SEO agencies, reviewed and ranked

Technical SEO, content and links — plus whether they have adapted to AI answer engines. The highest cut rate of any discipline in the library.

30 evaluated, of which we would put 25 in front of a client and cut 5.

Rankings are not the deliverable

A keyword-ranking screenshot is the easiest artefact in marketing to produce and the least connected to revenue. This rubric weights measurement tied to pipeline — organic-sourced pipeline, conversions, assisted revenue — well above ranking reports. If an agency's reporting stops at positions and traffic, it has chosen a metric that cannot be falsified by your finance team.

Ask where the links come from, in detail

Link building is where this category's integrity problems concentrate. Earned links through digital PR, original data and genuine outreach score well; bought placements, private blog networks and guest-post farms are a liability you inherit rather than an asset you buy. The question to ask is not whether they build links but whether they will show you the last twenty they placed.

AEO is the 2026 split in this field

A growing share of search now resolves inside an AI answer rather than a click, which rewards content that is extractable, attributable and citable — and penalises keyword-shaped filler. Agencies with a real position on answer-engine visibility are pulling away from agencies still selling 2019 SEO with a new deck.

Evaluated

And the ones we cut, so you can judge the rest

Named, with the reason and the sources.