SEJ SOSAgency2024

Table Of Contents Contributors
Introduction 3 Survey Development, Data Analysis,

and Insight Development
Agency Salaries & Hiring Trends 5
ANGIE NIKOLEYCHUK
Employee Turnover At Agencies Content Marketing Manager
Agency Barriers To Success 11 Survey Development, Insight

Development, and Report Content
Agency Clients 16 BEN STEELE
Senior Editor, Ebooks
How Agencies Plan The Next 12 Months 19
SEO Focus Areas In The Next 12 Months Copyediting and Project Support
Business Opportunities In The Next 12 Months BEA PE BENITO
Editorial Assistant
How Agencies Leverage Automation & AI 26
Should You Use Generative AI To Write? A Flowchart Editing and Fact-Checking
Generative AI Chatbots & Content Best Practices Checklist KATIE MORTON

Senior Managing Growth Editor
AI Adoption At Agencies
Thank You For Reading 34 Project Management
Limitations 35 ABBY VILLARICA

Editorial Project Manager
ROCHELLE CARIÑO
Design Project Manager
Design
PAULO BOBITA
Director of Design
ROBIN BIONG
Graphic Designer
STATE OF SE O 2024: AGE NCY RE PORT 3
Introduction
Welcome to the State Of SEO: Agency Report, one of two
supplementary reports SEJ releases alongside the State Of SEO.
This year, the main report focused on unique and rapidly developing
disruptions in the SEO industry, as well as the opportunities that come with
them.
Agencies and SEO service providers have unique challenges and needs.
Increased competition, unpredictable traffic performance due to SERP
developments, and the rise of generative AI don’t just impact their own
discoverability, but their services and reputation as well.
Many agencies are moving quickly to adapt, increasing the pace of hiring
and planning to invest in AI software and generative AI.
At the same time, they’re using conservative and time-tested strategies to
weather the changes. We see a lot of focus on the fundamentals of SEO –
building their teams’ skills and hiring experienced candidates. Most leaders
recognize the allure of new career opportunities when businesses might be
scrambling to roll with the changes.

Just like in the main report, many agency and service-provider respondents
plan to focus on content and content strategy.
The most experienced agency SEO professionals will also focus on
user-centric factors like search intent and user experience. This is likely
to address the number one cause of client turnover: dissatisfaction with
traffic quality.
Generative AI, content audits, and content creation are the top priorities for
implementing new software solutions and automations.
Overall, it looks like agencies will take a confident position through the end
of 2023 and into 2024.
If you’re hungry for more data about the state of the SEO industry,
download the other two reports in the 2024 series:
The State Of SEO: Disruptions • AI • Content Strategies.
The State Of SEO: In-House Report.

Click or tap this icon on the lower right of each page
to navigate back to the Table of Contents.
Agency Salaries
Agency Salaries & &
Hiring Trends
Hiring Trends
In the main State Of SEO report, we found
72.8% 57.1% that five years seems to be a landmark

for SEO careers. Agencies prioritize
of agency SEO professionals with more than five make more
candidates with five or more years of
years of experience make more than $76,000. than $100,000.
experience in compensation.
0-4 Years Of Experience 5-10 Years Of Experience
< $15k 8.6% < $15k 3.1%
$16-30k 14.1% $16-30k 4.4%
$31-45k 15.7% $31-45k 4.6%
$46-60k 20.7% $46-60k 7.7%
$61-75k 9.2% $61-75k 7.3%
$76-100k 7.9% $76-100k 15.7%
$101-115k 6.4% $101-115k 13.4%
$116-130k 3.4% $116-130k 10.0%
$131-145k 4.8% $131-145k 9.5%
$146-160k 4.5% $146-160k 10.6%
$161-175k 2.1% $161-175k 10.0%
$176-200k 1.8% $176-200k 2.5%
> $201k 0.7% > $201k 1.1%

The majority of agencies (68.2%) plan to increase hiring this year, which A lot of job-seeker advice involves networking and personal branding.
is good news for the highly competitive SEO job market.
But our director-and-above level respondents say they find their best
When we asked directors where they find the best talent, the results talent on good old-fashioned job websites.
surprised us.
Are Agencies Planning To Hire Where Directors & Above

More Or Less This Year? Find The Best Talent
Job Website (Monster, Indeed, etc.)

36.4%
A lot more 20.5%
LinkedIn 17.0%
A little more 47.7%
Referrals/Networking 14.4%
About the same 18.0%

Government Job Bank 10.3%
A little less 9.5% Own Website 8.1%
SEO/Marketing Job Boards 7.2%

A lot less 4.3%
Other Social Media Network 5.9%
Other 0.7%
Teams of five to 10 people are more likely than Where Do You Find The Best Talent?
other teams to use: By Company Size
Job websites. <5 5-10 11-25 26-50 51-100 > 100
LinkedIn.
8.9% 25.0% 15.6% 19.7% 18.2% 10.7%
With one exception, teams of all sizes use Job Website

(Monster, Indeed, etc.)
LinkedIn about equally with a 5.4% range of
difference.
12.6% 24.6% 13.7% 15.1% 14.4% 17.2%
Teams of five to 10 people are the exception and LinkedIn

use it signficiantly more.
9.5% 19.9% 16.2% 18.3% 13.3% 20.8%
Very large teams of more than 100 people are
more likely than other teams to use: Referrals/Networking
Government job banks.

12.2% 15.1% 7.6% 10.5% 17.4% 32.6%
Their own websites.
Government Job Bank
Marketing-specific job boards.
Social networks other than LinkedIn. 5.9% 14.0% 7.3% 19.9% 22.8% 25.7%
With one exception, teams of all sizes use referrals Own Website
and networking about equally, with a 7.5% range
of difference. 5.0% 15.0% 9.2% 19.2% 16.7% 31.7%
SEO/Marketing
Teams under five people are an exception and use Job Boards
it significantly less. They may not have established
industry networks. 4.0% 22.2% 6.1% 14.1% 15.2% 34.3%
Other Social
Media Network
Employee Turnover What Causes Employee Turnover?

At Agencies
Career Advancement Opportunities 24.0%
When we were building the survey, we wondered
how aligned senior managers and their reports are Company Culture/Social Mismatch 13.4%
when it comes to the reasons for turnover.
Lack Of Work-Life Balance 11.8%
We were somewhat surprised to find the answers
very well aligned.
Bonuses 10.3%
Leadership and staff-level respondents picked

Pay 7.6%
answers in a very similar order, although there are
some key differences to note. The graph on the
Control/Independent Work 6.3%
right shows the overall results. On the next page,
we break down non-management, management,
and leadership responses. Professional Development 6.1%
Benefits 6.0%
Career Advancement Lack Of Vacation Time 4.4%

The biggest cause of employee
turnover according to both Diversity Of Tasks 3.9%
leadership and staff at agencies.
Return To Office (No Remote Option) 3.5%
Stress 2.1%
Other 0.8%
What Causes Employee Turnover? By Role

Junior/Mid-Level Manager Director
20.3% 21.8% 14.0% Leaders agree that career advancement is the top reason
Career Advancement Opportunities people leave, but to a much lesser degree than those
13.4% 13.2% 10.9% below them.
Lack Of Work-Life Balance
12.6% 12.8% 13.6%

They are also less likely to cite work-life balance as a
reason for turnover. Compare this to junior- and manager-
Company Culture/Social Mismatch
level respondents. Career advancement and work-life
11.4% 7.3% 9.1%
balance receieved a higher share of their answers.
Bonuses
7.7% 9.0% 8.7% Two reasons for this could be:

Pay
1 Leaders are more likely to cite other factors, such as a
6.1% 5.9% 5.3%
culture or social mismatch, as a reason for turnover.
Benefits
6.1% 5.9% 10.2% 2 Their higher-level view of teams could also mean they’re
Professional Development less directly clued in to the real reasons someone leaves.
5.7% 5.3% 9.1%
Control/Independent Work
4.1% 5.3% 6.0%
Lack Of Vacation Time
4.1% 2.9% 1.1%
Stress
3.7% 5.2% 5.7%
Diversity Of Tasks
3.3% 4.6% 5.3%
Return To Office (No Remote Option)
1.6% 0.8% 1.1%
Other
Agency Barriers
Agency Barriers
To Success
To Success
Barriers To Success: In The Last 12 Months, What Were Your Biggest

Barriers To SEO Success? (Select Up To 3.)
Small Teams
Budget Cuts/Approvals 12.2%
Agency SEO professionals chose budget cuts and client
relationship issues as their top two barriers to success. Client Relationship Issues 12.2%
These two answers could very well be related to one
another. Competition In SERPs 11.0%
In the main report, competition in SERPs was also a Rapid Onset Of New Technologies 10.5%
common answer. This, again, could be related to the
other top answers, as competition and SERP updates
Lack Of Resources 9.1%
make it more difficut to deliver results.
New Technology Or Skills 9.1%
Alignment With Other Departments 8.6%
Scaling Processes 8.1%
Management/Stakeholders Approval 7.3%
Strategy Issues 6.1%
Legal Approval 4.3%
Did Not Experience Any Challenges 1.3%
Other 0.2%
Smaller companies chose a larger share of client relationship Teams of five to 10 are the only group to place “lack of resources”
issues and budget cuts as their top answers than the average. in their top three.
Barriers To Success On Small Teams

<5 5 - 10
14.7% Budget Cuts/Approvals 13.2%
15.3% Client Relationship Issues 13.9%
13.0% Competition In SERPs 11.4%
8.8% Rapid Onset Of New Technologies 10.4%
6.2% Lack Of Resources 11.5%
8.6% New Technology Or Skills 8.0%
6.8% Scaling Processes 7.4%
6.8% Alignment With Other Departments 8.5%
7.4% Management/Stakeholders Approval 6.0%
5.9% Strategy Issues 5.3%
4.1% Legal Approval 2.9%
2.0% None/Other 1.6%

“Rapid onset of new technologies” becomes a larger concern “Client relationship issues” is the top concern of teams between 51 and 100 by
as the size of teams increases up to 100. a wider margin than other groups.
They are also the group most likely to encounter issues with scaling processes.
Barriers To Success: Medium And Large Teams

11-25 26 -50
6.4% Management/Stakeholders Approval 6.9%

The largest teams, above 100 people, differ greatly from the “curve” of Their top concern is alignment with other departments, which is
priorities in other groups. not a surprising result.
51-100 > 100
Management/Stakeholders Approval
7.6% 9.1%

Agency Clients
Agency Clients
Percentage Of New Clients By Team Size

< 25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-99%
None (All Long-Term Clients)
All Clients Are New This Year
Don’t Know
71%
of respondents say new clients make
26.1% 19.6% 13.0% 4.3% 10.9% 17.4% 8.7%
up less than 50% of their business.
Just Me
Small teams of under five people and solo operations
36.6% 24.8% 6.5% 6.5% 7.2% 15.0% 3.3% are much more likely to rely only on long-term contracts
with no new clients.
<5
What Percentage Of Your Clients

29.7% 45.7% 7.7% 5.1% 4.6% 5.1% 2.0%
Are New Clients?
5-10
None
(All Long-Term Clients) 4.8%
31.9% 42.7% 10.3% 5.6% 2.8% 2.4% 4.2%

< 25% 28.4%
11-25
26-50% 37.8%
28.9% 46.8% 8.3% 6.3% 3.6% 3.3% 2.7% 11.9%

51-75%
26-50 76-99% 9.8%
25.0% 39.1% 14.4% 9.9% 4.9% 3.9% 2.8% All Clients Are 4.4%
New This Year
51-100 Don’t Know 2.9%
23.8% 25.6% 20.8% 22.6% 3.3% 1.8% 2.1%

The largest teams acquire new clients at a much
higher rate, with 22.6% of respondents on those teams
> 100
reporting 76% or more new clients.
What Do You Think Is The Biggest Cause

Of Client Turnover? Traffic Quality
The top reason for client turnover,
Dissatisfied With according to 30.9% of respondents.
Quality Of Traffic 30.9%
Budget Cuts In the main report, and in the next section, you will see that
15.9%
SEO professionals are focused on finding ways to evaluate
user behavior and satisfaction.
Going To Competitors Qualifying traffic is an underlying theme in the metrics SEO

15.5%
pros use this year after content production.
Dissatisfied With Rankings

13.8%
Moving Services In-House

12.3%
Reallocating To Other
Marketing Methods 10.5%
Other
1.1%
How Agencies
How Agencies Plan Pla
The Next 12 Mont
The Next 12 Months
SEO Focus Areas Twenty-year professionals rate search intent second, and are
responsible for moving it higher on the overall list, as it is:
The majority of agency SEO professionals are focused on content
followed by data analysis. • Fifth for those with less than two years experience.
• Fourth for all others.
More experienced respondents, however, will prioritize how that
content serves search intent and what kind of experience it provides. See the full data breakdown on the next page.
Which Areas Do You Intend To Focus On In The Next 12 Months? (Select Up To 3.)
All Experience Levels 20+ Years Experience
14.4% Content Strategy/Production 14.6%
10.3% Data Analysis 9.9%
8.5% Search Intent For Pages 13.5%
8.2% Better Understanding The Audience 6.3%
8.2% Building A Subscriber List 8.9%
7.6% User Experience 10.9%
7.0% Social Media 3.1%
6.8% Improving Attribution 5.2%
5.2% Lead Generation 5.7%
5.1% PR & Influencer 3.6%
5.0% Link Building 3.6%
4.0% Paid Search 4.7%
3.9% User Journey 2.6%
3.1% On-Page Factors 3.6%
2.8% Workflows And Processes 3.6%
0.1% Other 0.0%

Focus Areas By Experience (Breakdown)

Content Strategy/Production Data Analysis Search Intent For Pages Better Understanding The Audience Building A Subscriber List User Experience
Social Media Improving Attribution Lead Generation PR & Influencer Link Building Paid Search
User Journey On-Page Factors Workflows And Processes Other
15.7% 9.7% 7.3% 9.5% 6.1% 8.4% 6.8% 4.1% 6.6% 4.5% 5.7% 4.3% 5.4% 3.0% 2.9% 0.0%
< 2 Years
16.0% 11.1% 8.6% 7.2% 9.9% 6.8% 7.6% 8.0% 4.6% 4.8% 4.5% 3.6% 3.4% 2.4% 1.5% 0.0%
2-4 Years
12.1% 9.9% 8.3% 8.9% 7.2% 7.7% 7.4% 6.8% 4.7% 5.7% 5.2% 4.1% 4.3% 3.9% 3.7% 0.0%
5-10 Years
15.4% 9.6% 8.3% 8.8% 7.9% 7.3% 5.2% 5.8% 6.7% 5.2% 5.4% 4.2% 2.7% 2.7% 3.7% 1.2%
11-20 Years
14.6% 9.9% 13.5% 6.3% 8.9% 10.9% 3.1% 5.2% 5.7% 3.6% 3.6% 4.7% 2.6% 3.6% 3.6% 0.0%
> 20 Years
Which Channel Drives New Business Google Search and Google Ads still come out on top
For The Company You Work For? as drivers of new business.
Google Search
Following that, agencies find more success with
11.4%
in-person outreach like business networks, sales,
Google Ads 10.5% and conferences more effective than social media.
In-Person Professional Business Networks 9.6% Creating better content with more insightful
strategies helps all of the top channels, not just
Dedicated Sales Team 8.6%
Google search and ads.
Speaking At Or Attending Conferences 7.8%
The right content can create conversations with old
Social Media (Not Paid) 7.5% and new business connections. It can assist sales
teams in adressing the concerns and pain points of
Social Media Paid Ads 7.3%
leads. And the right preparation or presentation for a
Referrals From Your Network 6.1% conference can make all the difference.
Online Job Boards 6.0%
Website 5.3%
Upwork Or Similar Platform 4.7%
Paid Referral Platforms (e.g., Credo) 4.7%
Word Of Mouth 4.1%
Cold Calling 3.1%
Permanent Contract 2.4%
Don’t Know 0.6%
Others 0.2%
Business Opportunities What Area Holds The Most Opportunity

For Your Business This Year?
In The Next 12 Months
Foundations Of SEO 38.3%
In the main State Of SEO report, we focused on industry disruptions
and opportunities.
When we asked agency respondents about the biggest business Generative AI 17.1%
opportunities next year, we were surprised to see the foundations of
SEO not only at the top of the list, but by a large margin.
Other AI Or Machine Learning 16.3%

The size of the margin is likely due to the number of freelancers and
owners in this group. As we noted in the main report, the majority of
them have fewer than five years of experience.
UX And Conversion Optimization 14.5%
In the graphs on the next page, you can see:
Directors are less likely to prioritize foundations regardless of

Analytics 13.4%
experience – although it’s still their top choice.
Freelancers, owners, and those with fewer than five years of

experience are more likely to prioritize foundations by a wider margin. Other 0.4%
Those in positions of higher responsibility and those with more

experience are more likely to see opportunity in AI.
Business Opportunity By Role Business Opportunity By Experience
Freelancer Owner/Operator < 2 Years 2-4 Years
11.3% 17.3% 44.4% 47.0%
10.8%
52.1% 52.9% 11.1% 0.5% 0.2%
14.5%
7.7% 14.4%
11.9%
9.9% 16.4%
10.8%
18.0% 12.7% 13.8%
0.0% 0.2% 8.6% 13.6%
Junior/Mid-Level Manager 5-10 Years 11-20 Years
32.7% 30.9% 29.0% 33.3%

17.6% 20.0%
16.5% 18.1%
1.2% 0.2% 0.2% 1.7%

15.3%
16.5%
16.5% 13.6% 20.2% 14.7% 20.6% 11.3%

16.4%
17.7%
15.3% 17.6% 15.5% 19.2%
Director Level Or Above > 20 Years
20.6% 31.8%
24.3%
22.7%
0.4% 0.0%
21.0%
13.9% 13.6%
19.7%
19.9% 12.1%
Foundations Of SEO Generative AI Other AI Or Machine Learning
UX And Conversion Optimization Analytics Other

In terms of professional development plans, foundations win

What Areas Of Professional Development Are You
out again.
And Your Team Interested In This Year?
Leaders seem to be focused on training their teams, which
could indicate a skills gap inside organizations or a large
number of inexperienced workers entering the industry. Foundations Of SEO 34.0%
It’s clear that agencies and their leaders are focusing on

building their teams. Many are increasing hiring as well as Generative AI 19.5%
focusing on core SEO skill sets. That might mean uptraining
current team members or hiring more experienced SEO
professionals who can.
Other AI Or Machine Learning 19.4%
Leaders are also aware that times of change present

tempting opportunities for skilled workers to change jobs to
acquire higher positions. UX And Conversion Optimization 14.5%
Investing in talent and focusing on foundational SEO

activities are interesting responses to the rapidly evolving
disruptions of technology, increasing competition, and client Analytics 12.1%
relationship issues.
SEO professionals of all levels of experience seem to widely

Other 0.4%
agree that these are the right moves, along with prioritizing
content strategy.
How Agencies
How Agencies Lev
Leverage
Automation & AI
Automation & AI
Generative AI Chatbots & Content

Best Practices: A Checklist
Generative AI is a powerful tool, but using it to create content Make Sure You:
comes with challenges: Provide the model with as much information about
Hallucinations: Models often provide incorrect or outdated what you need as possible.
information and invent fake sources. The tone and words you want it to use.
Wordiness: Models tend toward wordiness and including more Words and mannerisms to avoid.
information than necessary. Brand voice and how the brand should
be represented.
Shallow content: Models can’t draw independant
conclusions yet or make educated predictions. Details about the audience – their likes,
dislikes, needs, and pain points.
Copyright: The copyright status of content made with
Words and mannerisms to avoid.
generative AI and without significant human intervention
is currently up in the air. You should also avoid claiming AI-
A human should fact-check AI-generated content.
generated content as your own.
Don’t rely on on AI to fact-check itself.
Compliance: Many companies have concerns about
proprietary information and legal risks. Some have
A human should refine outputs for:
banned chatbots internally.
Content quality, correctness, and originality.
Flow and how the content reads.
Completeness: Is there anything the model missed?
Intent: Will this satisfy what a user is looking for?
AI Adoption Do You Plan To Invest In Automation Or AI-Powered

Sevices In The Next Year? By Company Size
At Agencies Yes Not Sure/Still Planning No
Just Me <5 5-10
70.1% 14.3% 17.7% 18.1%
of agency respondents said they are

55.1% 62.7% 63.2%
looking to invest in automation and 30.6% 19.6% 18.7%
AI-powered services in the next year.
11-25 26-50 51-100
When we break the data down by team size, it mirrors the 15.4% 12.5% 12.6%
overall trend we noted in the main report:
17.0%
18.1% 22.1%
The bigger the team size, the higher the interest
66.5% 65.3% 70.4%
in automation and AI.
> 100
3.8%
6.8%
89.4%
What Tasks Do You Currently Manage What Tasks Are You Looking To Automate
With Software/Automation? With Software In The Next Year?
Content Generation 10.4% Getting The Most From Generative AI 13.7%
Content Audits 10.3% Content Audits 11.6%
Call Tracking 9.8% Content Generation 11.3%

Schema/Structured Data 8.1%
Backlink Analysis 9.0%
Analytics 8.4%
SEO Audits 6.4%
Rank Tracking 8.2%
Internal Linking 5.5%
Schema/Structured data 7.6%
Rank Tracking 5.4%
SEO Audits 7.6% Analytics 4.3%
Keyword Research 6.3% Social Media Mangement 4.0%
Internal Linking 5.0% SERP Features 3.6%

Keyword Research 3.4%
PPC/Ad Management 4.7%
Link Building
3.6%
Strategy And Analysis 3.0%
SERP Features 2.9%
Link Building 2.7%
Landing Page Optimization 2.3%
UX Testing 2.4%
Strategy And Analysis 2.1% Landing Page Optimization 1.8%
UX Testing 0.8% None Of The Above 1.8%
When you directly compare what SEO professionals automate Structured data, backlink analysis, and SEO audits are also high-
currently to what they want to automate in the future, you can see demand areas for automation.
some interesting comparisons.
SERP features and internal linking have notable increases in demand.
Content generation and content audits are in the top three for both
charts. Even though SEO professionals are already using these tools, Analytics has a notable decrease in demand in the comparison.
they’re eager to implement rapid developments in generative AI to
improve those capabilities. Note that due to the rapid pace of changes in AI, the available answers
differ somewhat between the two questions.
Tasks Respondents Wish To Automate By Company Size
Professionals working on their own are most interested in implementing They also weighted backlink analysis relatively high compared with
new software with analytics, internal linking, and generative AI. other groups, giving it the fifth spot on teams of two to 10 and tied
for third on single-person operations.
Teams under 10 people are the most likely to prioritize content audits.
Just Me <5
10.2% Getting The Most From Generative AI 14.6%
8.2% Content Audits 19.0%
6.1% Content Generation 13.9%
6.1% Schema/Structured Data 5.1%
8.2% Backlink Analysis 10.1%
4.1% SEO Audits 3.8%
10.2% Internal Linking 6.3%
4.1% Rank Tracking 3.2%
12.2% Analytics 3.8%
2.0% Social Media Mangement 0.6%
4.1% SERP Features 3.2%
6.1% Keyword Research 4.4%
0.0% PPC/Ad Management 0.6%
4.1% Strategy And Analysis 2.5%
2.0% UX Testing 1.3%
4.1% Landing Page Conversion 2.5%
4.1% None Of The Above 3.2%

Teams of 11-25 were the only group to rate content generation Above 11 people, teams begin to rate schema/structured data
as their top priority. automation as more important on their priority lists.
5-10 11-25
2.2% Analytics 5.9%

On teams of 26 or more people, generative AI becomes On teams of 51-100, generative AI has the biggest lead, scoring 6.2%
the top priority. higher than the second place result which is content audits.
26-50 51-100
3.6% Analytics 4.4%

> 100
Teams of 100 or more chose the greatest variety 10.9%
Getting The Most From Generative AI
of results. They likely perform a greater variety
of tasks and could benefit from a little bit of Content Audits 5.9%
everything. They are the only group to choose
SEO audits as their second place priority. Content Generation 6.5%
Schema/Structured Data 7.9%
SEO Audits 8.5%
Internal Linking 5.6%
Rank Tracking 6.5%
Analytics 5.3%
Social Media Mangement 6.8%
SERP Features 1.5%
Keyword Research 4.7%
Strategy And Analysis 4.1%
Link Building 6.2%
UX Testing 6.2%
Landing Page Conversion 2.9%
None Of The Above 0.0%

Thank you for reading the

State Of SEO: Agency Report
for 2024.
We hope these insights help you plan for the year ahead, whether
you’re an agency professional or count them among
your customers.
Have you seen our redesigned newsletter? When you downloaded

this ebook, you had the option to opt-in to the SEJ Today
newsletter subscription.
Check it out when it lands in your inbox to keep on top of the latest
news and trends in SEO and digital marketing. And let us know if
you have issues receiving it.
To dig into more industry data, download the two other reports
in the 2024 series:
The State Of SEO: Disruptions • AI • Content Strategies.

The State Of SEO: In-House Report.
And if you have any feedback about this report or any other ebooks,
email the editor at editor@searchenginejournal.com.
Limitations
Limitations
1 5
3,890 people responded to our third annual State Of Results are rounded to one decimal place. Due
SEO survey. This report used a segmented portion to this rounding, not every set of percentages
of the results which only includes respondents will equal 100 exactly.
who work for SEO agencies or for themselves as
a freelancer or independent operator. The total of
respondents included in this report is 2,530.
6
We included several multiple-choice questions with
up to three answer inputs in the survey. They will be
noted when they appear – and are weighted by the total
2
These results reflect a statistically
number of responses – meaning they could have up to
significant portion of Search
three times more responses than there are participants.
Engine Journal’s audience of SEO
professionals. But SEO is
a diverse, global industry; we
don’t claim the final word on
7
industry trends. Nevertheless, we When we pivot the data by different
hope they spark conversations groups, the margin of error may
with your peers. increase. That is because there are
fewer respondents in each group
than there are in total respondents
to the survey.
3
51.67% of respondents are from the U.S.,
meaning the data likely have a heavy
regional bias toward the U.S.
4 We calculated a margin of error of +/- < >% based

on an infinite population assumption and a 95.0%
confidence interval.
Thank you to all our survey participants who made this report
possible and to our exclusive sponsor, CallRail.
In a world ruled by algorithms, we bring CallRail is here to bring complete visibility to the marketers
timely, relevant information for SEOs, who rely on quality inbound leads to measure success. Our
marketers, and entrepreneurs to optimize customers live in a results-driven world, and giving them
and grow their businesses — and careers. a clear view into their digital marketing efforts is a first
priority for CallRail. We see the opportunities in surfacing
We are SEO professionals, content writers, and connecting data from calls, forms, chat and beyond—
and marketers, just like you. As the helping our customers get to better outcomes.
leading resource for search news and best
practices, we’ve grown from a personal
blog in 2003 to over 1.7M+ monthly visitors
today. And you are why we come to work
each day. We aim to educate and empower
our readers to have confidence in their job
and campaign planning, and getting to the
next level of your career.

SEJ SOSAgency2024

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Table Of Contents Contributors

Introduction 3 Survey Development, Data Analysis,

Agency Barriers To Success 11 Survey Development, Insight

Generative AI Chatbots & Content Best Practices Checklist KATIE MORTON

Thank You For Reading 34 Project Management

Limitations 35 ABBY VILLARICA

supplementary reports SEJ releases alongside the State Of SEO.

Increased competition, unpredictable traffic performance due to SERP

discoverability, but their services and reputation as well.

and planning to invest in AI software and generative AI.

At the same time, they’re using conservative and time-tested strategies to

weather the changes. We see a lot of focus on the fundamentals of SEO –

recognize the allure of new career opportunities when businesses might be

scrambling to roll with the changes.

plan to focus on content and content strategy.

The most experienced agency SEO professionals will also focus on

to address the number one cause of client turnover: dissatisfaction with

implementing new software solutions and automations.

of 2023 and into 2024.

download the other two reports in the 2024 series:

The State Of SEO: Disruptions • AI • Content Strategies.

The State Of SEO: In-House Report.

In the main State Of SEO report, we found

72.8% 57.1% that five years seems to be a landmark

0-4 Years Of Experience 5-10 Years Of Experience

< $15k 8.6% < $15k 3.1%

$16-30k 14.1% $16-30k 4.4%

$31-45k 15.7% $31-45k 4.6%

$46-60k 20.7% $46-60k 7.7%

$61-75k 9.2% $61-75k 7.3%

$76-100k 7.9% $76-100k 15.7%

$101-115k 6.4% $101-115k 13.4%

$116-130k 3.4% $116-130k 10.0%

$131-145k 4.8% $131-145k 9.5%

$146-160k 4.5% $146-160k 10.6%

$161-175k 2.1% $161-175k 10.0%

$176-200k 1.8% $176-200k 2.5%

> $201k 0.7% > $201k 1.1%

Are Agencies Planning To Hire Where Directors & Above

Job Website (Monster, Indeed, etc.)

About the same 18.0%

A little less 9.5% Own Website 8.1%

SEO/Marketing Job Boards 7.2%

Other Social Media Network 5.9%

With one exception, teams of all sizes use Job Website

Teams of five to 10 people are the exception and LinkedIn

Government job banks.

Employee Turnover What Causes Employee Turnover?

Leadership and staff-level respondents picked

Career Advancement Lack Of Vacation Time 4.4%

What Causes Employee Turnover? By Role

12.6% 12.8% 13.6%

7.7% 9.0% 8.7% Two reasons for this could be:

4.1% 5.3% 6.0%

Lack Of Vacation Time

4.1% 2.9% 1.1%

3.7% 5.2% 5.7%

3.3% 4.6% 5.3%

Return To Office (No Remote Option)

1.6% 0.8% 1.1%

Barriers To Success: In The Last 12 Months, What Were Your Biggest

New Technology Or Skills 9.1%