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October 4, 2026
Strategy
Hiring an SEO agency after getting burned: the 30-day test
Find which of 4 patterns burned you, then hire the next SEO agency on a 30-day strategy month you own.
Matthew Proctor
12 min read
What we're learning from organic growth programs for proptech, fintech, and high-stakes B2B brands, where the sales cycle is long and legal signs off on every page.
A year of client work changed my mind about GEO as a discipline. I still think the shortcuts are a waste of money.
Shorter notes from the week, posted on LinkedIn first.
The fastest way to see how we think about search, content, and growth.
How a startup can build content and SEO into a multimillion-dollar channel, starting with the first hire.
Most technical SEO fixes won't move revenue. Content and links do most of the work.
The salaries, vendors, and 3 to 4 years of patience behind a $1M content program that paid back more than 10X.
What Databox CEO Peter Caputa gets right about content-led growth and social selling.
Every post comes out of programs we run. We measure them in leads and revenue.
Blog leads a month, from September 2025 to July 2026, in one of the roughest housing markets in years. Converted leads went from 3 to 29.
Demo requests from a single webinar we built and promoted, with 300 attendees.
The content and SEO program our founding team built at HomeLight, from Series A to its unicorn round in 4 years.
Read the case studyWe'll review your search and AI visibility for free.
A 20-minute teardown with the people who'd run your program.
Each topic has its own page with every post we've written on it.
GEO, AI Overviews, and earning citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude.
Short answers to the questions marketers ask us most, written up so you can read or watch.
What's working in AI search when the sales cycle is long, the product is complicated, and legal has to sign off. Written from client programs with revenue targets attached.
Read the latest issue, I told a prospect to spend his first $5K somewhere else
Newest first.
Find which of 4 patterns burned you, then hire the next SEO agency on a 30-day strategy month you own.
A year of client work changed my mind about GEO as a discipline. I still think the shortcuts are a waste of money.
How to compare content agencies in 2026, what to ask them, and which kind of agency fits which kind of company.
Backlinks, internal links, blog length, author bios, agencies, and whether SEO is snake oil. 17 years of answers.
Traffic forecasts, blogs that don't convert, funnel mix, SEO vs. LinkedIn, and whether your CEO should make content.
3 things that give you the best shot at a mention or link in Google's AI Overviews right now.
A comparison page, an original survey, and a loans content program. 3 times our clients got into AI Overviews.
The search funnel marketers relied on is broken. How we're rethinking the website, discovery content, and SEO.
Content teams rewarded for clicks and impressions end up on the chopping block. Align the team on leads and revenue.
5 checks for using AI in marketing without losing quality, trust, or your brand's voice.
Matt McGee on how The Walkthrough podcast grew from 0 to 5K listeners at a real estate tech company.
Fewer searches end in a click every year. What that means for where your content needs to show up.
What Databox CEO Peter Caputa gets right about content-led growth and social selling.
Readers can tell when copy was written by AI, and it makes them trust you less.
Skip the algorithm chasing. Talk to customers, answer their questions, and earn attention.
People use every platform to learn about everything, including the topics your buyers care about.
What a steady content and link program built for a fitness startup, with no growth hacks.
How a startup can build content and SEO into a multimillion-dollar channel, starting with the first hire.
The salaries, vendors, and 3 to 4 years of patience behind a $1M content program that paid back more than 10X.
Most technical SEO fixes won't move revenue. Content and links do most of the work.
Almost 90% of our writer applicants skipped the writing samples. Here's why that matters.