YOURSEOSUCKS!
The uncomfortable stories behind the invoices. How agencies sell. What they deliver. And why rankings are not the same thing as revenue.
THE ONLY SCORECARD THAT MATTERS
THE.
WORK.
If your SEO report says everything is going great, but the phone isn't ringing, somebody needs to ask a better question.
FOUR FILES.
NO SOFT QUESTIONS.
Four editorial briefings for the upcoming written and audio episodes. Open any file to see the argument behind its headline.
The Millionaire Agency That Didn't Know What a Sales Funnel Was
A business can generate millions in agency revenue and still miss the most basic question in marketing: what happens after somebody clicks? This episode investigates the gap between generating traffic and understanding the journey to a sale.
THE QUESTION: If nobody can map click → inquiry → qualified lead → sale, what exactly are we optimizing?
OPEN THE EPISODE BRIEFING
The angle. Great SEO starts with understanding the business outcome. The piece asks what an agency should know about landing pages, conversion events, lead quality, call handling, and lost opportunities before it sells more traffic.
What to show. A simple five-stage funnel, the numbers each stage needs, and what clients should ask for in a monthly performance review. The specific agency story should distinguish firsthand observations from interpretation.
The takeaway. A ranking report is not a sales funnel. Demand a measurable path from discovery to booked business.
$50K a Month for AI-Written Articles
The issue isn't whether AI helped write the content. It's whether anyone researched, verified, edited, and measured what the client was buying.
OPEN THE BRIEFING
The angle. Evaluate the economics of high-volume content, not simply the presence of AI. Ask who set the strategy, who checked claims, what subject-matter expertise went in, and whether the content attracted customers.
The takeaway. An expensive content invoice is not proof of value. Neither is a low production cost proof of poor quality. Judge the documented process and the results.
Poor Management, Great SEO
A necessary counterweight: some companies have dysfunctional leadership and genuinely excellent SEO specialists. The work deserves an honest evaluation.
OPEN THE BRIEFING
The angle. Separate practitioner expertise from organizational decisions. Show how capable strategists can deliver despite confused priorities, poor staffing, or leadership that doesn't understand the craft.
The takeaway. Praise the people who earned it. Criticize broken systems without erasing the good work done inside them.
≠
DO.
Great at Customer Acquisition, Terrible at SEO
A polished pitch can win the contract. It cannot fix a broken website. What happens after the sale tells you much more than the sales presentation.
OPEN THE BRIEFING
The angle. Follow the handoff from the sales team to the delivery team. Who actually does the work? Does the promised strategy appear in the implementation log? Who can explain changes in business outcomes?
The takeaway. Evaluate the people, evidence, and accountability behind the proposal—not just the agency's own lead-generation skills.
Production note: These are episode concepts and briefings, not published investigations or playable recordings. Replace the briefings with full articles and podcast players as each episode is released.
THE FIVE QUESTIONS YOUR SEO AGENCY SHOULD ANSWER.
If you're paying for search marketing, you deserve plain-language answers tied to the business—not another colorful dashboard.
What did you change on our website or local listings this month?
Which of those changes are tied to qualified inquiries or sales?
Where are we losing customers between the click and the sale?
What evidence supports the next thing you're recommending?
What should we stop paying for because it isn't working?
And who is personally accountable for answering all five?
You don't need to know every Google update. You do need an agency that can tell you what it's doing with your money.
GET A SECOND OPINION · $495 ↗YEARS.INSIDE THE SEO INDUSTRY
Yishai Koln.
The SEO Savant.
I've been working in search since 1996. I've seen great SEO produced by underappreciated people, expensive work that was never tied to a business result, and polished agency sales operations that obscured what clients actually received.
This series will ask hard questions, give credit where it's due, and separate what I witnessed from what I believe. More about me ↗
YOUR NEXT SEO REPORT SHOULD EXPLAIN WHERE THE MONEY WENT.
Start with the free Scan. If you want my eyes on the work your agency is doing, the Second Opinion is $495. For a full revenue-first diagnosis, the Revenue Audit is $3,500.