SEO Agencies Comparison

SEO will never die, but the SEO agency might. Frequently, I am asked: "Do you know a good SEO agency?" In the last year, I know fewer than I used to. Not because SEO is dying: it's not and never will. Search will always exist in some form. However, the current agency model is on shaky ground. Many agencies are racing to stay relevant by adding new services, bundling AI, reducing headcount, and dropping prices to keep up. But this kind of pivoting is not strategic; it's desperate. This is an agency death spiral: Lower pricing leads to lower margins. Lower margins lead to overworked teams. Overworked teams lead to poor results. Poor results lead to client churn. The cycle continues. Worse, in an environment of decreasing traffic, the SEO teams who hired the agencies are under more scrutiny than ever, and the agencies need to show results FAST. Sending pretty dashboards of AI visibility is not going to cut it. Of course, there are great SEO agencies out there, but they're becoming harder to find because they're not posting jargony LinkedIn fluff about how they are "GEO" experts and AI-first. They have teams that understand users and search best practices and consistently drive results for their clients, even when the whole world of search has changed. If you're looking for that kind of partner, I'm happy to make intros.

Interest for ‘SEO Agency’ in the UK has risen, whilst searches for ‘Marketing Agency’ are starting a small decline. My theory? The two lines will meet in the middle as more specialised marketing becomes more important to businesses Here’s why 👇🏻 > With recent changes, businesses are seeing a massive shift in their organic rankings - which have them spooked. Organic revenue/enquiries are declining for those who haven’t paid attention or worked on their SEO. > Ai is rapidly changing how people search & find information, with most businesses asleep at the wheel. > SEO will be changed from ‘search engine optimisation’ to ‘search experience optimisation’ as users diversify where they find their information. TikTok, ChatGPT, Gemini, Voice Chats > Marketing managers, directors, CMO’s are looking for more specialised talent/agencies to solve specific organic challenges. The future of SEO will be bright for those who embrace the changes - and stay at the forefront of what’s possible. Losers will hope and pray the landscape stays the same (it won’t) and when it does change, they’ll be scrambling - but it’ll be too late.

3 new leads this week. Each one "𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘚𝘌𝘖 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺". 🤔 BUT: (and here's the kicker) "We feel like we're running an old playbook". "Should we be doing more?" These SaaS companies were happy with the agency relationship and quality of content deliverables and, in most cases, were seeing organic growth. But, they were all concerned their current agency partner wasn't looking ahead and being proactive. Specifically, adapting their SEO strategy for: ▪️ AIOs ▪️ LLM visibility ▪️ Declining organic CTRs ▪️ Zero-click SERPs ▪️ Constant core algo updates AI didn't seem to be a topic of conversation on agency calls. And there wasn't much proactive guidance on adapting to the above disruptions. If the status quo was future-proof, we wouldn't have been having a conversation at all. But, it's not. A LOT is changing in search, and SaaS brands need to account for noisier SERPs, AI, and shifting LLM search behaviors. Here's a few things Virayo is doing to help its SEO clients achieve increased organic search performance and LLM visibility. 🔸 Aligning with PR teams to target publications we know are in included in LLM training data sets for important keywords. 🔸 Getting clients placed on "best software for X" listicles that drive valuable referral traffic and correlate strongly with LLM visibility. 🔸 Inventory all available SERP touchpoints - ads, AIOs, Reddit, listicles, video carousels, aggregators such as G2, client website, etc - for priority keywords. 🔸 Creating supporting video assets for top-ranking URLs to capture carousel placements. 🔸 Boosting E-E-A-T signals with editorial policy links, detailed author bios and pages, and embedded expert quotes. 🔸 Building out more feature page and competitor comparison content (irrespective of search volume numbers in SEO tools) as we know this is referenced a lot in LLMs for longer tail consideration-stage queries. 🔸 Restructuring content (especially for informational queries) to be much more succinct and serve a "snippetable" answer in the first 1-2 sentences in key sections that can easily be rendered in AIOs. A lot of what you do in your "traditional" SEO playbook can be adapted to feed AIO and LLM visibility. Some larger off-page strategy shifts are also needed. How are you adapting your strategy in 2025? I'd love to hear in the comments. *** Virayo is taking on two more SEO clients in Q1. Need help adapting your strategy, or just want a second set of eyes? Schedule a call with me using the Calendly link in the comments.

The SEO playbook you've been running for years? It's becoming obsolete. Here's what the data tells us: - 60% of Google searches now end without a click - AI Overviews have resulted in clickthrough rates that are 56.1% lower on desktop and 48.2% lower on mobile - Major brands like HubSpot saw 75% traffic decline in 2024 despite growing revenue While fundamental SEO principles (like high-quality content, good user experience, and technical optimization) remain important, the search landscape is fundamentally transforming. As most agencies still sell you traditional SEO packages, we've been quietly building something different at Roswell. We saw this shift coming 18 months ago and completely restructured our approach. Enter Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)—the future that's already here. Traditional SEO optimizes for rankings. AEO optimizes for answers. The difference? When someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google's AI Mode for recommendations, your brand either shows up as THE answer—or it doesn't exist. Here's what makes AEO fundamentally different: - It's not about traffic volume anymore—it's about being the cited source - 58% of consumers now use voice search to find local businesses - AI platforms synthesize multiple sources into single answers, making authority more critical than ever At Roswell, we've already transitioned our entire practice to this new reality. While others are still figuring out what AEO means, we're: ✓ Engineering content that AI systems preferentially cite ✓ Building structured data architectures that answer engines understand ✓ Creating question-based content strategies that capture voice and AI searches ✓ Developing methodologies for tracking AI mentions and citations The results speak for themselves. Our clients aren't just surviving the SEO apocalypse—they're thriving in the age of AI search. The hard truth: Brands still focused solely on traditional SEO are fighting yesterday's war. Gartner predicts organic search traffic will decrease by 50% or more as consumers embrace generative AI-powered search. That's not a future threat—it's happening right now. But here's the opportunity: While everyone else panics about declining organic traffic, forward-thinking brands are positioning themselves as the authoritative sources that AI systems trust and cite. Ready to lead instead of react? Let's talk about how Roswell can architect your AEO strategy for 2025 and beyond. Read our latest insights on making the shift from search to answers → https://lnkd.in/eTNSZTJw #AnswerEngineOptimization #AEO #AISearch #DigitalStrategy #FutureOfSearch #SEO

80% of today's SEO agencies will be irrelevant by 2027. And I'm not being dramatic. The search landscape is undergoing its most significant transformation since Google launched. AI-driven search, zero-click results, and the death of the 10 blue links are just the beginning. The agencies still obsessing over keyword stuffing and backlink quantities are already dead - they just don't know it yet. And the ones pumping out 100s of AI bulk generated blog posts, effectively just scaling pure mediocrity - they have never really been alive. Here's why most agencies won't survive: • They're selling tactics, not outcomes • They're clinging to vanity metrics instead of revenue impact • They're treating AI as a threat, not a tool • They're optimizing for an internet that no longer exists The winners in this new era won't be the ones with the biggest link building networks or the most sophisticated SEO tools. They'll be the agencies who understand that SEO is now about: • Creating genuine value that answers user intent • Focusing on conversions, not just rankings • Integrating search into the full marketing ecosystem • Using AI to amplify human creativity, not replace it At Radyant, we've been preparing for this shift by focusing exclusively on SEO initiatives that actually drive measurable results. And we’re constantly pushing the limits with AI, but not to save costs but to create what wasn’t possible before. The search revolution is here. The question isn't whether your SEO strategy needs to evolve. It's whether your agency is capable of evolving with it. Agree? #seo

For all "SEO's dead" out there: Searches for "𝗦𝗘𝗢 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆" are at their highest in years. We have 3 factors that are highly influential here: 𝟭) 𝗦𝗘𝗢 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗦𝗘𝗢 Multi channel SEO. Google is no longer the only search engine that matters, think of ChatGPT, Youtube, Perplexity and others. Ranking on all of these comes from feeding their algorithm with high quality information (content) that's optimized for both search engines, but also (often ignored) end-customers, and most of internal marketing teams aren't agile enough to keep up with this. 𝟮) 𝗦𝗘𝗢 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀, 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 Demand for SEO doesn't come as a surprise. Just analyze sources where conversions are coming from. Simply, people (especially in the B2B space) react much more positively when they find a solution themselves rather than having it aggressively pushed on them, and that's what SEO brings to the table. For example, according to Semrush, ROI of SEO for B2B SaaS is 𝟳𝟬𝟮%, while PPC is at only 31%. 𝟯) 𝗟𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 I've seen a genius Content Mavericks' ad that summarizes this point really well: "SEO takes too long to perform? Then don't do it, make my day. Keep sending those LinkedIn connection requests. Keep spamming those Facebook groups. In 5 years, we'll see who's got a bigger business."

SEO in B2B is evolving rapidly, and in 2025, it's no longer just about ranking on Google. The rise of answer engines like GPT, Claude, and Gemini has fundamentally changed how businesses discover and consume information. These AI-driven models are now acting as intermediaries, pulling insights from multiple sources and providing direct responses to queries, often without users ever clicking through to a website. For B2B companies, this shift means that traditional SEO strategies focused on keywords and backlinks are no longer enough. The emphasis is now on structured data, authority, and depth of content. AI models prioritize high-quality, context-rich content that answers specific questions with clarity and precision. If a company wants to be visible in these answer engines, it needs to structure its knowledge in a way that these models can easily interpret and trust. Contextual authority is becoming more critical than ever. AI models favor sources that consistently produce reliable, expert-driven content. This means that companies must double down on thought leadership, case studies, and technical deep dives rather than generic blog posts. The goal is to be cited directly by AI-driven tools as a primary source of truth. Another key factor is conversational optimization. As B2B buyers increasingly use AI chat models for research, businesses need to optimize for natural language queries rather than just traditional search engine results. Content must be structured in a way that mirrors how real users ask questions, using FAQs, detailed explanations, and even interactive elements that AI can easily interpret. Technical SEO is also shifting towards machine readability. Schema markup, API integrations, and AI-friendly content formatting are becoming essential. Websites that make it easy for AI models to extract, verify, and contextualize information will have a significant competitive edge. The companies that succeed in this new era will be those that stop seeing SEO as just a way to rank on Google and start viewing it as a way to influence AI-driven decision-making. The future of B2B visibility depends on becoming the go-to source for answer engines, not just search engines.