Author: Jordan Brannon

Search is changing fast. And artificial intelligence (AI) is behind most of that change. Top SEO firms know this and are not waiting around. They use AI to find better keywords, predict trends, and save time without guessing. If you are still doing keyword research the old way, you are already behind.

A good SEO deck tells you what’s going on and what to do about it. That’s it. The rest is decoration. You’re paying for clarity. For judgment. For direction. Not for color-coded boxes or slides stuffed with jargon. A good SEO consultant walks in with a deck that explains how the site works today, where it’s stuck, what they’re going to change, and what happens after that.

Going global with your SEO? Forget copy-pasting your U.S. strategy. From Yandex in Russia to Baidu in China, each market has its own search engines, buyer habits, and cultural differences. The top SEO agencies that succeed are the ones that know how to adapt everything, from keywords to backlinks, for each region.

A Google penalty can feel like a full-blown business crisis. Traffic tanks, leads vanish, and panic takes over. But while some rush into band-aid fixes, the best SEO firms take a measured, strategic approach. They know that recovery isn’t about guessing, but about precision, discipline, and patience.

A site migration is like moving a house while the family’s still inside and dinner’s on the stove. The lights need to work, the fridge stays cold, and the neighbors still know where to find you. Google’s one of those neighbors, and if you confuse it, you’ll lose trust, rankings, and revenue overnight.

Link building still works but just not the way most people do it. The goal isn’t to collect as many backlinks as possible: it’s to earn the right ones. Usually, the “link building is dead” crowd never did it right in the first place.

Most SEO audits are just checklists: they check boxes, list vague “issues,” and fail to connect the dots between what’s broken and what affects performance. Best SEO agencies take a different approach: they conduct SEO audits to diagnose business-impacting problems.

Here’s what separates the Best SEO agencies from those who only use template-based reports.

Technical SEO doesn’t directly drive leads or revenue, so it gets pushed aside. However, if search engines can’t properly read your website, then good content or links won’t help. The best SEO teams handle technical work like taking care of a system.

Keyword research isn’t about picking the terms with the most traffic; not if you want it to work. The best SEO agencies treat keyword research as a core business function. It shapes site structure, content priorities, targeting, and even product positioning.