Does Your Agency Sell Work That AI Does for Free? with Tom Lee | Ep #909

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/trai... Are you still optimizing your agency's content for Google while your clients are getting their answers from AI? Are you charging for the execution that AI is about to make obsolete, while giving away the strategy that commands real fees? Today's featured guest works with agencies navigating the shift from traditional search to generative engine optimization. He'll talk about what the Anthropic research actually says about how much of the work agencies do today can be automated, how AI reads content differently than Google does, and the practical steps any agency can take right now to show up in AI-generated answers before competitors figure it out. Tom Lee is an AI search and SEO specialist and co-founder of Visto (https://www.getvisto.com/) , a platform that helps agencies build the visibility and optimization layer for the AI search era. Tom and his team advise agencies on generative engine optimization, or GEO, and how to position their clients to show up in AI-generated answers across platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews. His background includes working inside large enterprise companies including Apple and Walmart, where he managed SEO at scale. He now works directly with SEO and GEO agencies helping them build the strategic frameworks and content systems that translate traditional search authority into AI visibility. In this episode, we'll discuss: • Is your value proposition still execution? • Why GEO does not replace SEO • Repackaging existing content will get you nowhere Subscribe App (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...) le | (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...) Spoti (https://open.spotify.com/show/0FiKuRT...) fy (https://open.spotify.com/show/0FiKuRT...) | iH (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...) eart (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-sm...) Radio (https://open.spotify.com/show/0FiKuRT...) Sponsors and Resourc (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...) es E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency (https://e2msolutions.com/smartagency) and get 10% off for the first three months of service. What the Anthropic Research Actually Says Tom referenced an Anthropic study published earlier this year that mapped out the theoretical automation potential across industries. For software development, AI can already handle around 35% of code generation, with a theoretical ceiling of 97%. For business and marketing functions including SEO, that ceiling is 94%. In his view, those numbers are not a reason to panic, but they are a reason to get clear on which part of the work you are actually selling. The agencies at risk are the ones whose value proposition is execution. Writing the content, building the links, pulling the reports: if that is what you are charging for, you are in the category that AI is actively compressing. The agencies that will hold their ground and grow their fees are the ones charging for judgment. Which topics to chase. Which content gaps matter. How to translate client expertise into something AI will actually cite. That is the 6% that automation cannot touch, and it is also the highest-margin work in the engagement. GEO Is Built on Top of SEO, Not Instead of It Something that gets lost in the noise around AI search is that GEO does not replace SEO (https://flatworm-caterpillar-3mha.squ...) . It extends it. Showing up in Google search results is still the foundation. What has changed is that showing up is no longer enough. AI reads content the way a human being reads it, evaluating whether the argument is convincing and whether the source is credible, not just whether the right keywords appear in the right density. That changes what good content has to do. The practical starting point Tom recommends is mapping what he calls the semantic space for a client: Identifying what topic areas people are actually raising in AI conversations that the client should be part of. From there, you translate that semantic space into specific prompts, run those prompts across the major AI platforms, and audit what comes back. Who is being cited? Where is the client showing up and where are they absent? What content is AI pul...