🎙️ Unscripted SEO Podcast
Simon Schnieders: Hidden Truths About Running a Large SEO Agency
Founder of Blue Array on what nobody tells you about scaling an SEO agency — and the management decisions that make or break growth past 50 people.
Simon started his career within the SEO industry two decades ago where he was having a chat with two young chaps in a bar in Miami where he was working. These two chaps mentioned that they were making money from the internet — and Simon’s trajectory changed permanently.
“Meet Lidia Infante: The Unstoppable Force Changing the Face of SEO” — Senior SEO Manager at Sanity.io on using psychology, data, and technical precision to push the boundaries of what SEO can do at an enterprise level.
— Lidia Infante | Listen: Lidia Infante on SEO →
Key Takeaways
- Scaling an SEO agency past 50 people is a different business than running a boutique. Simon’s candid observation: the skills that make someone a great SEO don’t automatically make them a great manager or operator. At scale, culture, process, and people management become the bottlenecks.
- Client retention is a more reliable growth lever than client acquisition. Blue Array’s growth has been driven more by keeping clients longer and expanding their relationships than by constantly finding new ones. The economics of retention dramatically outperform the economics of acquisition.
- The SEO industry undersells the complexity of enterprise work. Most publicly shared SEO advice assumes relatively straightforward site structures and decision-making processes. Enterprise SEO — with its multiple stakeholders, legacy systems, and organizational politics — requires a completely different playbook.
- Transparency builds agency trust faster than case studies. Simon’s practice: be honest about what SEO can and can’t do. Clients who have realistic expectations stay longer and refer more enthusiastically than clients who were oversold.
Connect with Simon Schnieders
- Agency: bluearray.co.uk
- LinkedIn: Simon Schnieders
The Unscripted SEO Podcast features candid, unscripted conversations with SEOs and digital marketers. Hosted by Jeremy Rivera.
