At Conifr, we’ve always focused on transparency, value, and outcomes—especially when it comes to SEO. In fact, it’s become clear that the traditional way most companies think about SEO is broken. This is why I often say, "SEO is dead."
Now, this might sound counterintuitive coming from someone who runs a top SEO consulting agency, but hear me out. SEO isn’t dead in the literal sense. It’s the old, outdated practices of SEO that are no longer relevant. Let’s break down why this shift matters to you, especially if you’re in the B2B SaaS space.
Why Traditional SEO is Dead
The old-school approach to SEO often focused on metrics like ranking positions and traffic. SEO agencies would deliver reports filled with keyword positions and organic traffic numbers, often without any consideration for the actual value those numbers were driving. But here’s the problem: rankings and traffic don’t matter if they’re not moving the needle where it counts—leads, demos, and sales.
We’ve heard it all from prospective brands:
"We need to improve our rankings"
"Traffic is down, and our CEO is freaking out"
"I hired an SEO agency, but I’m not seeing any real business outcomes"
The truth is, businesses can rank #1 for all sorts of terms and still see no significant impact on their bottom line. Ranking for "blue bottles" is useless if your business doesn’t sell bottles. Too often, companies get caught up in vanity metrics that don’t reflect their true goals—whether that’s filling their pipeline with qualified leads, booking more demos, or driving new sales.
This disconnect is the reason why I say that old school SEO is dead.
The Shift to Value-Based SEO
Value-based SEO focuses on what actually matters: outcomes. For B2B SaaS companies, that means qualified leads, demo requests, and ultimately, sales. You shouldn’t be paying an SEO agency to improve your ranking for random keywords. Instead, your SEO investment should be driving tangible business results.
This shift requires a change in mindset. Instead of fixating on rankings and traffic as end goals, we focus on aligning SEO strategies with your overall business objectives. It’s not just about appearing on page one of Google, showing up in AI overviews, or getting a citation in SearchGPT; it’s about making sure that appearance leads to action.
Here’s the key question we always ask our brands: What business outcomes are you trying to achieve?
Once we know what truly matters to your business, we build an SEO strategy that drives those outcomes. This shift is what differentiates Conifr’s SEO from the traditional, outdated models that don’t consider the bigger picture.
Transparency Builds Trust
Another key component to achieve success is this: how transparent is your agency? The SEO industry has a reputation for being murky, with agencies often hiding behind jargon and ambiguous reports. Brands are left wondering what their SEO provider is actually doing and whether it’s making a difference.
When there’s a lack of clarity, trust erodes. To combat this, make sure your agency lays out clear roadmaps from day one. They should be upfront about what they’re working on, why they’re doing it, and when you can expect to see results. There’s no magic, no "just trust us." You should be informed every step of the way, which builds trust and keeps everyone aligned on the same goals.
Integrating SEO into a Larger Growth Strategy
Businesses can no longer afford to think of SEO as a siloed tactic. It isn’t a standalone strategy. It’s part of a broader, holistic marketing effort that includes content marketing, paid media, and more.
In an ideal scenario, SEO and paid media should work together. The data you collect from your paid campaigns is invaluable for informing your SEO strategy. You can use insights from paid search to target high-intent keywords organically, driving down your cost per acquisition and growing your brand presence over time.
For example, if you as a SaaS company have a mountain of data from your paid campaigns, your SEO consulting agency can analyze that data to identify bottom-of-the-funnel keywords that lead to conversions. From there, they can build SEO content that targets those high-value terms, helping the company own that space organically, while reducing reliance on paid ads.
Don’t Be Fooled by Vanity Metrics
It’s easy to get caught up in metrics that sound good on paper but don’t actually matter. Ranking for irrelevant keywords, and traffic numbers will not help you if they don’t translate into real business results.
What you should focus on is the value your traffic delivers. Are you attracting the right audience? Are they engaging with your content and taking the next step in their journey? If the answer is no, then all the rankings in the world won’t make a difference to your business.
The Future of SEO is Outcome-Driven
SEO isn’t dead—it’s evolving. By focusing on value-driven SEO, you can ensure your efforts are aligned with your business goals and deliver the outcomes that matter most.
At Conifr, we’re leading the charge toward a more transparent, outcome-driven approach that puts real business results first. That’s why we created our 90-Day Sprint—a radically different approach to SEO.
Unlike the traditional "black box" model where an agency spends months doing research, keeping you in the dark, and delivering vague reports, the 90-Day Sprint is all about speed, transparency, and building trust. We condense the most important research into a 4-6 week period, giving us a solid foundation to begin implementation quickly. By the end of the 90 days, we aim to show you measurable lift in rankings for relevant keywords, and set you up with a roadmap that delivers the long-term results that matter most—leads, demos, and conversions.
