How AI-First SEO Agencies Are Outgrowing Competitors

About This Episode

What does it really take for modern agencies to scale faster, stay more profitable, and outgrow the competition in an AI-driven world?

In this powerful roundtable episode of SEO On Air, five agency leaders break down how AI is transforming operations, hiring, culture, and client outcomes, and why the agencies that adopt AI intentionally will outpace everyone else.

Featuring insights from:

• Klint Rudolph – Co-Founder, Excite Group 
• Matthew Khorsandi – Founder, GLP Marketing / SERPs.com 
• Adam Paine – CEO, New Brands 
• Heather McElrath – Founder, Sandbox Communications 
• Haydn Fleming – CMO, Two Point 

From leadership development to offshore vs. onshore talent, to building AI-powered products and automations inside agencies, this episode goes deep into how the smartest agencies are scaling with clarity, culture, and technology.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• How to build leaders who scale with your agency
• How to maintain culture across distributed or offshore teams
• Why AI agents must be trained like employees
• How agencies are using AI for lead acquisition, automation & client experience
• Why AI is democratizing PR and marketing for small businesses
• The real reason some agencies avoid outsourcing, and when it works
• How “AI-first” agencies are productizing their processes

Key Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction to the Podcast

01:50 – Guest introductions & agency backgrounds

09:13 – Building leadership teams that scale

14:36 – Culture-first hiring & team alignment

18:15 – Onboarding that accelerates growth

20:47 – Systems & operations that unlock scale

23:55 – Onshore vs offshore: cost & communication

30:32 – Small-agency perspective on outsourcing

31:02 – Hybrid teams & offshore development realities

36:52 – When offshore works, when it fails & the role of agency size

39:27 – Future of outsourcing in an AI-accelerated world

42:28 – AI in Marketing for lead generation & B2B outreach

44:36 – AI leveling the PR landscape

45:38 – Training AI like an employee

49:28 – Productizing AI & the rise of AI-first agencies

54:03 – Final Thoughts – The Rise of AI-First Agencies

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