Why Traditional SEO Agencies are Dying

For the past few years, a silent change has been engulfing the content marketing industry.

There is a steady rise in freelancers, contractors, and boutique agencies that have many high-profile clients. They are pulling in thousands of dollars in profits per month, if not more.

I know it because I spoke to a few LinkedIn friends who were a part of such agencies and do freelancing on the side. The boutique agencies, which started their journey 2-3 years ago at most, are raking in millions of dollars in ARR.

In fact, I am aware of such a company that’s not even a year old, that earns a few hundred thousand dollars per month with a team of five.

And the same thing is true for experienced content writers who have multiple freelance clients. They earn nearly 2-3x more than full-time employees, and they are turning down work — imagine that in this economy!

On the flip side, established content marketing and SEO agencies that once dominated this space are getting cooked. Slowly but surely, these brands, which used to be the go-to options for businesses looking for their organic marketing needs, are bleeding to death.

Big brands don’t want them anymore, forcing them to become bottom-feeders. Yes, these companies that once looked unbeatable are now competing on price points, not value.

So what happened? Is it AI? Or did the gig economy finally go into overdrive?

In this article, I’ve highlighted the reasons why exactly this shift is happening by drawing insights from my experience of working in such an agency for nearly five years and occasionally freelancing on the side.

1. Lack of basic marketing knowledge

Big SEO and content marketing agencies have a Down Syndrome-ish approach:

1. Find the popular keywords for a niche. Usually, it’s broad, educational terms like “project management” and “customer education.”

2. Search them on Google to find generic blue links, such as “Project Management for Beginners” and “Customer Education 101: Everything You Need to Know.”

3. Create similar content, but longer, so more keywords can be targeted (read=stuffed).

4. Promote the crap out of it via link-building. 

And you know what, that strategy worked wonderfully in 2016. It peaked in 2019-20.

But now, things have changed. 

After numerous Google algorithm updates and the adoption of AI search platforms into product/service research workflows, writing long, generic but popular content does little.

It doesn’t even get you traffic because such topics are addressed by AI itself. 

Now, the only content that performs (attracts high-intent leads) is the ones who satisfy the search intent of the buyer. Brands need to figure out the problems or questions their potential customers might face through their purchase journey and address them through actionable content.

Basically, you have to be problem state-focused instead of being keyword-focused.

Something these traditional SEO and content marketing agencies have failed to do. When they get a client inquiry, and their request is “We need customers,” these agencies reply with, “Don’t know about customers, but we will get you the #1 rank on Google for popular keywords.”

They rarely take time to use the product or understand their services to identify the problems their audience might have: in their professional life, and while making a purchase decision.

Instead, they approach marketing as a checklist. Use a bunch of tools, put the square peg in the square hole, and voila, rankings.

2. Focus on looking professional

When working with a client, established content marketing and SEO companies engage thoroughly in these fruitless endeavors:

1. Creating extra-long questionnaires to understand their client’s offering. These are pages of documents with subjective questions that will take longer than three hours to answer.

2. Pretending to be an MNC with their enterprise-like processes. I am talking about branded documents, needlessly long review cycles, and bottlenecks.

In their closed minds, they are “learning” about the client’s brand and its USP. They are gaining in-depth knowledge at an enviable level.

Similarly, the needlessly bloated workflows with dumb administrative tasks make them feel like they are being compliant.

Here’s the truth: 

1. No product or service is that difficult to understand. You can learn most of it on your own through the internet. The nuanced details can be collected from the client in a 30-minute call.

2. You are an agency. Just comply with the NDA and don't do anything stupid like leaking sensitive client info online. After that, you should just focus on the deliverable that the client is paying for.

Their obsession with appearing like a senior business executive from a global leading brand in a compliance-heavy industry kills momentum. They become slow. 

Interestingly, the very reason why SEO and content marketing agencies are hired is speed. Large enterprises operate slowly; hence, they outsource. Pretending to be them defeats the whole purpose of outsourcing.

On the other hand, boutique agencies and experienced freelancers move extremely rapidly. They deliver content within the first two weeks of onboarding the client. Completed drafts with images and meta details. Ready to publish.

They follow a straightforward approach (which should be the norm):

1. Analyze their brand to identify what it does and where it shines in the niche.

2. Create a content strategy around the problem states of their audience.

3. Put it into production immediately after approval.

Every step is executed in an agile and lean manner. The only questions they ask the client are the ones they can’t find the answers to. Their content production process is linear, giving them the speed to impress their clients.

Established agencies overcomplicate the fundamental workflows for no goddamn reason.

3. Writer rarely talks with the client

In most of the established agencies, the client primarily interacts with the account manager and the content marketing or SEO strategist. The writer may sit in a few meetings here and there, but they rarely exchange direct words.

Of course, this arrangement is great when you are producing long-form BoFu content to hog rankings, not deliver value. 

For delivering value to the target audience, the writer needs to sit with the founders and senior marketing executives. This interaction is critical to understand the nuances of everything and collect necessary information for producing conversion-focused content.

I’ve experienced the pain of the agency-style approach in my professional career several times.

The content or SEO strategist will suggest titles based on keywords and ask me to convert them into outlines and drafts without keeping the client in the loop. When the client finally sees the finished draft that doesn’t match their vision or serve any meaningful search intent, they get furious.

Usually, clients churn due to these types of issues because, well, first, they need content that optimizes revenue metrics, not just rank higher on generic but popular keywords, and second, such an unhinged content writing process where they are not updated feels disrespectful.

During this period, they perceive the said agency as incapable and overrated, which doesn’t know the basics of marketing and can’t get the fundamentals right.

4. Change resistance due to “old money” mindset

Throughout my life, I’ve realized one core truth: change is the only constant.

This platitude is valid for everything: the material around us, our perception of reality, daily habits, and the general state of existence. 

And the professional and business world is no exception.

The only way you can deal with it effectively is by rolling with the punches. Maintain a close connection with reality to identify what’s going on and what’s expected of you, then go ahead and make those edits, whether it is in the mind, money, or muscle.

Unfortunately, the leaders in traditional SEO and content marketing agencies have trouble comprehending this foundational concept of life.

They continue to stick to the best practices from 2015 because they used to deliver value once upon a time. The past successes have blinded them from looking at the new trends and technologies that have already transformed the marketing industry.

If you pitch rankings to today’s clients, expect to get ghosted. Rankings in themselves mean nothing, just like AI citations. As long as the content piece that’s picked up by a traditional or AI search algorithm doesn’t address a verified search intent, it won’t lead to any conversions.

“But it used to work fantastically,” they will claim.

Yes, and once upon a time, we thought thumb drives and CD/DVDs were the future of digital storage. Cloud drives came out of nowhere and blew these industries out of the water.

Honestly, the only companies that will outsource to content and SEO agencies are those with little understanding of marketing themselves. And within a few months, when they gain enough knowledge, they will churn.

Conclusion: Evolve with the internet

If you depend on the internet to make money, you must evolve with it. 

Now, marketing clients want their promotional efforts to support their sales and revenue goals, rather than visibility that amounts to nothing. Additionally, they want speed in everything, from strategy to drafting.

Most of the SEO and content marketing agencies that once dominated the market are stuck in the mud. Consequently, they are dying. 

And this translates to opportunity for those who can make the necessary adjustments to deliver what the market wants.

Boutique agencies and multi-skilled freelancers have identified the demands and are leveraging modern technologies and updated frameworks to meet, even exceed, their clients’ expectations.

Unsurprisingly, they are winning.

In this capitalistic world, you need to offer what your buyers want by maintaining a close connection with the public. Peddling unwanted crap that you can easily produce will simply make you a sitting duck.

Game is game.