{"id":6614,"date":"2024-08-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cherylroll.com\/billion-dollar-one-person-seo-agency-445273\/"},"modified":"2024-08-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T00:00:00","slug":"billion-dollar-one-person-seo-agency-445273","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cherylroll.com\/billion-dollar-one-person-seo-agency-445273\/","title":{"rendered":"The billion-dollar one-person SEO agency: Fiction or the future?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sam Altman, cofounder of OpenAI, is in a betting pool with other tech CEOs.<\/p>\n
The bet is simple.<\/p>\n
What the first year will be for a one-person billion-dollar company?<\/p>\n
This article will examine whether a billion-dollar, one-person SEO<\/a> agency can emerge.<\/p>\n Is it pure fiction or is it the future?<\/p>\n If we look at what Sam Altman said, he initially stated that we would see the emergence of 10-person billion-dollar companies soon.<\/p>\n The first goal is to see if we can reach a 10-person billion-dollar SEO agency.<\/p>\n But we also need to be clear: when I say a billion dollars, I mean the company valuation, not turnover.<\/p>\n The turnover for that valuation could be described as $100 million in annual recurring revenue… ouch!<\/p>\n My brain is already hurting, so let’s try and break this down.<\/p>\n We’ll need AI agents for a 10 or even 1-person SEO agency to be worth $1 billion.<\/p>\n These AI agents will take care of the tasks that SEOs do now.<\/p>\n Before you close this down, consider the makeup of the average SEO agency.<\/p>\n With the emergence of AI, the roles of operations, client services, writers, SEO execs, account managers, SEO directors and tech SEOs could be significantly transformed or even replaced by AI agents, potentially reshaping the entire SEO industry.<\/p>\n AI agents could effectively handle these roles, demonstrating their adaptability and potential in the SEO industry.<\/p>\n We already see a lot of customer service being outsourced to AI in every sector, so why not SEO?<\/p>\n Account management<\/a> could be as easy as receiving a client’s email or chat message. The agent would send a reply based on their account status.<\/p>\n It’s hard to imagine why this wouldn’t be faster and better for clients.<\/p>\n As a general rule, if what you do needs clicks on a computer, AI agents can be trained to do the same as you.<\/p>\n They only need to understand the game’s rules and what perfection looks like.<\/p>\n Even today, GPT can create SEO checklists in seconds:<\/p>\n And then tell you how to undertake each part.<\/p>\n This is alongside the likely future website having its own AI that can instantly alter URLs and make sitewide changes.<\/p>\n For instance, an AI could be programmed to identify and fix broken links, optimize meta tags or even suggest content strategies based on user behavior, automating many of the tasks currently performed by SEO professionals.<\/p>\n It’s easy to see how SEO AI could communicate with AI web devs inside the platforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n When I raised this point on LinkedIn long ago, a few SEOs said:<\/p>\n “AI will never be able to do that?”<\/p>\n Ding dong… wake up, people.<\/p>\n AI is being used to detect cancers and complicated online fraud.<\/p>\n Don’t confuse the current version of AI with what is coming.<\/p>\n Dig deeper: Could AI eventually make SEO obsolete?<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n How would this system work? In a one- or 10-person agency using AI, you’ll see a range of roles performed by either a single person in charge or by a few.<\/p>\n Let’s break this down into phases.<\/p>\n Sitting on top of the tree is the agency owner. Their job is to be the agency’s voice and marketer.<\/p>\n Yes, they will have a marketing manager, but they are the business’s CEO and main driver.<\/p>\n It is the owner that negotiates deals and brings in clients.<\/p>\n The operations manager handles the machine and ensures it runs smoothly, including contracts, staff wages, HR, etc.<\/p>\n Using AI to generate content and run ads, the marketing manager helps the business to be seen.<\/p>\n This is the most important role outside of the owner’s involvement.<\/p>\n AI client services will have an army of agents, chat assistants and ways for large volumes of clients to have their concerns handled.<\/p>\n Like any modern business, AI assistants, chatbots and outsourced customer service will be available. No-code tools such as Make allow for automation, especially in customer service.<\/p>\n The client services manager gets involved only when a problem becomes too much for AI. This will allow a client services manager empowered by AI to handle countless clients.<\/p>\n Large language models<\/a> (LLMs) can manage content at scale, so this doesn’t need much explanation. However, one or two writers are needed to ensure the content is created effectively.<\/p>\n An AI-empowered SEO exec will largely ensure that the agencies are running effectively.<\/p>\n They ensure the work gets done by ensuring the agents have what they need.<\/p>\n The account managers are overseeing it all.<\/p>\n As the standards checkers, they make sure agents are doing the work correctly.<\/p>\n The SEO director in an AI world decides the strategies, the processes and the right technology to use.<\/p>\n Assisted by AI agents that can build entire strategies, the director ensures the results are happening agency-wide.<\/p>\n A tech SEO in this world is fixing the AI agents. They are an AI technician.<\/p>\n In this model, a 10-person agency could handle many clients and enjoy high profits.<\/p>\n Dig deeper: Will AI replace SEO professionals?<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Tools like Semrush have led the way with their highly useful AI SEO assistant.<\/p>\n Ahrefs has brought out its equally impressive page inspection and content changes tool, which allows you to see what changes were made on a website to increase its rankings.<\/p>\n Both tools are gaining data that is going to train their AI models.<\/p>\n In the not-too-distant future, AI can reverse engineer precisely what you need to rank simply by observing sites in every niche and the changes that lead to better results.<\/p>\n Remember, SEO is largely a game of recognizing and applying success patterns in the SERPs.<\/p>\n Hold on. If Ahrefs and Semrush will unlock the secrets to SEO, won’t that mean everyone will plug their websites into those tools?<\/p>\n This isn’t SEO communism; it’s a capitalist market, one in which numerous SEO tools will compete for customers, each gathering data and developing its own AI models.<\/p>\n The same goes for SEO agencies.<\/p>\n For any SEO agency to be that 10 or even one-person billion-dollar brand, they’ll have to win clients.<\/p>\n Those clients will want to avoid dealing with SEO tools or platforms or setting up AI agents; they’ll equally be running their own organizations.<\/p>\n But for now, let’s be clear.<\/p>\n We’ll be able to set up AI agents to handle everything from client onboarding to SEO tactics and delivery.<\/p>\n And that is a key part of the next bit.<\/p>\n If we eliminate staff from the SEO, we inevitably end up with a replacement.<\/p>\n An army of AI agents, but these need training from SEO.<\/p>\n This will be the first port of call for differentiation in the market. The actual ability of the AIs through their training.<\/p>\n Even with data from SEO tools about what’s working and what isn’t, SEOs will still decide how to train their AIs and what to focus on.<\/p>\n And even with AI agents, SEOs can still differentiate themselves in the market.<\/p>\n Get the newsletter<\/a> search marketers rely on.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat Altman said<\/h2>\n
Arise AI SEO agents<\/h2>\n
Phase 1: 10-person agency<\/h2>\n
Agency owner<\/h3>\n
Operations<\/h3>\n
Marketing manager<\/h3>\n
Client services<\/h3>\n
Writers<\/h3>\n
SEO execs<\/h3>\n
Account managers<\/h3>\n
SEO directors<\/h3>\n
Tech SEOs<\/h3>\n
SEO is about patterns, which AI loves<\/h2>\n
‘Who has the best SEO AI agents?’<\/h2>\n