether she likes your products (in the context of other marketplace options), decides to make a purchase, and ultimately follows through by exchanging money in return for what you’re offering.

It’s called a marketing funnel because of how the number of leads ultimately gets smaller and smaller until only the most qualified are left.

You might have a pool of 15,000 people who are aware of your product, but only 10,000 of them are interested.

Out of this group, just 7,500 take the time and effort to evaluate your product. In other words, they make it down through the bottom of the marketing funnel.

And of these, 4,000 make a purchase.

The marketing and sales funnel is a customer journey that moves prospects through a sensical step-by-step process that weeds out the disqualified and disinterested, while nurturing those who are interested and likely to become paying customers. (In this sense, it’s an efficient process for both parties.)

While this sounds super formal and rigid, a good marketing funnel is invisible to your prospects.

To them, it’s all engagement.

It starts slow and surface-level and begins moving faster into a more detailed and refined direction. Before they know it, they’re sliding down your well-oiled marketing funnel – ready to open up their wallets and purchase what you’re offering.

The 5 Stages of the Sales Funnel

Every marketing and sales funnel has its own nuances and steps, but they all follow five basic stages. That’s because all human psychology is basically the same. People might seem different – and in many regards they are – but customers tend to act in predictable and repeatable ways. Thus dividing the sales funnel into five clean stages serves as an effective way to standardize the process.

We’ll discuss specific ways to target customers in each of these stages with high-converting content in the next section. For now, let’s get a clear understanding of what’s happening in each of them (from the perspective of the customer).

Stage 1: Problem/Need Recognition

It’s during this first stage that people become aware of the fact that they have a problem. This is the top of the marketing funnel. (Prior to this point, an individual isn’t actually in your marketing funnel to begin with. They have no issue, so there’s nothing you can do for them.)

Examples of customers entering into the problem or need recognition stage include:

• A homeowner’s AC stops working in the dead of summer and he suddenly realizes that he needs something fixed or replaced in his system.
• A busy mom hops in her van in the morning to carpool her kids to school and it won’t start. She clearly has a problem and a need.
• A freelancer gets fed up overpaying on his taxes. He figures there must be a better way, but he doesn’t know what that is.
• A college student is frustrated by the poor picture quality of his TV and begins wondering if there are better TVs on the market that are within his budget.

There’s no active searching going on in this phase. Customers in this phase are just realizing they have an issue or need. They’re on the front end of the process.

Stage 2: Information Search

While some people will live with a problem or need for days, weeks, months, or even years before taking action, most will seek to alleviate or solve it as quickly as possible. This leads them into the information search stage. This phase puts the user higher in the top of the marketing funnel.

During the information search stage, prospects gather information, explore the products and solutions that exist, gather information about different companies, get prices, ask questions, read reviews, browse Google, etc. This is also the phase where many would-be marketers tend to find and focus on vanity metrics and not conversions, which happen later. While top-of-the-marketing-funnel metrics can prove helpful to later success, they are not success in and of themselves alone.

Depending on a prospect’s personality and the severity of the problem or need, this information search can be fast (minutes) or extensive (months). Using our four examples above, here’s what the information stage might look like:

• The homeowner Googles possible problems that could be causing his AC unit to not work properly. He reads various online forums, watches a couple of YouTube videos, and even calls a handy friend to ask questions.
• The busy mom puts out a Facebook post asking her friends for advice on what to do when a Honda van won’t start.
• The freelancer visits a few freelancer message boards and Reddit pages to figure out how much most of his peers are paying in taxes, how they get their taxes filed, and what their recommendations are.
• The college student heads over to a couple of major ecommerce sites and searches for TVs that fit his parameters (screen size, technology, brand, and price range).

These information searches ultimately lead the customer to different companies and professionals

Stage 3: Evaluation of Alternatives

Now a customer is really in the thick of it. They’ve identified that they have a problem and they’ve researched the products and services that exist to solve their problem or smooth over their various points of friction. It’s at this point in the game that multiple options are compared and evaluated against one another.

The evaluation phase is often the most time-consuming – particularly if there are divergent choices and/or the customer is indecisive.

The lower the price point and/or less important the outcome, the faster a prospect moves from stage three to stage four. For example, choosing between Chick-fil-a and Subway for lunch takes just a couple of minutes.

The higher the price point and/or more important the outcome, the longer it takes for a prospect to move from stage three to stage four. For example, choosing the right type of setup for an aging parent (assisted living, nursing home, in-home health aide, etc.) could take months.

Using our illustrations:

• The homeowner considers whether he should have an HVAC technician come in and repair his AC unit at a cost of $750 or go ahead and spend $4,500 to replace the unit with warranties that will cover any future breakdowns.
• The busy mom decides whether to jump her car herself, call a mechanic to come start her battery, or replace her battery. And if she’s going to replace her battery, she figures out the best type of battery that fits within her budget.
• The freelancer decides between DIY tax filing with a software like TurboTax and switching accountants. (If going the latter route, he makes a list of three accountants in the area and compares each of them.)
• The college student makes a spreadsheet with four of his favorite TV options and compares features and prices from different retailers.

Every prospect is different, but this gives you an idea of how they think when solving problems. There’s rarely one choice. There’s almost always two or more options (and sometimes dozens).

Stage 4: Purchase Decision

Your prospect has successfully entered stage four of the marketing funnel. And this is where a purchase decision is made.

The purchase decision is the natural result of the three stages that precede it. At this phase of the game, a customer is ready to pull out the wallet and swipe the plastic.

Think of this stage like a football field. You’ve already marched 99 yards down the field. Now it’s first and goal from the one-inch line. While it’s technically possible that you don’t score, all you need to do is push the football over the line. A little more effort and no major mistakes (fumble) is all it takes.

Back to our illustrations:

• The homeowner calls up the preferred HVAC company and asks one final question to clarify something about payment or scheduling.
• The busy mom contacts a local mechanic and inquires about how to schedule someone to come out and replace her battery.
• The freelancer decides to go with TurboTax and visits the website to complete the purchase.
• The college student picks a TV model and goes to Amazon to click the “add to cart” button.

At this stage, the customer is looking to finalize the decision in a purchase. However, they have an expectation that everything will go smoothly. Any unforeseen friction can push the customer back into stage three.

Stage 5: Post Purchase Behavior

After making a purchase, the customer wants to know that they’ve made the right decision. And if they have made the right decision, they’ll want to tell people about it. (The same goes if they feel regret about their purchase decision.)

Here are some examples of what could happen:

• The homeowner is thrilled with the service provided by the HVAC company and posts a positive Google Review.
• The busy mom feels like she got ripped off by the mechanic and tells all of her friends to stay away from the company.
• The freelancer ends up saving a small amount of money with TurboTax. He researchers other options and finds that he can upgrade to a premium product and possibly save 10 percent more on his taxes next year.
• The college student loves his TV so much that, after graduation, he purchases another one (this time bigger!) for his first house.

Again, there are so many different options here. But this should give you a basic idea of what’s happening after purchase and why it matters so much.

Most importantly, add a customer retention strategy to your marketing funnel.

As the data clearly shows, acquiring a customer is far more costly than retaining one.

Learn the art of customer retention for your digital marketing funnel!

Creating High-Conversion Content for Each Step of the Marketing Funnel

Okay, now that we have a clear handle on what the marketing funnel looks like and how people move from awareness of a problem to a purchase decision, let’s explore the role of content in this process.

In other words, how can you create high-converting content that greases the marketing funnel, addresses prospects at each stage, and ultimately pushes them further and further down until they make a purchase?

Here’s a closer look.

Stage 1 Content (Problem/Need Recognition)

The most effective marketing campaigns use content to make people aware of their problem and help them see that they have a need.

Common content options in this stage are articles, digital advertising campaigns, webinars, podcasts, and paid search leading to landing pages.

As tempting as it may be to shove your product down a prospect’s throat or go in for a quick sale, this stage is all about laying the groundwork. You are helping them see that they have a problem or reassuring them that their need is a valid one.

Stage 2 Content (Information Search)

In stage two, the prospect is interested in finding a solution and actively working toward finding information to assist in solving the problem they face.

Good content options include website content, social media posts, blogs, newsletters, and targeted email campaigns.

Guest blog posts are especially helpful during this stage (as well as the next one). They’re seen as unbiased and helpful. Webinars are great because they’re able to go in-depth and build trust. Get creative!

Stage 3 Content (Evaluation of Alternatives)

At this stage of the game, a prospect has some information. They’ve become a mini “expert” on the topic and are ready to evaluate all of the options and alternatives.

Your content should center on establishing your product or solution as the best. You can do this in a positive way (amplifying your brand and using social proof to explain why you’re the best), or in a less positive way (explaining why the competition can’t match up and/or why alternative options are a mistake).

Content commonly used in this phase include white papers, ebooks, brochures, and PDF guides.

Stage 4 Content (Purchase Decision)

It’s purchase time. If you’ll remember from our previous discussion on stage four of the marketing funnel, you’re on the one yard line. All you need is one final push. Don’t mess it up!

Good content for this stage is safe and encouraging. The more specific you can be, the better. We’re talking about case studies, testimonials, data sheets, etc. You want to remind the prospect why they’ve decided to purchase from you.

Stage 5 Content (Post Purchase Behavior)

We’re not going to spend much time discussing stage five, but this is still an important one – particularly for subscription-based businesses and other brands that rely on repeat purchases.

During this phase, the goal is to wow customers, reassure them that they made the right choice, and attempt to upsell or cross-sell.

If you have an email list, this is a good time to slow drip them with the occasional social proof or case study that shows other customers are enjoying the products as well. You want to reassure them and encourage them to purchase again in the future.

If you have some sort of tiered business model with a low-price, mid-price, and premium-price, the objective is to move them up the tiers until they become the most profitable customer they can be.

Test Absolutely Everything

This is a basic overview of what a digital marketing funnel looks like and how the right content moves people to action. But it’s important to remember that every business and target audience has its nuances. This is why testing is so valuable.

Once you get your marketing funnel in place, the real work begins.

You need to isolate the key elements in each stage and test how they’re performing in order that you can optimize and iterate.

Here are a few thoughts and ideas to get you moving:

• Create Conversion Funnels on Google Analytics. If you really want to be successful with digital marketing funnels and content marketing strategy, take some time to learn the ins and outs of Google Analytics. It’ll take you a weekend to get the basics down and you’ll see tremendous fruit from the investment of time. Using your knowledge of Google Analytics, set up a “Goal Funnel” to track where users are abandoning your conversion funnel. You can refine your approach based on this data.
• Carefully Analyze and Optimize Landing Pages. Your landing page plays a key role in moving people from one stage of the marketing funnel to the next. Always analyze and optimize landing pages. (This includes elements like headlines, copy, color, font size, and purchase path.) You can use A/B testing to figure out the best combinations.
• Refine Your CTAs. How are you moving people through the marketing funnel? What calls-to-action are you using? How can you improve them to get better results?
• Analyze and Optimize Sign Up Forms. Sign-up forms are very important. They often mean the difference between losing someone at stage one of the marketing funnel and seeing them through to stage five. Study best practices, track what your data, and optimize until you reach your benchmarks.
• Test Out Different Trust Signals. Trust signals are valuable – particularly in the later stages of your marketing funnel. At a bare minimum, you need to incorporate and test guarantees, authoritative logos, and reviews/ratings.

You can’t set a digital marketing funnel and forget it. Testing is where the magic happens. Don’t be frustrated if your first crack at developing a marketing funnel produces minimal results.

Through regular testing optimization, and iteration, you’ll eventually get to where you need to be.

Scale Your Organic Traffic With the Highest Quality Content and Links

Marketing can look complex when you view it from the outside looking in. But once you get up close and personal – breaking it down into digestible bits, processes, and marketing funnel stages – it becomes much more approachable.

The hope is that this article has pushed air under your wings. That you feel empowered to tackle marketing in an effective capacity – once and for all.

But we also understand that you may not have the time or internal resources to handle all of it on your own. And that’s totally fine, as well.

At SEO.co, it’s our aim to help you with some of the heavy lifting.

As your SEO company we want to assist you in pushing prospects from the awareness stage all the way through the marketing funnel and into the sales stage of your customer journey.

We do this by scaling organic traffic with the highest quality content and links on the web.

We even perform these services for other agencies with our white label SEO program.

Want to learn more about our content writing and link building services?

If you need the most advanced, up-to-date and effective digital marketing tactics to take potential customers into repeat customers that love your product, our marketing and sales teams can help!

We’d love to hear from you on your goals and digital marketing strategy – contact us today!

The post Digital Marketing Funnels: How They Work and How to Optimize for Maximum Revenue appeared first on SEO Agency.

Their AI SEO agency promises they’ll outrank you in Google faster than you can say “OpenAI.”

They are also promising top rankings in LLM responses.

Should you panic?

Not yet—but maybe grab some popcorn.

In the marketing world, every few years we get a shiny new toy that promises to “change everything.”

Right now, that toy is AI.

And while artificial intelligence has real potential in search engine optimization, the industry’s current obsession with fully automated “AI SEO” tactics smells less like innovation and more like the 21st-century version of snake oil.

Let’s break down why.

SEO Has Always Had a Snake Oil Problem

First, some history.

SEO has never been short on schemes and scams that promise effortless rankings.

• Remember keyword stuffing?

• Or article spinning?

• How about private blog networks (PBNs) that linked everything and everyone together like a bad MLM?

Each tactic started as a loophole, got overused, and was eventually crushed by a Google update.

Yet each one was sold with confidence by self-proclaimed “experts” to unsuspecting businesses.

Now, we’ve entered the AI era—and wouldn’t you know it, the same old pitch has returned: “Just push this button, and boom—rankings.”

Or, promising an LLM chat output as if the AI SEO agency could control the model itself!

What AI SEO Is (And What It’s Definitely Not)

Let’s be fair. AI can be incredibly useful in SEO—when applied thoughtfully.

Ranking in LLM (large language models) results can be hugely beneficial. For instance, we have started to track our lead flow coming from ChatGPT and others and the uptick is promising!

Here’s what real AI SEO looks like:

• Natural language processing to analyze SERPs and user intent

• Machine learning models that cluster keywords into intelligent content silos

• Predictive analytics for link acquisition strategies

• Algorithmic site audits and technical fixes

• Ranking in results from LLMs as either a brand mention or a direct link to your company website

But most of what’s being sold as “AI SEO” today? It’s just:

• Mass-generating blog content with ChatGPT

• Plugging that content into your CMS without edits

• Adding AI-written meta descriptions that read like a toaster instruction manual

• Promises of LLM rankings with “new and improved AI SEO tactics”

• Repeating the above until Google deindexes your site (albeit slowly)

Spoiler alert: Google’s Helpful Content Update was specifically built to sniff out that kind of junk and traditional SEO tactics like entity and semantic optimizations are the same things that will get your ranking in AI mode and ChatGPT as it will in the traditional “10 blue links”.

The Problem With AI-First SEO Tactics

The real issue isn’t the tools—it’s the over-reliance on them. Here’s what happens when marketers treat AI as the strategy, not just a supplement:

1. Loss of Brand Voice

AI-generated content has the personality of soggy cardboard. You lose nuance, tone, and trust when your “thought leadership” reads like it came from a 2005 instruction manual.

2. Topical Authority Dilution

AI can write 100 blog posts on random topics. But if they’re not part of a strategic content cluster? You’re just spamming the web.

3. Google Will Catch On

Actually, they already have. With the rollout of SGE (Search Generative Experience), AI Overviews and now AI Mode, Google’s getting better at surfacing original, helpful content—while burying regurgitated AI fluff.

4. LLMs Can’t Be Manipulated As Much as an AI SEO Might Promise

We’ll use the following ChatGPT response to “What is the best SEO agency” as an example:

The problem here is that this is a personalized result tailored to me (results will vary depending on how you have previously interacted with the particular LLM).

Second, LLMs run off many of the same signals traditional search algorithms do including things like semantic and entity weights and even traditional link building.

There are some pretty stark differences, however. This is one of the reasons we launched LLM.co (among others), but I digress.

5. Strategy Becomes an Afterthought

If your SEO “strategy” is just uploading 10,000 AI blogs and praying for backlinks, you don’t have a strategy.

You have an automated mess ready for a Google penalty.

Spotting AI Snake Oil: Red Flags to Watch

If you’re considering hiring an “AI SEO” provider, here’s your checklist of flashing red lights:

• “We’ll rank you in AI Mode and LLMs in 30 days!” (No, they won’t.)

• “1,000 articles per month!” (Are they legible? Will they pass an “AI content” scan?)

• No mention of backlinks, technical SEO, or on-page audits (How do you think LLMs determine rank in their algorithm?)

• Proprietary AI that’s a total black box (aka ChatGPT with a new logo or running on an API key)

• No human editorial review process

• No mention of content lifecycle, branding, or user experience

If it sounds too good to be true—it’s probably snake oil in a SaaS wrapper.

So, What Does a Smart AI-Enabled SEO Strategy Look Like?

AI should enhance, not replace, your SEO strategy.

Here’s how pros are doing it right:

Use AI for:

• Keyword research and semantic clustering

• SERP and competitor analysis

• Drafting content briefs and content outlines, not final content

• Analyzing data trends and user behavior at scale

Keep humans in the loop for:

• Creating original thought leadership

• Editing for tone, voice, and flow

• Building backlinks through real relationships on real websites that have traffic

• Adding the right semantic context and entity keywords to disambiguate the content body

• Mapping user journeys and conversion flows

It’s not AI vs. humans.

It’s AI plus humans—at least if you want to rank and retain your brand credibility.

How to Vet an AI SEO Provider (Your Own Frequently Asked Questions)

Before you sign that contract, ask:

• “Where does the AI stop and the humans begin?”

• “Can you show me real case studies—rankings, traffic, conversions?”

• “How do you ensure the content is unique and brand-aligned?”

• “How does your strategy adapt to Google’s/ChatGPT’s/Perplexity’s algorithm changes?”

• “Tell me about ‘corpus injection,’ ‘synthetic anchor creation,’ and ‘LLM fine tuning’?”

• “What does your editorial process look like?”

• “If I scan your content with the likes of Originality.ai or ZeroGPT will it get flagged as ‘AI content’?”

If the answers feel vague, fluffy, or automated—you know what to do.

Don’t Drink the Kool-AI-d

Did you pick up on my pun there? 

The future of SEO absolutely includes AI, including AI rankings and mentions.

But don’t mistake AI SEO tools for AI SEO strategy, or you’ll end up with a bloated content graveyard and zero organic traction.

The AI SEO agencies promising overnight rankings through AI alone?

They’re selling digital snake oil in a fancy bottle.

Don’t fall for the hype.

Look for expertise, transparency, and a healthy mix of tech and human insight.

Because in SEO—as in life—there are no shortcuts worth taking.

As AI proliferates, we have found that following our local SEO checklist provides more wins for businesses that still want to dominate, but can’t seem to get above and/or compete with national brands.

That’s where we can help! Contact us today!

The post AI SEO is the Marketing Industry’s Latest Snake Oil Tactic appeared first on SEO Agency.

Stop stealing my work to build your AI robots.

Every word I write, every article I publish, every idea I share online is mine. I never gave you permission to scrape it, copy it, and feed it into Gemini so it can spit my words back at people — while cutting me out of the loop.

If I copied your search index, your code, or your internal data, you’d sue me into oblivion.

But when you take my content?

You call it “innovation.” That’s not innovation.

That’s exploitation.

And it’s not just about me. It’s about every small business owner, journalist, artist, teacher, or creator who puts time, energy, and money into publishing something worth reading.

Every time your AI answers a question without sending someone to my site, that’s a paycheck stolen from my pocket.

I continue to see ideas, concepts, and copy showing up in AI overviews that were originated by creators who rely on their creativity to feed their families.

You’re not just hurting creators. You’re hollowing out the web itself.

The era of AI slop is here.

If you keep strip-mining the internet without giving back, there won’t be anything left to train on. Your AI will be trained on recycled garbage because you’ve killed the incentive to create anything new.

Here’s what I’m asking — no, demanding:

• Stop using content without consent.

• Give creators a real opt-in or opt-out.

• Compensate the people whose work makes your AI possible.

You pay billions for sports rights, music licenses, and ad distribution. You can pay creators too.

And to every other publisher, creator, and business out there: this isn’t just my fight. It’s yours. If you publish online, your work is being taken too.

Dear Google: Train your AI on your own content. Leave mine alone.

Sincerely,

Nate

The post Dear Google: Stop Training Your AI with My Content appeared first on SEO Agency.

It’s SEO multiplicity—an endless army of near-identical blog posts, guides, and “ultimate lists” that feel less like thought leadership and more like a copy of a copy of a copy.

The problem?

Each time content gets rehashed, it loses a little sharpness.

Facts get blurred.

Original insights disappear.

And before long, Google’s bots and human readers alike are rolling their eyes at yet another reheated plate of internet leftovers.

In Michael Keaton’s case, his “copies” became more mentally unstable and easier to recognize as unoriginal.

If you’re wondering why your rankings are flat, your bounce rates are high, and your “fresh” content isn’t moving the needle—it might be because you’re serving up a photocopy instead of the original photograph.

The Age of Infinite Content Replication

While artificial intelligence has made aspects of content marketing easier, it’s also contributing to an internet that has a multiplicity problem.

The Internet’s Echo Chamber

Once upon a time, people wrote things because they had something to say.

Now, half the web is just reworded versions of the other half.

And it’s only getting worse!

Search any common SEO topic (SEO articles are some of the most regurgitated on the web) and you’ll find dozens of posts saying exactly the same thing, often in the same order, often even with the same stock photo.

The Rise of AI-Generated Content

AI has revolutionized efficiency—but also homogenization.

While it can help produce ideas and speed up drafting, AI also makes it easier for the mediocre middle to flood the market with “new” content that’s anything but.

In solving one problem, it fues an exacerbation of another: unhelpful noise.

Aggregation vs. Originality

Curating and summarizing information is useful—until it turns into regurgitation.

True aggregation should add perspective, context, or clarity.

Otherwise, it’s just copycat SEO.

And, unfortunately, the internet is becoming awash in it.

It’s one of the main reasons Google is deindexing so much content out of the SERPs.

The Problem with Multiplicity in SEO

Content velocity doesn’t matter like it used to.

Quality, uniqueness and query relevance matter more than ever, especially when everyone can create velocity on even a meager, local SEO budget of basically $0.

Duplicate Content Penalties & Misconceptions

Google doesn’t slap you with a “duplicate content penalty” for every repeated sentence, but it will choose the most authoritative or original version to rank—often ignoring the rest.

If your content isn’t quality enough to stand out, then you’re more likely

Content Decay from Repeated Rewording

Like playing telephone, every rewrite erodes meaning and accuracy.

By the fifth “spin,” facts get lost and nuance disappears.

Your content is also less likely to include ALL the right semantic words needed to differentiate and disambiguate your content.

Keyword Over-Optimization from Copy Culture

Recycling the same keyword-heavy phrasing over and over doesn’t just bore readers—it can make your site look spammy.

Semantic relevance trumps keyword stuffing for SEO.

Why True Originality Matters for Brand & Search Visibility

Purple Cow SEO matters now more than ever.

Here’s why.

Trust Erosion

Audiences can sniff out stale, regurgitated content.

Once they decide you’re just another SEO clone, you’ve lost them.

Reduced Authority

Google favors content with original research, personal expertise, or unique insights.

Multiplicity is the opposite of that.

Repeating stats (even if you appropriately reference/link to them), almost ensures you a spot below position 1.

Competitive Dilution

If every competitor says the same thing, none of you stand out—and rankings flatten out across the board.

This problem is particularly acute in red ocean industries like SEO and link building where ranking for competitive keywords is a bloodbath.

Avoiding the Multiplicity Trap

Newbies and non-experts will have a more difficult time producing content that fits into the quality, relevance and originality bucket.

Produce Content from First-Hand Experience

Case studies, proprietary data, and personal expertise can’t be copied.

They’re your unfair advantage.

This type of content is also some of the hardest to obtain because it takes real-world work and experience.

Develop a Content “Moat”

Brand voice, custom imagery, and deep niche knowledge are hard to replicate.

Your moat is directly related to point 1 above.

Develop a moat based on your own internal EEAT framework.

Invest in Thought Leadership

Commentary on trends, predictions, and hard-won lessons builds authority.

Stay abreast of changes in your industry and provide up-to-date, meaningful insight that adds lots of free value.

The content itself will be the hook to bring in readers and eventually clients.

Mix Up Your Formats

Podcasts, videos, webinars, interactive tools—these are far harder to clone than a blog post, especially when real humans are used in your videos and social posts.

Authenticity builds the authority and dwell-time you need to stand out.

Refreshing Instead of Replicating

We now spend way more time on updating old content than we do on producing anything new.

Content Pruning and Consolidation

If two posts overlap heavily, merge them into a stronger, more comprehensive page.

A content consolidation strategy can work well when executed according to SEO best-practices.

Updating vs. Cloning

Revise old posts with new stats, visuals, and angles instead of making a near-duplicate.

This strategy also solves the problem of Google having to choose which of your multiple posts should be indexed above another.

E-E-A-T Signals Through Content Evolution

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust grow when your content evolves instead of multiplying into thin, repetitive versions.

Originality as the Last SEO Advantage

• AI will make baseline content cheaper and more common.

• Real human insights will become rarer—and more valuable.

• Search engines will keep rewarding verifiable, unique contributions.

Other technologies will eventually help SEO agencies to structure fully agentic SEO workflows and mitigate the limitless barrage of AI-fluff that is being produced online.

Until then, search engines can still determine what content should outrank by on and off-site user signals.

Conclusion

In an era where ChatGPT can churn out 1,500 words in <2 minutes, originality isn’t just rare—it’s an endangered species.

And yet, that scarcity is exactly what gives it value.

You can keep pumping out regurgitated “best practices” like a content vending machine, but here’s the truth: Google doesn’t care about the fifth reworded version of “10 On-Page SEO Tips.”

Your readers don’t either.

The only thing a warmed-over copy gets you is a lukewarm audience.

So maybe it’s time to stop playing the “content catch-up” game and start leading.

Publish something no one else could write—because it’s based on your data, your insights, your scars from actually doing the work.

Let your competitors keep spinning each other’s words into semantic oatmeal while you serve steak.

Remember: in a sea of copies, the original is the one worth ranking.

Everything else is just noise.

Are you an SEO agency owner in need of white label SEO services? Contact us today!

The post SEO Multiplicity: When Copies Degenerate & Nothing is Original appeared first on SEO Agency.

The rise of artificial intelligence — especially in the form of autonomous AI agents — is quickly changing the rules of the SEO game.

We’re entering the era of Agentic SEO: where intelligent, automated agents can perform many of the core tasks that once required a full-time team (or an expensive SEO retainer).

These AI-powered assistants can crawl websites, optimize metadata, generate keyword-rich content, and even run backlink outreach campaigns — all with remarkable speed and increasingly impressive accuracy.

In fact, most of the copy I’ve seen from AI destroys the relentless link building spam we receive from India.

So what does this mean for your SEO agency or your business if you have an in-house team?

Is it time to ditch the human white label SEO entirely and let the robots take over?

• What are SEO agents? What can/can’t they do?
• What are the pros & cons of using AI SEO agents?
• What are the limitations of agentic SEO?

The Traditional SEO Agency Model

Before we dive into the rise of SEO agents, it’s worth revisiting how traditional SEO agencies have delivered value over the past two decades.

A typical SEO agency offers a combination of strategic consulting, technical execution, and creative production. These services are delivered by human specialists, often grouped into siloed teams. Here’s what that typically looks like:

Core Functions of an SEO Agency

• Technical SEO Audits: Manual site crawls, Core Web Vitals checks, indexing analysis, linkgraph audits and site architecture recommendations.

• Keyword Research: Identifying high-value keywords, search intent mapping, and topical clustering.

• Content Strategy & Optimization: Editorial calendar creation, content briefs, metadata updates, and on-page tuning.

• Content Creation: Human-written blog posts, service pages, and long-form guides tailored for brand tone and audience relevance.

• Link Building & Digital PR: Securing backlinks through relationship-based outreach, guest posting, and media placements.

• Analytics & Reporting: Custom dashboards, Google Analytics/GA4 setups, and performance reviews.

• Strategic Consulting: Ongoing prioritization of efforts, testing, A/B experiments, and long-term roadmap creation.

Why Agencies Have Worked Well for ALL of These Tasks (Until Now)

• Strategic Thinking: Humans understand nuance, business goals, and market context, particularly if an SEO is focused on a particular niche.

• Creative Judgment: SEO isn’t just technical — it’s emotional. Tone, voice, and brand integrity matter.

• Industry Expertise: Agencies build domain expertise across verticals (e.g. law firm SEO), applying proven playbooks.

• Relationship Capital: Digital PR and link building often rely on trust and real human relationships.

But despite the value agencies provide, much of their output is process-driven — and that’s exactly where AI agents are starting to gain ground.

Enter Agentic SEO: What Are SEO Agents?

In the world of AI, “agents” aren’t people — they’re autonomous software entities designed to complete specific tasks with minimal human oversight. When it comes to SEO, these AI agents are rapidly evolving into capable digital workers that can analyze, optimize, and even create — all on their own.

Agentic SEO refers to the growing ecosystem of AI-driven tools and systems that act independently (or semi-independently) to execute SEO-related functions.

These aren’t just glorified SEO checklists or dashboards.

They’re adaptive, learning systems that can take an input (like a URL or a keyword), assess a goal (e.g., improve rankings), and autonomously take action toward your desired outcome.

How SEO Agents Work

• Autonomous: They can make decisions based on data without human intervention. They keep learning and improving over time.

• Persistent: Many operate continuously in the background, monitoring and adjusting over time. They don’t take naps, sick days or vacations.

• Connected: They can interact with APIs, databases, CMS platforms, and other tools in your marketing stack.

• Generative: Leveraging LLMs, SEO agents can generate optimized content, titles, meta descriptions, and even backlink pitches.

Examples of Agentic SEO in Action

• Crawling & Technical Fixes: Agents that detect 404s, crawl issues, duplicate content, and auto-suggest (or auto-implement) fixes.

• Keyword Intelligence: LLM-powered keyword clusterers that group intent and recommend full content hierarchies.

• Content Generation: AI writing tools fine-tuned for SEO that can pump out optimized drafts in seconds.

• Link Outreach Bots: Autonomous agents that scrape sites for link opportunities and send templated (yet personalized) cold outreach.

• Analytics & Reporting: Real-time dashboards updated by AI agents summarizing performance, opportunities, and anomalies.

Agentic SEO doesn’t just promise speed — it promises scalability.

What once took a team (and 10+ SaaS products) of five can now be done (or at least initiated) by one person and a handful of intelligent agents working behind the scenes.

We’re using Bolt.New and N8N to replace many of our existing SaaS-stack.

But not all SEO tasks are created equal — and not all AI agents are created competent.

Task-by-Task Comparison: SEO Professionals vs. SEO Agents

To understand where AI agents truly shine — and where they still stumble — it’s helpful to compare their capabilities side-by-side with those of traditional SEO professionals.

While some tasks are already being executed faster and cheaper by intelligent systems, others still demand human strategy, creativity, or relationship capital.

Here’s a breakdown of the most common SEO activities and how they’re handled by both sides:

SEO Task	Human Agency	AI Agent	Current AI Capability
Keyword Research	Manual research, creative grouping, intent mapping	High-speed clustering, SERP analysis, long-tail discovery
Content Writing	Brand voice, storytelling, nuanced messaging	Fast generation of optimized drafts and outlines	(requires human polish)
Technical Audits	Custom insights, prioritization, manual crawling	Automated crawling, error flagging, Core Web Vitals checks
Link Building	Relationship-driven outreach, custom pitches	Email outreach bots, list scraping, cold templates	(limited quality control)
On-Page SEO	Manual optimization, A/B testing, brand alignment	Auto-suggestions, real-time meta updates
Reporting & Analytics	Customized insights, executive-level summaries	Auto-generated dashboards and trend alerts
Strategy	Big picture thinking, market adaptation, creative planning	Pattern-based insights, data summaries	(limited business context)

What This Tells Us

Just like the SEO industry, AI agents are already competitive — and in some cases superior — when it comes to high-volume, data-driven tasks like keyword research, technical SEO, and reporting.

They’re fast, tireless, and can scale in ways that no human team can match.

But when it comes to tasks requiring creative nuance, brand alignment, relationship building, and strategic vision, human professionals still have the edge.

For now.

Pros of Replacing Your SEO Agency with Agents

Swapping a human-led SEO agency for an agentic AI-powered stack may sound radical, but it comes with some undeniable advantages — especially for lean startups, tech-savvy teams, or organizations looking to cut costs without sacrificing output.

Here’s what’s driving the shift:

1. Lower Costs

AI agents don’t take salaries, benefits, vacations, or sick days.

While there’s still a cost to deploying, training, and maintaining them, it’s often a fraction of what agencies charge on a monthly retainer — especially for tasks that are process-heavy but low on strategic value.

2. Speed and Scalability

Need 200 keywords clustered?

Or 50 meta descriptions rewritten?

Or a site re-crawled for technical errors?

Agents can complete these tasks in minutes — not hours or days. For businesses operating at scale, speed = leverage.

3. 24/7 Productivity

Agents don’t sleep.

They don’t burn out.

They can continuously monitor your site, refresh content, and flag issues in real time.

This “always-on” capability provides a level of vigilance that no human team can match.

4. Consistency and Process Rigor

Humans make mistakes.

They skip steps, forget to log changes, or misinterpret data.

AI agents, when properly configured, follow instructions with robotic precision — ensuring that every piece of content is optimized, every link tracked, and every technical issue surfaced.

5. Easy Integration with Modern Marketing Stacks

Today’s AI agents can plug directly into your CMS, CRM, analytics tools, and project management systems — enabling near-seamless automation from content creation to performance tracking.

6. Democratization of SEO

Small businesses and solo marketers who could never afford a full-service agency can now deploy affordable tools that execute 80% of the SEO fundamentals.

That’s a big win for underdogs trying to compete in search.

But as with anything in marketing — if it sounds too good to be true, it probably has some limitations. And AI SEO agents come with plenty of them.

The Limitations of Agentic AI in SEO

For all their speed, efficiency, and automation magic, SEO AI agents are not infallible.

In fact, they come with serious trade-offs that can impact your brand, strategy, and results if you rely on them too heavily — or too blindly.

Here’s where the current crop of SEO agents still fall short:

1. Lack of Strategic Vision

AI agents can follow orders.

They can optimize content for keywords.

They can even auto-respond to ranking drops.

But they don’t understand your market positioning, business goals, or competitive threats.

SEO isn’t just task execution — it’s chess, not checkers.

And AI SEO agents don’t think 10 moves ahead (yet).

2. Creativity Isn’t Their Strong Suit

While AI can mimic writing styles and spit out grammatically correct content, it often lacks voice, flair, and originality.

Most agent-generated content reads like it was written by… well, an agent.

It may be technically optimized but emotionally lifeless.

3. Limited Brand Awareness

An AI agent doesn’t understand your brand story, tone, values, or nuances unless it’s been extensively trained on your content — and even then, it’s prone to drift.

This poses risks, especially when AI-generated copy goes live without human review.

4. Risk of Hallucinations and Inaccuracies

Large language models are notorious for confidently generating factually incorrect or misleading information.

In an SEO context, that could mean publishing flawed how-to guides, making false claims, or misinterpreting Google’s algorithm updates — and damaging your credibility.

5. Ethical Concerns in Link Building

AI agents scraping websites, spinning content, or blasting outreach emails at scale?

That’s a recipe for spam.

The risk of burning domain reputation, violating Google’s guidelines, or getting blacklisted is real when link building becomes fully automated and quality control goes out the window.

6. Data Dependency and Prompt Fragility

Agentic SEO is only as good as the data you feed it — and the prompts you use to guide it.

A poorly written prompt or an outdated dataset can lead to flawed analysis, off-target content, or misaligned optimizations.

7. No Real Relationships

AI can simulate personalization, but it can’t build relationships. High-value backlinks, brand mentions, and PR wins often come from years of human networking — not scraping, spinning, and blasting.

AI agents are phenomenal assistants. But left alone, they’re still blunt instruments.

Hybrid Future: The Rise of SEO Technologists Backed by AI Agents

The future of SEO isn’t fully automated — it’s augmented.

As AI agents grow more capable, the most successful SEO professionals won’t be the ones who resist automation, but those who embrace it — and learn how to orchestrate it. We’re entering a new era where the role of the SEO agency is evolving into something more technical, strategic, and systems-oriented: the rise of the SEO Technologist.

What Is an SEO Technologist?

Think of them as the conductor of your AI-powered SEO orchestra. Instead of manually executing every task, they:

• Select, configure, and deploy the right agents for the job.

• Engineer prompts and pipelines to get maximum output from AI tools.

• Layer in human insight, brand context, and strategic direction.

• Ensure all automation aligns with best practices, compliance, and brand voice.

They’re not just SEO experts — they’re AI-savvy marketers who blend human intelligence with machine efficiency.

What the Hybrid Model Looks Like

• AI Agents handle: site audits, metadata optimization, content outlines, keyword clustering, initial drafts, automated outreach, and reporting.

• Humans handle: strategy, prioritization, editorial review, tone calibration, high-level client communication, and complex problem-solving.

This hybrid model is already becoming the new standard among forward-thinking agencies and in-house teams — not because it’s trendy, but because it works.

Why This Model Wins

• It’s scalable without sacrificing quality.

• It reduces costs but maintains strategic depth.

• It lets teams focus on what matters — creative strategy, innovation, and real competitive advantage in ranking online — while offloading the grind to machines.

In short, the question isn’t “Will AI replace your SEO agency?” — it’s “Is your SEO agency evolving fast enough to stay relevant in an agent-driven world?”

When Should You Replace Your SEO Agency?

The allure of cutting costs and scaling SEO operations with AI agents is strong — but that doesn’t mean every business should dump their agency tomorrow and go full machine mode.

So when does it actually make sense to replace your SEO agency with agentic automation?

Let’s break it down:

You Should Consider Replacing Your Agency When:

• You’re drowning in repetitive tasks: If 80% of your agency’s output is technical checklists, meta tag edits, or keyword suggestions, you’re paying a premium for things an AI agent can now do in seconds.

• You have strong internal marketing/tech talent: If your team understands SEO fundamentals and can manage AI tools, you may no longer need external support for execution.

• Your budget is tight but expectations are high: Agentic SEO allows lean teams to punch above their weight without spending thousands per month on agency retainers.

• You need speed and scale: Whether it’s 500 pages of content updates or a massive backlink audit, AI agents can crunch the work in days — not weeks.

You Should NOT Replace Your Agency When:

• You need strategic, high-touch SEO leadership: Agents can’t set long-term goals, plan quarterly roadmaps, or respond to industry shifts the way a seasoned strategist can.

• You’re in a complex or regulated industry: Law, healthcare, and finance demand editorial oversight, compliance checks, and content accuracy that AI can’t yet guarantee.

• Your brand voice matters deeply: If tone, storytelling, and emotional resonance are central to your brand, you’ll still need human creatives guiding the content.

• You rely on relationship-driven PR or link building: AI agents can send cold emails, but they can’t build real relationships with editors, journalists, or influencers.

The takeaway?

Agentic SEO isn’t a full replacement for human strategy — at least not yet. But it is a powerful toolkit that can dramatically enhance what you do and reduce reliance on overpriced, underperforming agency relationships.

Will AI Replace SEO Agencies Completely?

So — is the SEO agency dead?

Not quite. But it’s definitely being disrupted.

AI SEO agents are no longer a sci-fi concept or a shiny toy for early adopters. They’re here, they’re improving fast, and they’re already replacing many of the mechanical tasks that agencies once billed for with bloated retainers and long timelines.

But here’s the catch: SEO isn’t just about execution — it’s about strategy, creativity, and trust. And those aren’t things you can fully automate. Not yet, anyway.

What’s Actually Happening

• Agencies that fail to adopt AI tools will fall behind — or disappear.

• Agencies that only do execution will be undercut by cheaper, smarter software.

• Agencies that evolve into AI-native strategic partners will thrive.

In this new paradigm, your SEO “team” may consist of:

• A strategist or technologist overseeing your campaigns

• A handful of specialized AI agents doing the heavy lifting

• A writer/editor to refine AI-generated content

• And maybe a fractional consultant to help set the overall direction

This isn’t the end of SEO agencies.

It’s the end of lazy SEO agencies.

In the end, your Agentic SEO agency needs a mindset shift to the following:

In the “Google era,” traffic was the prize. In the “post-Google era,” attention and distribution are the prize — and those happen where your audience is already gathered, not where they search.
If you stop thinking “how do I rank?” and start thinking “how do I own the channel where decisions are made?” you’ll adapt faster than 99% of agencies that will die waiting for the SERPs to come back.

Nead help with your SEO?

Get in touch!

The post Agentic SEO: When AI SEO Agents Replace Your SEO Agency appeared first on SEO Agency.

In the past, the SEO strategies of most SEO agencies focused on optimizing entire pages for specific keywords.

Today, with the rise of AI-powered SEO retrieval systems and generative search experiences, we’re witnessing a seismic shift: from page-level optimization to object-level targeting.

In this post, we’ll explore what that shift means, why it matters, and how forward-thinking SEOs can adapt their content strategies to thrive in the new AI-native search landscape.

What is Page-Level Targeting?

Traditional SEO has long revolved around page-level targeting.

You optimize a single page around a core keyword or phrase, build topical depth, add metadata, and hope it ranks for related search queries.

This model made sense in the Google 1.0 world—when search engines looked at documents holistically and used link-based signals to evaluate authority. But it has always had its limitations:

• Long pages often buried key answers deep in the content.

• Pages that tried to answer multiple intents could lose focus.

• Search engines sometimes struggled to surface the exact information users needed.

Now, thanks to advances in natural language processing and large language models (LLMs), search engines and AI assistants are retrieving information at a much finer resolution.

What is Object-Level Targeting?

Object-level targeting is the practice of optimizing individual content “objects”—sentences, passages, bullet points, tables, facts, or structured elements—so they can be retrieved independently of the page they live on.

Rather than thinking in terms of optimizing whole blog posts, marketers must now consider how each content fragment performs in isolation.

These fragments might include:

• A single sentence that clearly answers a question

• A list of pros and cons

• A stat embedded in a table

• A well-marked FAQ block

• A properly tagged product feature

AI-powered search systems now break content into these atomic units and retrieve only the relevant ones based on user intent. And that’s changing everything.

How Retrieval Works in the AI Era

In traditional search, ranking algorithms evaluated entire documents and returned the most relevant URLs. But in AI Mode, models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google SGE use retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines.

The following diagram illustrates the difference in retrieval workflows between classic search and AI-driven systems:

Here’s how it works:

1. Content is chunked into passages or data objects.

2. Each chunk is embedded as a vector—a semantic fingerprint.

3. When a user asks a question, the system retrieves only the most relevant content chunks.

4. Those chunks are fed into the LLM to generate a synthesized response.

The result? Your sentence might appear in an AI-generated answer, even if the rest of your page doesn’t.

How to Optimize for Object-Level Targeting

Before diving into specific strategies, let’s compare the core differences between traditional page-level SEO and emerging object-level SEO:

Adapting to object-level SEO requires rethinking how you structure and present your content. Here are key strategies:

1. Write Standalone, Authoritative Sentences

Each paragraph or sentence should answer a specific query and be self-contained. Avoid burying key insights in bloated paragraphs.

2. Use Structured Data Wherever Possible

Implement schema markup for FAQs, reviews, how-to steps, and product details. Structure boosts retrievability.

3. Leverage Lists, Tables, and FAQs

These elements are easy for AI to chunk, extract, and present in answers. Treat each row, bullet, or answer as a standalone knowledge unit.

4. Implement Internal Fragment Linking

Use anchor links to specific sections or objects in your content. This allows better referencing and sharing of micro-content.

5. Add Metadata to Modular Components

If your site is API-driven or headless, make sure each content block (testimonial, stat, use case) has its own metadata and object ID.

Use Cases in the Wild

Let’s look at real-world examples:

• Product Pages: Instead of optimizing the page around “best running shoes,” optimize each spec (heel drop, material, weight) as a separate data object.

• Real Estate Listings: Ensure address, price, lot size, and amenities are all marked up as separate retrievable properties for real estate SEO.

• Legal or Medical Content: Break long documents into clauses, rulings, or symptoms with proper headings and citations.

Each of these “objects” can then be retrieved independently when a user asks an AI: What’s the square footage of 123 Main St? or What’s the difference between a DWI and DUI in Arkansas?

SEO Implications: What This Shift Means

This shift to object-level targeting has wide-ranging implications for content creation and SEO:

• Keyword Research Evolves: Instead of optimizing for one main keyword, focus on granular semantic relevance across dozens of related intents.

• Content Length Isn’t Always King: Brevity and clarity now outperform fluff. A great sentence can out-rank a mediocre blog.

• Fact Accuracy Is Crucial: AI systems cite “factual” fragments. Errors may be extracted out of context.

• Links Still Matter: But the reputation of a domain can now power the visibility of its micro-objects.

Challenges of Object-Level SEO

While promising, object-level targeting isn’t without its issues:

• Over-fragmentation can lead to disjointed UX if your content loses narrative flow.

• Measurement is tricky: Traditional SEO tools still focus on page-level metrics.

• Duplication risk: Small content fragments may overlap across pages or cannibalize rankings.

You’ll need a blend of editorial quality and technical precision to win here.

Tools to Support Object-Level Optimization

Want to future-proof your SEO stack? Here are some tools and methods:

• Schema.org & JSON-LD for structured markup

• OpenAI Embeddings API for semantic chunk testing

• Content component systems for modular content

• RAG pipelines to simulate AI retrieval

• Search engine preview tools like Diffbot, SGE test suites, or Bing AI

The Future of SEO is Object-First

AI isn’t going away—it’s getting better at parsing, chunking, and synthesizing content.

As search engines evolve, the winners will be those who don’t just write for humans or algorithms—but for modular retrieval systems that demand clarity at the sentence level.

Your content should still tell a story—but each part of that story must be ready to stand on its own.

Conclusion

The evolution from page-level to object-level SEO marks one of the most profound shifts in how search works. And it’s already underway.

By crafting content with atomic clarity, structured intent, and semantic precision, you’ll ensure your brand is present—not just in the SERPs, but in the AI answers that shape tomorrow’s search experiences.

Need help re-architecting your content for the AI age?
Reach out to SEO.co for a full content audit and AI-optimized SEO strategy.

The post Page-Level vs. Object-Level Targeting: The New Frontier of SEO in the AI Era appeared first on SEO Agency.

It’s equal parts art, science, and voodoo.

I’ve even had potential clients wryly remark, “oh, you do witchcraft.” 

With AI and algorithm changes at near-constant levels, keeping up with industry trends and best practices is somewhere between “impractical” and “utterly impossible.”

Enter: Done-For-You SEO services.

The promise?

Hand over your digital keys and let the experts drive.

No internal hires.

No guessing games.

No wondering what Google means when it says “helpful content.”

Just rankings, traffic, and leads delivered on autopilot — or so the pitch goes.

But like most things in life (and marketing), the truth lives somewhere in the messy middle.

So, let’s break down the real pros and cons of handing your SEO over to a fully managed service.

What Are Done-For-You SEO Services, Exactly?

At its core, Done-For-You (DFY) SEO services mean you outsource the entire SEO operation to an external agency.

That includes technical audits, on-page optimization, link building, content creation, reporting — the works.

The idea is simple: you focus on your business; they focus on your rankings.

Instead of building an internal SEO department (which, let’s be real, most companies are completely unqualified to manage), you get an agency with the staff, tools, and (hopefully) expertise to handle it all.

But buyer beware: not all DFY providers are created equal.

Some are true SEO experts; others are barely more than outsourced Fiverr factories held together with duct tape, expired PBNs, and hope.

TL;DR

The Pros of Done-For-You SEO Services

1. Turnkey Simplicity
You don’t need to learn canonical tags, crawl budgets, or why Google suddenly hates your schema markup.

You hire an agency, they handle it.

It’s SEO without the headache.

2. Access to True Specialists
Good agencies live and breathe this stuff.

Their teams are staffed with technical SEOs, content strategists, data analysts, and link builders who understand both the art and science of ranking in highly competitive markets.

Their full-time job is keeping up with Google — because let’s face it, you don’t have time to read 200 pages of search quality rater guidelines.

3. Scalability
DFY SEO can ramp up or down based on your needs. Need international SEO?

They’ve got a team for that.

Launching a new product line?

Content calendar coming right up. You get access to cross-functional teams you couldn’t easily replicate internally.

4. Premium Tools Without Premium Price Tags
Enterprise SEO software isn’t cheap — and most SMBs don’t have the budget for full licenses of Ahrefs, SEMrush, Screaming Frog, and every new AI-powered SEO tool du jour.

Agencies amortize these costs across clients, giving you access without requiring you to sell a kidney.

5. Consistency & Accountability
Good agencies are data-obsessed.

You get monthly reports, tracked KPIs, and (if they’re doing it right) proactive strategy adjustments.

The work gets done whether your internal marketing team is sick, distracted, or busy posting memes on LinkedIn.

The Cons of Done-For-You SEO Services

1. Loss of Control
You’re outsourcing not just the work — but often the decision-making.

If you’re deeply protective of your brand voice, your backlink profile, or your content strategy, ceding full control may not sit well.

Maybe DIY SEO is more for your business?

2. Cookie-Cutter Campaigns
Many DFY providers operate on templates.

They crank out 500-word blog posts and generic backlink outreach like it’s still 2012.

True customization requires an agency willing to do deep discovery and tailor every element — and many simply don’t.

3. Quality Variability
The SEO world has its share of charlatans.

Some DFY agencies outsource their “link building” to overseas link farms.

Some spin content or buy garbage guest posts.

If it sounds too good to be true (“Guaranteed #1 Rankings!”), it almost certainly is.

4. Upfront Cost
DFY SEO can be expensive — and for good reason.

You’re paying for a team’s time, tools, and expertise.

But if you hire the wrong team, you’re essentially lighting that retainer on fire every month and killing your SEO ROI.

5. Communication Gaps
DFY doesn’t mean “forget about it entirely.”

Poor communication can lead to misaligned goals, missed opportunities, or — worse — your agency implementing strategies that hurt your long-term organic health.

SEO is a collaborative process, even when outsourced.

Who Should (and Shouldn’t) Use Done-For-You SEO?

Done-For-You SEO Makes Sense For:

• SMBs without internal SEO expertise. But consider the lack of budget of SMBs may be a major constraint on SEO growth, particularly if you ultimately want to compete on a national scale.

• Founders who want SEO handled while they focus on operations and sales, particularly those skeleton crews with venture capital budgets.

• Companies entering highly competitive SEO markets that require senior-level expertise and some additional resources to reach SEO scale.

• Agencies looking for white-label SEO solutions (yes, we do that too).

Done-For-You SEO Is Risky For:

• Highly technical or regulated industries where in-depth subject matter expertise is non-negotiable.

• Brands deeply concerned with controlling every word of content.

• Companies unwilling to actively engage with their agency partners.

A hybrid model — where you own high-level strategy and brand voice while outsourcing technical execution — often works best.

How to Vet a Done-For-You SEO Provider

• Ask for case studies. Look for measurable results, not vague promises. Shameless plug: take a look at our SEO case studies here.

• Demand transparency. How are links being built? Where is content published? How are they vetting their publishers? Who writes it?

• Review reporting. Are KPIs focused on revenue-driving metrics or just vanity keyword rankings?

• Understand their process. Is this a templated campaign or a fully customized solution based on deep industry-specific keyword research?

• Check for alignment & expertise. Do they actually understand your industry, business model, and goals?

SEO is Synonymous with Risk 

Done-For-You SEO isn’t inherently good or bad.

It’s a tool — and like any tool, it depends on who’s wielding it.

Whenever you engage SEO services, you take on some risk and will be expected to “trust” the SEO experts.

The best SEO agencies become true partners: collaborative, transparent, and relentlessly focused on long-term growth, not short-term wins.

At SEO.co, we don’t hide behind dashboards or vanity metrics.

We build custom campaigns grounded in technical expertise, earned authority, and Google-compliant strategies that compound value over time.

If you’re serious about growth — and serious about doing SEO the right way — we should probably talk.

The post Pros and Cons of Done-For-You SEO Services appeared first on SEO Agency.

Digital agencies built entire reporting models around tracking specific phrases and their positions in Google.

Clients obsessed over being “number one” for their primary keywords.

Ranking reports were considered gospel — proof that SEO was “working.”

But the world has changed.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the search landscape in ways that are fundamentally undermining the importance of keyword rankings.

What once served as a meaningful metric is now little more than a vanity exercise — and in some cases, dangerously misleading.

It’s time to retire keyword rankings as a primary SEO KPI.

The Historical Obsession with Keyword Rankings

To understand how we got here, it helps to remember why keyword rankings mattered in the first place.

For years, Google operated on a fairly static model: 10 blue links on a search results page, ranked in a clear hierarchy. If you ranked #1 for “personal injury lawyer Chicago,” you could expect a steady stream of highly qualified traffic. Rankings correlated closely with impressions, clicks, and leads.

Naturally, SEO clients wanted to know:

• Where do we rank?

• Are we moving up?

• How do we compare to competitors?

SEO agencies responded by building rank-tracking into their core service models.

Entire businesses were built around selling ranking improvements.

And for a while, that made sense.

Enter AI: The Death of Linear Rankings

Then artificial intelligence arrived.

With the rollout of AI-powered search engines — Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), Bing Copilot, Perplexity, ChatGPT web browsing, and others — the linear structure of search results has started to dissolve.

Instead of serving everyone the same list of links, AI engines deliver synthesized, personalized answers drawn from multiple sources.

And they are getting better at knowing what you want, feeding you content in a vacuum based on your previous queries.

The result you see may differ dramatically from the result I see, depending on factors like:

• Search history — how often users visit and what they are doing when they are on your website can tell a lot about how they feel about your business and brand

• Location — Are your visitors coming from Russia and India or are they primarily in the United States?

• Device (desktop vs. mobile vs. tablet)

• Real-time data sources

• User intent — and where the user sits in the digital marketing funnel

Even Google’s traditional search results are now filled with featured snippets, knowledge panels, People Also Ask boxes, AI summaries, local packs and now “AI Mode” that push traditional rankings further down the page.

In many cases, users no longer even see the “organic rankings” that agencies have spent years tracking.

Why Chasing Rankings is Now Largely Pointless

The traditional rank tracking model simply can’t keep up with the way AI search works today.

• Rankings are highly fluid. What you see may not reflect what your customer sees.

• AI-generated summaries answer questions without clicks. Many users get what they need directly from an AI response, without ever clicking through to a website.

• Multiple SERP features dominate above-the-fold real estate. Even a #1 organic ranking may sit far below AI-generated content and other search features.

• Personalized SERPs mean fragmented data. Rankings (and traffic) depend on variables outside of your control. And those variables grow infinitely when users perform multiple follow-up searches to an initial query.

At best, keyword rankings have become a loose directional signal.

At worst, they give businesses a false sense of progress while failing to capture whether SEO efforts are driving real business outcomes.

Keyword Rankings: The Ultimate Vanity Metric

Vanity metrics are those that look good on paper but fail to provide actionable insight or correlate with business performance.

Keyword rankings increasingly fall into this category:

• They don’t reflect real user behavior.

• They don’t capture traffic quality.

• They don’t measure conversions.

• They don’t account for AI-driven zero-click outcomes.

Clients love seeing their target keywords sitting pretty on a report.

But that doesn’t mean those rankings are generating leads, sales, or revenue.

What Metrics Actually Matter in 2025 and Beyond

If keyword rankings are no longer reliable, where should businesses focus instead?

Here’s where we advise our clients at SEO.co to shift their attention:

• Organic Traffic Trends: Total search traffic, accounting for all keywords and long-tail variations. More importantly, are you trending up in your “overall” keyword rankings? Is your traffic on the incline or the decline?

• Conversion Data: Leads, sales, and revenue attributable to organic search. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT METRIC! 

• Brand Visibility in AI Outputs: Is your brand being cited or summarized in AI-generated answers?

• Entity-Based Optimization: Are your brand and key topics recognized in Google’s Knowledge Graph and LLM training data? Do you have the right semantic and entity keywords mixed in your body content to disambiguate what your page is about?

• Backlink Authority: High-quality, earned backlinks still matter as signals of trust. But, the other ranking factors are increasing in overall “weight” in AI SEO.

• Topical Authority Signals: Depth and breadth of content coverage across your niche.

• Engagement Metrics: Click-through-rates, time on site, bounce rates, page depth — indicators of real user interest in your content and your brand.

The common theme: real-world business outcomes, not superficial rankings.

The New SEO Playbook for the AI Era

AI isn’t killing SEO — but it is changing how SEO must be approached.

Winning in AI-powered search requires:

• Building Topical Authority: Comprehensive, expert-level content that answers questions thoroughly.

• Optimizing Entities, Not Just Keywords: Become a recognized authority tied to specific topics, brands, and people.

• Leveraging Structured Data & Schema: Feed AI engines the context they need to understand and surface your content. In other words, object-level optimization first over page-level optimization.

• Earning Mentions, Not Just Links: PR, citations, interviews, and social signals that position your brand as an expert.

• Focusing on Brand Building: Long-term authority that transcends individual keyword phrases.

This is a shift from transactional SEO to strategic SEO — from chasing individual rankings to building defensible authority.

What SEOs and Clients Need to Do Now

If you’re still sending keyword ranking reports to your clients, it’s time to stop.

Clients don’t need keyword rankings. They need revenue growth. They need qualified leads. They need measurable ROI from their digital marketing spend.

At SEO.co, we help clients navigate this shift by:

• Eliminating keyword ranking reports from core deliverables. If you really want them, you don’t need an SEO agency to track them for you. There are plenty of tools for this.

• Providing business-focused reporting tied to real KPIs like “qualified” leads captured (first determine what qualified means), sales generated, revenue growth and reduced churn.

• Helping brands position themselves as authoritative entities in the eyes of both users and AI systems. This still includes things like Digital PR, technical SEO and even link building services.

• Building durable SEO strategies that will survive — and thrive — in the AI search revolution. In other words, in means establishing a brand that is recognizable offline and well as online. No more one-trick-pony marketing strategies.

Conclusion

AI is not just changing the search results — it’s changing the way we measure success in SEO.

Keyword rankings, once the holy grail, are rapidly becoming irrelevant.

In an AI-driven world, vanity metrics won’t drive business growth. Authority, trust, visibility, and brand equity will.

The sooner businesses embrace this reality, the more prepared they’ll be for the future of search.

If you’re ready to build a future-proof SEO strategy that goes beyond vanity metrics, reach out to SEO.co — we’re here to help.

The post Thanks to AI, Keyword Rankings are Now Vanity Metrics appeared first on SEO Agency.

It doesn’t owe you rankings, visibility, explanations, apologies, or even acknowledgment of your existence.

And yet, every time there’s a Google algorithm update, a corner of the internet (primarily Barry’s blog at seroundtable.com) erupts into wails and gnashing of teeth.

“Google destroyed my business!”

“I used to rank #1 and now I’m not even in the top 10!”

“They’re favoring big brands!”

“They are stealing our content and ideas to feed their LLM (large language model)!” 

Boo. Freaking. Hoo.

Let us be the friend that tells you what your other “SEO gurus” won’t:

• You are not entitled to free exposure
• If your Google rankings dropped, you’re not the only one
• If your rankings dropped, take ownership of your website’s deficiencies–don’t blame the search engine
• If you’re playing the SEO game, you haven’t been playing it long enough if you have not yet been “hit” negatively by an update
• Just because SEO can be a solid avenue for traffic, distribution and sales, it should NEVER be your ONLY avenue (you should always be diversifying your strategy)

Unless you experiment, pivot and adjust your SEO strategy, a single rankings drop can be more of a permanent business killer.

The Myth of Organic Entitlement

Somewhere along the line, a dangerous idea crept into the SEO world — that just because you built a website, published some blog posts, and optimized your images and H1 tags, you’re owed a steady stream of organic traffic.

That myth needs to die a rapid death, immediately.

Although Google tends to rank older sites over newer sites, it doesn’t care how long you’ve been around.

It doesn’t care how many hours you spent perfecting your meta descriptions.

There is no SEO Santa handing out goodies for effort.

If your content sucks or your site is stuck in 2012, don’t expect sympathy — expect invisibility.

“People who are given whatever they want soon develop a sense of entitlement and rapidly lose their sense of proportion” — Sarah Churchwell

It may be time to mute expectations on what Google can do for you, especially now that:

• AI mode will continue to shove organic search results into the ether, keeping users locked in the Google ecosystem with zero-click searches…unless you pay.
• Google’s share of the overall search pie is dwindling to other prominent LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity.ai. Don’t expect that to improve!
• Expect less from Google. That is, reset your expectations.

Google Is a Business, Not Your Fairy Godmother

Time for a reality check: Google’s job isn’t to help your business grow — it’s to serve its users and make money. Preferably lots of it.

It turns out users trust big brands. They click them more often. They stay on their sites longer. That data tells Google those sites are better answers. So, of course, Google serves them up.

If you were Google, wouldn’t you do the same?

So no, it’s not a conspiracy.

It’s not some secret vendetta against small businesses.

It’s just the algorithm doing what it does — reward what works for those that own the platform.

Your Traffic Dropped? It’s Probably You

Let’s be honest: if your organic traffic tanked after an update, maybe it wasn’t the update.

Maybe your site:

• Loads slower than dial-up.

• Has 700 blog posts about nothing anyone wants to read.

• Looks like it was built during Obama’s first term.

• Hasn’t earned a single high quality backlink since TikTok was launched.

Google didn’t destroy your rankings — you neglected them.

SEO is not a “set it and forget it” kind of game.

It’s more like raising a needy digital child.

You have to feed it, clean it, and keep it out of trouble constantly.

And it’s only getting harder with stiffer competition and less love from fewer clicks from the SERPs.

You Chose to Play This Game

No one forced you into the SEO game.

You chose this.

You wanted “free” traffic (so called).

You wanted leads.

You wanted to outsmart the competition (er…the algorithm).

Well, welcome to the jungle.

Google changes the rules every few months.

You can adapt, or you can become roadkill.

There is no third option.

You don’t get to complain about the rules when you’re playing in someone else’s sandbox.

This is Google’s game — and you agreed to play.

Big Brands Are Winning? Shocking.

Yes, we know — big brands dominate the SERPs.

They’ve got armies of writers, PR agencies, and backlink budgets that could make a small country blush.

You can either cry about it… or pivot.

Find your niche.

Build deep topical authority.

Outmaneuver them in long-tail and local.

Create 10x content they’d never bother with.

Be more agile.

Complaining that Nike ranks better than your dropshipping site for “best running shoes” is like whining that LeBron James gets more endorsement deals than your local rec league MVP.

Life’s not fair. Get over it.

How to Actually Get Google’s Attention

Here’s what works (and always has):

• Content that solves problems. Not fluff. Not AI garbage. Real insights.

• Backlinks that matter. Not from sketchy PBNs. From relevant, high-authority sources.

• Speed and user experience. Your site should load fast, look good on mobile, and not make people want to smash their devices.

• Topical depth. Show that you know your stuff inside and out. Become the resource.

• Consistency. No, blogging once every 6 months doesn’t count.

Diversify

Diversify away from a dangerous Google-only strategy.

Find other digital marketing mechanisms for growth.

You can also diversify on Google itself by having multiple sites, targeting multiple sectors using slightly tweaked strategies for gaining organic exposure.

If you spend ALL your time on a single site or brand ONLY doing SEO, and it gets wiped-out, then shame on you.

Google Doesn’t Owe You. You Owe Google Your Best Work.

Stop expecting Google to hand you success on a silver platter.

That’s not how this works.

If you’re frustrated, that’s fine.

Just don’t confuse frustration with injustice.

Get better.

Work smarter.

Invest in your digital presence like you actually want it to work.

Or go run PPC ads and skip the line.

Either way, whining isn’t a strategy.

Want Help Actually Competing?

We don’t do pity parties.

We do performance.

If you’re ready to stop complaining and start climbing, let’s talk.

As an SEO agency, we build real SEO strategies for businesses that are ready to play to win — not cry when the algorithm doesn’t go their way.

The post Google Doesn’t Owe You Anything appeared first on SEO Agency.

From the early days of keyword stuffing and backlink farming to the era of semantic search and Core Web Vitals, the goal has remained the same—get found by users looking for answers.

But what happens when those “users” are no longer human?

Enter Agentic AI—a new generation of autonomous AI agents capable of making decisions, taking actions, and even conducting web research on behalf of human users.

These AI agents don’t just search—they execute tasks, compare data, and select the best outcomes with little or no human intervention.

And their rise is fundamentally changing the rules of SEO.

How is SEO is evolving in the age of Agentic AI? 

What does Agentic AI mean for digital marketers and website owners?

How to future-proof your content strategy for a world where algorithms don’t just rank content—they consume and act on it.

The Evolution of SEO 

To understand where SEO is headed, it’s helpful to look back at where it’s been.

Over the past two decades, SEO has evolved through several major phases—each driven by changes in user behavior and search engine technology.

1. The Early Web: Keywords and Backlinks
In the early 2000s, SEO was relatively primitive. Rankings were heavily influenced by keyword density, exact match domains, and the quantity of inbound links. The system was easily gamed, and websites often prioritized search engines over user experience.

2. The Google Revolution: Smarter Algorithms
Google changed the game with algorithm updates like:

• Panda (2011), targeting thin or low-quality content

• Penguin (2012), penalizing link schemes

• Hummingbird (2013), improving understanding of search intent

These updates shifted SEO toward content quality, relevance, and semantic search, forcing marketers to focus more on value than tricks.

3. Mobile-First and User Experience
With the rise of mobile, Google introduced mobile-first indexing, placing greater emphasis on responsive design and page speed. This era also brought Core Web Vitals, metrics that measure real-world user experience.

4. The AI Era: RankBrain and BERT
Google began integrating machine learning with updates like RankBrain and BERT, enabling it to better understand natural language and context. This marked the beginning of AI-assisted search—and the first real steps toward AI being more than a ranking assistant.

Now, we’re entering a new phase.

Agentic AI is changing how people interact with the internet altogether—and SEO must evolve once again.

Enter Agentic AI in SEO

Agentic AI refers to artificial intelligence systems that are not just reactive but proactive—capable of taking initiative, making autonomous decisions, and pursuing specific goals on behalf of users.

Unlike conventional AI, which answers questions or performs simple tasks when prompted, agentic systems operate with a higher degree of independence.

A few examples might include:

• AutoGPT and BabyAGI: autonomous agents that can execute multi-step tasks, even done without a specific prompt, but with a specific outcome in mind.

• Personal AI assistants: capable of booking travel, shopping, or summarizing research

• Custom enterprise agents: navigating internal systems and surfacing strategic insights

These agents are not just passive conduits of information—they actively browse the web, evaluate options, and make decisions based on real-time data.

From “Searching” to “Delegating”

In a traditional search engine experience, users input a query, browse results, and decide which links to click.

With Agentic AI, the user simply states a goal—like “Find the best property management software and set up a demo”—and the agent handles the entire process.

This eliminates multiple steps of user interaction and bypasses standard SERP behavior.

It also removes another middle-man that is frequently used by SEO agencies: the virtual assistant.

How AI Agents Interact With the Web

Rather than being guided by snippets and titles in search results, agentic AI systems:

• Scrape content for factual data from various web sources

• Query APIs and structured datasets from existing and new sources

• Prioritize trusted, verified sources (think EEAT for Google, but with real “learning” involved)

• Analyze readability, clarity, and actionability—not just keyword relevance or the anchor text of a backlink

In short, AI agents don’t behave like humans—and that has profound implications for how websites should be structured and optimized.

How Agentic AI is Changing the Search Landscape

The rise of Agentic AI represents a shift from search as a human-driven discovery process to search as an autonomous task completed by machines.

This search transition is already reshaping the digital ecosystem in several key ways.

1. Decline in Traditional Search Queries

As more users delegate tasks to AI agents, we’re seeing a decline in traditional keyword-based queries. Instead of typing “best CRM software for small business,” users might prompt their AI to “find and sign me up for the best-rated CRM that integrates with Gmail and is under $100/month.” The AI might never display a SERP—it simply performs the task.

2. Rise of Zero-Click and AI-Generated Answers

Google and other platforms have already been moving toward zero-click searches, where answers are displayed directly on the page without requiring a click. Agentic AI accelerates this trend by consuming and summarizing content internally, often never exposing the original source to the end user.

In short, search engines still use your content to created the AI-generated answers, but users are much less likely to click away and visit your site unless they really want to know and dive deeper.

3. Direct-to-Answer Systems

With models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude, answers are generated on the fly by aggregating knowledge from multiple sources.

In many cases, the user doesn’t know (or care) where the data comes from—so long as it’s accurate and helpful.

4. AI Agents Don’t Click—They Act

Unlike a human who might click several links, skim through a few articles, and compare options, AI agents:

• Scrape content directly

• Evaluate data based on instructions or goals

• Make choices algorithmically based on structure, clarity, and authority

This means the traditional SEO tactics designed to attract human clicks—like compelling headlines or rich snippets—may not apply in the same way.

The new SEO is less about visibility on a page and more about being useful and machine-readable.

And, if your brand wants to stand out in this new world, you need to:

1. Actually have a brand. That is, you need to be recognizable as a name or company that people recognize.
2. Be omnichannel. Your content needs to be ever-present and in-your-face. That means not just blogs, but YouTube, podcasts and social media to build awareness.

SEO in the Age of AI Agents

As AI agents become the new intermediaries between users and information, SEO must adapt from a human-centric model to one that is equally (if not more) optimized for machines. This shift calls for a rethinking of how content is created, structured, and surfaced.

1. Content Must Be Machine-Readable First
Agentic AI systems consume information differently from humans. They prioritize content that is:

• Structured (clear hierarchy, headings, lists, tables)

• Explicit (no fluff, minimal ambiguity)

• Standardized (uses formats machines can parse easily)

This means content optimized for agents should rely heavily on:

• Schema markup (e.g., JSON-LD)

• Open APIs or machine-readable feeds

• Clean HTML without excessive dynamic loading or obfuscation

2. Trust Signals Are More Important Than Ever
Agents rely on heuristics to determine which sources to trust. This reinforces the importance of Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines:

• Experience – Demonstrated, real-world application

• Expertise – Authorship from subject matter experts

• Authoritativeness – Recognized by others in the field

• Trustworthiness – Secure, accurate, and transparent

These signals aren’t just for Google anymore—they’re becoming baseline requirements for agentic systems to validate and act on content.

3. Optimizing for Agents ≠ Optimizing for Humans
Agents are less concerned with aesthetics and more concerned with logic, structure, and consistency. This means:

• SEO must prioritize semantic clarity over clever copy

• Metadata and technical SEO play a larger role than ever

• Internal linking and topic modeling need to be precise and machine-navigable

4. AI Agents Prefer Actionable, Goal-Oriented Content
If an agent is tasked with “booking a vacation,” it will look for content that includes:

• Clear pricing

• Available dates

• Booking URLs

• Refund policies
  Rather than a blog post on “Top 10 Vacation Spots,” the agent is more likely to engage with a structured booking platform or itinerary builder.

How to Still Use Humans When Agentic AI Dominates

In a digital world dominated by bots and agents, human interactions, leads and sales are still the end goal for most businesses and the bots still need to be run by human guidance.

Agencies have a responsibility to be at the forefront of the new agentic AI SEO industry; they should know the latest trends and best practices about search engine results pages & search results. Because of this, it’s best for agencies to complete the main SEO tasks that are mostly behind the scenes. These include:

Let Humans Drive the Overall AI Strategy

SEO agencies have the responsibility of designing the overall online marketing strategy of their clients, and then guiding the execution of it. This includes keyword research, google search console, google analytics, paid search, local search, search engine marketing, Voice search, competitive analysis, and content strategy.

As agentic AI continues to shape the way users find and act on information, SEO professionals and content creators must adopt new strategies to remain competitive in this evolving landscape.

Embrace Structured Data Everywhere

Structured data is no longer optional. To be visible (and actionable) to AI agents, your website should:

• Implement comprehensive schema.org markup (products, reviews, FAQs, etc.)

• Use JSON-LD format where possible for clarity

• Include structured tables and bullet-point summaries for key info

Agents crawl and parse this data more efficiently than unstructured prose.

SEO Link Building

While not the end-all-be-all it once was, backlinks still have a piece in the overall algorithm for ranking in traditional SERPs and in AI overviews.

Local SEO citations, directory submissions, and other types of SEO link building are best left to SEO agencies because they generally already (should) have the processes in place, and understand the nuances of proper anchor text distribution, link type diversity, and domain diversity.

Agentic AI can help enhance this process and make it more efficient, but humans help lead the charge on the end goal.

Build and Expose APIs

If your site or service provides data, consider making it available through an open or authenticated API. Agentic systems often favor data they can pull directly and dynamically via endpoints. This is especially relevant for:

• Real estate listings

• Product catalogs

• Market research data

• Availability feeds (e.g. inventory, calendar bookings)

SEO Audits

Website SEO audits are one of the first steps agencies should take for clients who already have an online presence.

The purpose of the audit is to identify and understand what the business is doing right, as well as what needs to be improved.

SEO audits become more important as search becomes infinitely more complex.

Create Actionable, Transaction-Ready Content

Make your content not just informative, but executable. Pages should include:

• Clear CTAs

• Direct links to conversion points (buy, book, apply)

• Explicit next steps or decision trees

• Linkbait: Content with the potential to go viral, like infographics, are best for SEO agencies, since it’s unusual for clients to have a designer on staff. Furthermore, agencies typically have experience designing infographics that have the potential to go viral. They also usually already have designers on hand to design the infographic, along with the connections and resources to promote and distribute it.

Remember: AI agents are not browsing—they’re completing objectives. Help them help you.

Social Signals and Ominichannel Targeting

Social media marketing services aren’t offered by everyone, but because search engines algorithms are giving more and more weight to social signals for search results, the importance of a strong social media campaign is higher than ever.

As a result, agencies are offering community management, tweeting, Facebooking, and more on behalf of their clients to streamline marketing goals.

The right SEO agency (particularly, the right social media account manager) can make a world of difference here by focusing on content that is outside traditional text.

People are more likely to find your brand on Linkedin, Facebook and YouTube. Ignoring these channels may cause you to miss a great deal of opportunity for scaling.

Optimize for Source Attribution in AI Summaries

Even if your site doesn’t get clicked, being cited or summarized by AI can still deliver brand value. To improve attribution:

• Use branded language and internal citations

• Add author bylines and bios

• Claim and verify your brand across trusted data sources (e.g., Wikidata, LinkedIn, Crunchbase)

Prioritize Speed, Security & Clarity

Agents favor fast, secure, and clear experiences. Make sure your site:

• Loads quickly (especially for mobile)

• Is HTTPS-secured

• Avoids intrusive popups, cookie modals, or login gates on key pages

Consider Training Your Own AI Agent

Forward-looking brands are beginning to train their own agentic tools based on internal data. If your business has proprietary knowledge or structured content, you might benefit from creating:

• A domain-specific chatbot or AI assistant

• A plugin for platforms like ChatGPT or Gemini

• An internal search agent for employees or clients

Luckily, with the help of our DEV team, this helping to create your own custom, complex agent, is something we can help with.

The Future of SEO = Human + Machine Synergy! 

While the rise of Agentic AI might seem like a threat to traditional SEO, it actually opens the door to a new, more collaborative era—one where human creativity and machine intelligence work in tandem to serve users more effectively than ever before.

SEO Isn’t Dying — It’s Evolving
Just as SEO evolved from keyword-stuffing to content marketing, it’s now transforming into something deeper: experience engineering.

The job isn’t just to rank on Google—it’s to create digital ecosystems that serve both human readers and AI agents seamlessly.

Human Creativity Still Matters
AI can execute and analyze, but it lacks emotional nuance, narrative flair, and original insight.

Content that resonates, inspires, and converts will still come from human minds.

The role of the SEO strategist becomes more like a systems architect—designing content and experiences that plug into both human desires and machine logic.

Collaboration Will Be Key
Future SEO teams will include:

• Writers and strategists

• AI prompt engineers

• Data scientists

• Developers building custom agents and tools

Together, they’ll build environments that communicate with users and machines—balancing clarity, persuasion, structure, and technical precision.

Multi-Channel Visibility Will Matter More Than Rankings
In a world where users get answers from AI assistants, visibility won’t just come from ranking #1 on a SERP. It will come from:

• Being cited in AI-generated summaries

• Having structured data pulled into agent workflows

• Being accessible via APIs or third-party tools

• Appearing in voice interfaces, app integrations, and agent dashboards

The brands that adapt to this new distribution model will outpace those stuck optimizing solely for Google’s SERPs.

The post The Evolution of SEO: How to Rank in an Agentic AI World appeared first on SEO Agency.