318. Leveraging AI for SEO Advantage, with Carl Holden

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Oct 8, 2025

Carl Holden, CEO of RankBot, shares insights on the transformative impact of AI on SEO and digital marketing. He discusses how AI is shifting client expectations and creating new opportunities for agencies. Carl explains the importance of automating repetitive tasks and fostering a culture of innovation. He emphasizes balancing AI use with human interaction in client work to maintain value. Listen to learn how agencies can adapt and stay relevant in this rapidly evolving landscape and effectively communicate these changes to clients.

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ANECDOTE

Building RankBot To Automate External SEO

Carl Holden explains how RankBot was built to automate repetitive external SEO tasks like outreach and content publishing.
He describes taking ~250 hours of AI training and using AI to scale link-building and off-page signals.

INSIGHT

Moats Are Relationships, Not Just Models

Carl frames his competitive moat as 12 years of relationships and proprietary knowledge, not just the AI itself.
He notes AI accelerates product development but does not replace domain experience and networks.

INSIGHT

AI Is A Layer, Not A Replacement For Ranking

Carl Holden emphasizes that core ranking principles remain and AI mainly layers on top of existing search algorithms.
He argues AI outputs still rely heavily on first-page search results and efficient machine-learning indexing.

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Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek and guest Carl Holden tackle one of the biggest shifts reshaping our industry — how AI is rewriting the rules of SEO and digital marketing.

Carl, agency owner and Founder of RankBot, has been at the forefront of this transformation. He’s seen firsthand how AI is changing client expectations, lowering barriers to entry, and forcing agencies to redefine what “value” really means.

Carl digs into what it takes to stay relevant and profitable in this new landscape, from redefining your agency’s value proposition to applying AI strategically (not reactively).

If you’ve been wondering how to lead through this next evolution of search and strategy, this is an episode you’ll want to take notes on.

What you will learn in this episode:

Why AI is rapidly disrupting the traditional SEO landscape
How agency owners can adapt before the competition
The real impact of generative AI tools like ChatGPT on content creation, link-building, and external SEO strategies
Key opportunities and threats AI poses for agencies focused on search, local, and digital marketing
How to identify and automate repetitive agency tasks to boost efficiency and diversify your services
Strategies for educating clients about AI’s impact on findability and how to set realistic expectations for SEO outcomes
Best practices for upskilling your team, fostering a culture of innovation, and protecting your agency’s intellectual capital
The impending shift toward immersive, AI-powered marketing experiences and what agencies should do now to prepare

Bio

Carl Holden is the CEO and co-founder of RankBot, an AI-powered SaaS specializing in off-page SEO, backlinks, keyword tracking, and website optimization, making SEO easy, accessible, for his clients, giving them a competitive edge in their industry. With more than 200 hours of AI training from Wharton, IBM, Microsoft, and Google, Carl brings deep expertise in generative AI to the world of digital marketing. He’s also the co-owner of Zellus Marketing, an Amazon Top Author in Marketing and Web Analytics, and a contributor to Forbes and the Huntsville Business Journal. A former Toastmasters world semifinalist, Carl speaks on AI and marketing at events nationwide.

Resources:

Website: https://rankbot.ai/
LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlholdenmarketing/
Facebook Business: https://www.facebook.com/rankbotai