{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "title": "Best AI SEO Agencies for SaaS: 2026 Search Benchmark",
  "description": "A dated United States search-results benchmark for AI SEO agency queries. It documents keyword demand, visible Google result formats, an AI Overview citation sample, and RadiusRank's disclosed starting position. It does not score agency quality or declare a best provider.",
  "scope": {
    "market": "United States",
    "language": "English",
    "search_engine": "Google",
    "source_platform": "SE Ranking",
    "source_context": "Keyword Research, Competitive Research, Competitive AI Search, Backlink Checker, and Website Audit in the authorized RadiusRank workspace",
    "source_url": "https://online.seranking.com/",
    "published_at": "2026-08-13",
    "reviewed_at": "2026-08-13",
    "data_as_of": "2026-08-13",
    "next_review_at": "2026-11-11"
  },
  "methodology": [
    "Recorded United States keyword metrics displayed by SE Ranking for three agency-intent queries on August 13, 2026.",
    "Captured the nine visible results numbered 2 through 10 for the query ai seo agency. The AI Overview occupied the first visible result slot in the recorded layout.",
    "Classified each visible result by the page format shown in the result: agency service page, comparison page, community post, or video.",
    "Recorded the source names visible in the AI Overview citation sample without treating the sample as an exhaustive citation list.",
    "Recorded RadiusRank project metrics separately to disclose the site's starting position. RadiusRank was not inserted into or scored against the ranked result set."
  ],
  "keyword_metrics": [
    {
      "query": "ai seo agency",
      "search_volume_us": 610,
      "keyword_difficulty": 17,
      "cpc_usd": 16.08,
      "paid_competition": 0.13,
      "intent": "Informational",
      "ai_overview_present": true
    },
    {
      "query": "best ai seo agency",
      "search_volume_us": 170,
      "keyword_difficulty": 14,
      "cpc_usd": 17.07,
      "paid_competition": 0.12,
      "intent": null,
      "ai_overview_present": null
    },
    {
      "query": "answer engine optimization agency",
      "search_volume_us": 210,
      "keyword_difficulty": 18,
      "cpc_usd": 17,
      "paid_competition": 0.11,
      "intent": null,
      "ai_overview_present": true
    }
  ],
  "organic_serp": [
    {
      "query": "ai seo agency",
      "position": 2,
      "result_name": "Thrive Agency",
      "result_type": "agency_service_page",
      "domain_trust": 88,
      "page_backlinks": 178,
      "page_referring_domains": 40
    },
    {
      "query": "ai seo agency",
      "position": 3,
      "result_name": "Reddit r/b2bmarketing community result",
      "result_type": "community_post",
      "domain_trust": 98,
      "page_backlinks": 1,
      "page_referring_domains": 1
    },
    {
      "query": "ai seo agency",
      "position": 4,
      "result_name": "Level Agency",
      "result_type": "agency_service_page",
      "domain_trust": 83,
      "page_backlinks": 9,
      "page_referring_domains": 8
    },
    {
      "query": "ai seo agency",
      "position": 5,
      "result_name": "Coalition Technologies",
      "result_type": "agency_service_page",
      "domain_trust": 83,
      "page_backlinks": 19,
      "page_referring_domains": 11
    },
    {
      "query": "ai seo agency",
      "position": 6,
      "result_name": "Ziptie",
      "result_type": "comparison_page",
      "domain_trust": 75,
      "page_backlinks": 5,
      "page_referring_domains": 2
    },
    {
      "query": "ai seo agency",
      "position": 7,
      "result_name": "Searchbloom",
      "result_type": "comparison_page",
      "domain_trust": 75,
      "page_backlinks": 24,
      "page_referring_domains": 19
    },
    {
      "query": "ai seo agency",
      "position": 8,
      "result_name": "Spicy Margarita",
      "result_type": "comparison_page",
      "domain_trust": 70,
      "page_backlinks": 23,
      "page_referring_domains": 12
    },
    {
      "query": "ai seo agency",
      "position": 9,
      "result_name": "YouTube video",
      "result_type": "video",
      "domain_trust": 100,
      "page_backlinks": 9,
      "page_referring_domains": 4
    },
    {
      "query": "ai seo agency",
      "position": 10,
      "result_name": "Outerbox",
      "result_type": "agency_service_page",
      "domain_trust": 88,
      "page_backlinks": 15,
      "page_referring_domains": 7
    }
  ],
  "ai_overview_citation_sample": [
    { "query": "ai seo agency", "source_name": "ExceedSEO" },
    { "query": "ai seo agency", "source_name": "CommercePundit" },
    { "query": "ai seo agency", "source_name": "Thrive Agency" },
    { "query": "ai seo agency", "source_name": "Searchbloom" },
    { "query": "ai seo agency", "source_name": "WeAreTenet" },
    { "query": "ai seo agency", "source_name": "Ziptie" },
    { "query": "ai seo agency", "source_name": "Spicy Margarita" },
    { "query": "ai seo agency", "source_name": "Stackmatix" }
  ],
  "radiusrank_baseline": {
    "competitive_research": {
      "organic_keywords": 135,
      "estimated_organic_traffic": 3,
      "keywords_containing_ai_seo": 0
    },
    "ai_results_tracker": {
      "tracked_prompts": 19,
      "mention_presence_pct": 0,
      "link_presence_pct": 0
    },
    "backlink_profile": {
      "domain_trust": 15,
      "referring_domains": 80,
      "backlinks": 471
    },
    "website_audit": {
      "health_score": 99
    }
  },
  "conflict_disclosure": "RadiusRank created this benchmark and sells AI SEO services. The study does not rank RadiusRank or grade any agency's service quality. RadiusRank's project metrics are included only to disclose its starting visibility.",
  "limitations": [
    "This is one United States snapshot of three keywords and one recorded result page. Results can vary by date, location, device, personalization, and interface changes.",
    "Search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC, competition, Domain Trust, backlinks, referring domains, and traffic are SE Ranking estimates or proprietary metrics, not direct measurements of customers or revenue.",
    "The AI Overview source names are the visible citation sample recorded in the interface, not a claim that every underlying source was captured.",
    "Result format, domain metrics, and page link counts can describe the observed search results but cannot establish why a page ranked.",
    "This is not an agency quality review, customer-outcome comparison, market-wide study, or 270-answer AI citation experiment."
  ]
}