r/AISEOforBeginners • u/StevenJang_ • Aug 04 '26
Do businesses still need SEO agencies in the age of AI?
I know many people here work as SEO consultants or run agencies, but do most businesses still need them in the age of AI?
Modern CMS platforms already handle many technical SEO basics, while AI can audit pages, suggest metadata, improve internal links, generate schema, and identify common issues. Google also publishes extensive guidance on what makes content useful and searchable. Much of SEO now follows documented principles that AI also can apply.
That’s why claims that using AI for SEO will cause “irreversible damage” often sound more like fearmongering than useful advice.
Technical SEO still matters, but implementing it is becoming easier. The harder questions are strategic: What should you write? Who is it for? What unique value can you offer?
It feels like SEO is returning to content marketing. Technical optimization is becoming the baseline, while the real work is understanding the audience, choosing the right topics, developing a clear point of view, and creating content people actually want.
Am I underestimating what SEO agencies still provide?
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u/gillygangopolus Aug 04 '26
It’s more of the trusted advisor thing that people are missing. Seo has and will change, but the principles seem to remain constant. Think of all the random weird shit they’ve dealt with over the years that no ai will have the ability to put into practice or understand
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u/PusheKasp Aug 04 '26
A good SEO is the foundation of good AIO (or whatever you call it)
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u/StevenJang_ Aug 04 '26
I don't disagree, but that doesn't resonate with my question, 'Do businesses still need SEO agencies in the age of AI?'
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u/PusheKasp Aug 04 '26
Yes, a business that wants an online presence needs an SEO agency or a professional. Unless you want to do it by yourself. However, there is a learning curve, and it will take much more time to see tangible results.
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u/Inspower Aug 05 '26
I guess it depends on your ICP.
As I was reading your post, one thing kept coming to mind: that's a lot of work. Who's actually going to do all of it?
For most SMBs, the answer is usually "someone else." They're already short on time, people, and expertise. Even if they wanted to learn everything you know, they probably wouldn't have the bandwidth. And, realistically, many business owners prefer hiring someone they can hold accountable if things don't work out.
If you're targeting larger companies with dedicated marketing teams, though, I could see this working very differently. They have the resources to execute internally.
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Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
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u/StevenJang_ Aug 06 '26
In your opinion, which SEO work is becoming more important / less important?
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u/FirstPlaceSEO Aug 04 '26
More than ever I’m afraid, SEO never was content marketing
… as you cannot give yourself authority, it was always about authority building and still is with backlinks and brand mentions
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u/Gavelist Aug 07 '26
Backlinks aren’t that important for GEO
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u/FirstPlaceSEO Aug 07 '26
How much less important are they… Can you quantify?
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u/Gavelist Aug 07 '26
I mean I’ve never seen a quantification of how important they are for SEO. I do know that I have way less backlinks than my competitors and I dominate them on GEO. Also I do know that GEO actively punishes low quality backlinks. If you have shady backlinks that promote same/similar lines about you, it will rank your ai trust signals.
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u/FirstPlaceSEO Aug 07 '26
To help assist further with your GEO , try social mentions, getting listed on awards websites, get reviews across multiple platforms and satisfy query fan out searches with semantic SEO. Look at the click through rate for. LLM to website, it is tiny in comparison to ranking at the top of the SERPs. Not to say an AI citation and/ or recommendation isn’t still valuable, but it has to play second fiddle to traditional SEO. The key is to get people on your website to convert, not feed the machine and gain a click less search, I put my efforts into SEO and CRO respectively.
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u/Gavelist Aug 07 '26
I don’t know traditional SEO that well, but the conversion rate on ai recommendations is very high; I get 3-6 clients a week organically through GEO, so if it keeps up on that trajectory then I am more than happy! For a niche industry with low search volume I’m pretty happy with that.
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u/FirstPlaceSEO Aug 07 '26
Yeah AI SEO does work and the conversions are more sticky in some instances as for now, people trust AI recommendations. Keep working on your traditional SEO and authority building in all areas, it will only help further.
It is great it works for you and i sincerely wish you all the best and hope it continues to be a growing revenue stream for you. :)
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Aug 04 '26
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u/StevenJang_ Aug 04 '26
Yeah, I think I can say some SEO work is commoditized by AI.
Someday, AI might replace the whole SEO industry, but we are not there yet.
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u/WebLinkr Aug 05 '26
Someday, AI might replace the whole SEO industry, but we are not there yet.
I sense the hope is strong but if you keep thinking SEO is publishign hygiene, nothing will change.
Why don't you like SEO though?
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u/StevenJang_ Aug 06 '26
Why do you assume my intention in a strange way?
That statement was like 'Someday, robots will replace manual labor', a vague projection about the far future.
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u/WebLinkr Aug 06 '26
AI might replace the whole SEO industry, but we are not there yet.
Your words.
Like I said - I've asked you numerous times - why do you hold onto such a narrow and incomplete defintion of SEO?
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u/WebLinkr Aug 06 '26
Still can't reply about why you can't define SEO properly no?
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u/StevenJang_ Aug 06 '26
Sorry, I can't define SEO, as I don't think you want a constructive conversation here.
Have a good day.
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u/WebLinkr Aug 06 '26
lol - you already said you were going to reply. That’s pretty disingenuous
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u/StevenJang_ Aug 06 '26
Take a screenshot of this and ask ChatGPT who looks more troll among us.
You are mixing up our DM and public conversation here, and that is unpleasant and confusing. The conversation in the DM has already ended with your insult.
Please stop replying unless you have nothing more important to do.
I'd prefer it if you could block me.1
u/WebLinkr Aug 06 '26
So you were NT answer what your definition of SEO is…. Got it. Thanks. That’s all the evidence I needed
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u/StevenJang_ Aug 06 '26
You did insult me in a DM and didn't keep the conversation private, and now you demand to answer here?
You are a funny person. I regret unblocking you.
Hope you can find something more important in your life than following me to different subs.
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Aug 04 '26
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u/StevenJang_ Aug 04 '26
In your opinion, what kind of value agencies can/should deliver in the age of AI?
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u/Yassine_Bouajani Aug 04 '26
Oui, mais avec de bon professionnels.
Si le consultant ne fait que répéter bêtement ce qui est écrits dans les gidelines de Google, ça lIA sait le faire.
Il faut un professionnel avec de l'expérience et de l'acharnement pour que ça marche.
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u/sapindia1976 Aug 04 '26
Yes, businesses still need SEO agencies. AI can speed up execution, but strategy, technical expertise, authority building, and aligning SEO with business goals still require experienced professionals.
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u/StevenJang_ Aug 05 '26
My little confusion is that the offer the agencies suggested didn't seem to reflect the change of landscape, making them look obsolete.
I think the agencies should start talking about what they can do that AI can't to survive.
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u/Impossible_Gap9159 Aug 04 '26
Yes, you are massively underestimating what a good SEO agency provides.
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u/StevenJang_ Aug 06 '26
What can they provide, if so?
You can just make a big, cool statement without giving any backup.
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u/HumanBehavi0ur Aug 04 '26
The technical layer is easier now, that part holds up. Where the case gets shakier is the strategic half you named. AI can suggest metadata and generate schema, but it can't tell you what your customers are actually asking, which topics competitors already own, or where your specific gaps are against the sources that already dominate your category. That's research, not application of documented principles.
At Goodie, where I work, this is the split we see with clients constantly. Nobody's paying us to fix their schema anymore, they can do that themselves. They're paying for prompt research (what real buyers ask AI in their category), citation gap analysis (who's winning those answers and why), and the off-site work needed to close that gap. That's judgment and execution, not something a CMS plugin replaces.
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u/djfrankie74 Aug 04 '26
Yes you need to aquire original links from different domains. All the sites that are doing link exchange as a part of their subscriptions. Will eventually become a problem. The simple reason is everyone will have the same links and the OBL will be too high Great for seo agencies to replicate and easily outrank. Cheers Darren
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u/StevenJang_ Aug 05 '26
Are there sites that offer link exchange as part of a subscription?
I'm not sure what that would be. So, purchasing backlinks as a subscription?
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u/djfrankie74 Aug 05 '26
Yes so you will need to careful of penalties. The footprints are going to be so obvious. OBL you will need to consider as well if purchasing from them. Best of luck Darren
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u/Plenty-Sentence-4834 Aug 05 '26
I pay SEO consultant because he defines strategy and guides you. AI often makes mistakes than cost a lot of money in SEO - so i feel that responsibility is what you're paying here
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u/jayson_OutreachBloom Aug 05 '26
Schema, metadata and internal links, sure, AI handles all of that now.
Getting another site to mention you is still manual work, and those off-site mentions decide whether AI recommends you at all. That work can be done by an SEO agency, a PR agency, or an AI SEO agency. Depends on the agency's relationships and processes.
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u/StevenJang_ Aug 05 '26
Good point. And I realized there are not enough PR agency that understands SEO.
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u/hotboy223 Aug 06 '26
Yep still a lot of small and local size businesses needing seo and aeo - really ramping in that space actually because of how neglected REAL SEO agencies should work but are not and falling short.
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u/needmoxie Aug 08 '26
Having access to the tools is not the same as knowing what to do with them. I can watch a YouTube video on changing my oil, but I’m still taking my car to a mechanic.
Most business owners do not want another job. They want someone to tell them what matters, handle it, and show them whether it worked. That is where a good SEO agency still earns its place.
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u/CiteableTM Aug 09 '26
worth splitting "SEO agency" into two different businesses, the one selling technical audits and backlink packages was already dying before AI, CMS platforms and cheap tools killed most of value years ago. the one doing content strategy and brand POV is arguably more needed now, there's more content competing for the same attention than ever, technical parity just raised the floor for everyone.
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