How Do Agencies Get Clients If SEO Is Dying? (Push vs Pull Marketing)

Alex used to be good at wording a Google search just right. He can't remember the last time he did one, since any AI takes a vague description and gets him the answer. That's a problem for agencies that grew on SEO. Chris thinks SEO agencies should sell GEO as its own price tier even if most of the work is the same (quality content, topical authority and the right schema). We also get into why the agencies you pay for links don't flag the ones that disappear or quietly turn nofollow, which is the gap Backlink Pilot, Wayfront's link-checking side project, was built to fill.

Then there's paid reach. ChatGPT shows ads on its free plan while Plus and up stay ad-free, so who does a B2B ad actually reach? Chris thinks the real audience is AI-curious small business owners who only use the free plan for quick questions, which is why the ads he sees offer to set up AI in your business.

On the AI side, Alex wants the team on RAM-heavy laptops running local models at the next refresh, while Chris would rather put one big shared machine in his office. That sounds a lot like Sam Altman's argument that RAM in home PCs is wasted, and Alex, a PC gamer, is not having it. Chris's local model on his iPhone starts compacting after two questions, he's been locking down AWS roles, and an AI security audit fixed its own finding in a PR before he ever read the report. He's also looking at small language models trained for one job, like a sales agent that keeps the CRM fresh, and training data has turned into its own industry, with companies paying cleaners to wear GoPros so robots can learn chores.

We close on push vs pull. Small agencies have mostly grown on pull, planting a flag in an SEO or GEO pocket and letting inbound find them. Chris thinks that's getting harder and that push (brand advertising, showing up wherever your ICP is) matters more. Alex points out that being everywhere like HubSpot takes HubSpot money, and wonders whether buyers who don't know they have a problem will ever feel the need to switch. Chris agrees the sales cycle runs longer, so the goal is being the name they remember when someone drops the ball.