The Agency Insider Show
Lazy Agencies Will Lose Clients to AI - Amanda Walls
Descripción
Amanda Walls is the founder of Cedarwood Digital — a 14-person boutique agency out of Manchester that's won 5 European Search Awards, spoken at Brighton SEO 5 times, and is more profitable than most large agencies she knows. And she did it with no outbound sales, no account managers, and zero AI shortcuts. In this episode, Amanda breaks down why hero campaigns are dead, how a story about fruit flies generated more links than expensive data studies, why one DR45 niche link beats five DR80 links from national press, and her original Aristotle-inspired Ethos, Pathos, Logos framework for SEO. She also delivers a brutally honest warning: agencies that get lazy with AI will lose clients. Brands will fire them. And people will lose jobs. But if you use AI the right way — like doing the laundry and vacuuming instead of running the house — your agency becomes unstoppable. Whether you run a 5-person shop or a 50-person agency, this episode will change how you think about scaling, profitability, and what agency value really means in 2026. 0:00 — Intro0:54 — Amanda's background and welcome0:58 — Philosophy to SEO: The Ethos, Pathos, Logos origin story3:52 — Ted the golden retriever: Cedarwood's chief fluff officer5:13 — From Australian newsroom to Manchester agency owner7:21 — Digital PR through a journalist's lens8:35 — Why journalists are overrun and what they actually want10:23 — Anatomy of a pitch that lands links in 202613:38 — Reactive newsroom: how Cedarwood spots newsjacking windows15:13 — Economics of digital PR: low-cost, high-return campaigns16:25 — The fruit flies story: 10 hours, tons of coverage17:26 — "The days of hero campaigns are kind of gone"18:17 — Digital PR vs traditional PR: is there a credibility gap?20:40 — One DR45 niche link vs five DR80 general news links22:15 — The Ethos, Pathos, Logos framework for SEO explained27:34 — 87% of people leave the funnel after a bad review30:08 — First 3 things to audit using the framework32:35 — User intent: 15 changes in top 10 for one keyword in a year33:39 — Stripping content out: less is more in 202635:34 — Experience-led vs expertise-led content: how to decide37:14 — The 3 C's of intent: content type, format, and angle39:52 — AI overviews and zero-click: 30% to 58% in one year42:58 — YMYL SEO: AI as a risk management tool45:36 — First 30 days onboarding a YMYL client: the trust ceiling47:45 — How Cedarwood uses AI internally: 5 practical ways50:44 — Will AI kill agencies? Amanda's honest take53:07 — Tracking client visibility in LLMs: "it's a nightmare"54:44 — Agency building: 14 people, no outbound, no AMs55:09 — "We're more profitable than all the large agencies I know"56:49 — Speaking playbook: from 30-person meetup to Brighton main stage1:00:13 — Wrap up and where to find Amanda
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