{"id":3684,"date":"2026-10-27T07:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T07:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/otterly.ai\/blog\/?p=3684"},"modified":"2026-10-27T08:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T08:32:22","slug":"thencan-designs-local-seo-ai-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/otterly.ai\/blog\/thencan-designs-local-seo-ai-search\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Local SEO Agency Made AI Search a Client Retention Weapon with OtterlyAI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 id=\"h-from-zero-clients-to-an-seo-first-agency\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>From zero clients to an SEO-first agency<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sam left his job in May 2023 with no paid clients and started pitching websites at local networking events in Bend, Oregon. The response was humbling:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cI said, \u2018I build websites for small businesses.\u2019 And everyone was like, \u2018Cool. So does Squarespace.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stuck in the feast-or-famine cycle between website projects, a mentor pushed him toward a recurring service that drives measurable ROI. He picked SEO &#8211; specifically local SEO &#8211; tested it on his own site, then on his first clients. <em>\u201cI went back to their websites, just tweaked a couple things, and next thing you know my doula is ranking second.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By early 2024 <a href=\"https:\/\/thencandesigns.com\">Thencan<\/a> (root word: <em>thoughtful<\/em>) had flipped to SEO-first, website-second. Two and a half years in, the agency serves over 20 clients with a team of 9, and Sam teaches his local SEO playbook to 100+ students in his academy, Local SEO Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How a Local SEO Agency Uses AI Visibility Tracking to Retain Clients | Sam Sarsten, Thencan Designs\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/c3w70ocpMf4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-the-challenge-what-do-we-do-with-ai-seo\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The challenge: \u201cWhat do we do with AI SEO?\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The same question kept coming from two directions \u2014 clients and academy students. Local business owners were hearing the hype and Sam knew what happens next: <em>\u201cSomething shiny gets put in front of them. How do you have something shiny to offer back?\u201d<\/em> He also wanted to keep clients away from bad advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cI don\u2019t want you to go to the LinkedIn SEO hype bro posting about how adding schema to your site is gonna save the day.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But he refused to sell AI SEO without data:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cIf you\u2019re not measuring the data, you can\u2019t make an informed decision. We need to actually get a tool to measure these things. We can\u2019t sit around anymore and pretend this doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So he tested the market \u2014 and burned money doing it. <em>\u201cI spent hundreds if not low thousands of dollars trying out different tools. HubSpot, Peec, the big guys to the little guys. Tools that didn\u2019t measure stuff every day. Tools that used API results instead of real results.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-the-solution-ai-visibility-report-cards-powered-by-otterlyai\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The solution: AI visibility report cards, powered by OtterlyAI<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A colleague recommended OtterlyAI. <em>\u201cI was like, \u2018Who the heck is OtterlyAI?\u2019 Well, they got some cute graphics, we\u2019ll try it out &#8211; and $29 is attainable for the first little bit. And since then it\u2019s been clicking.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thencan now uses OtterlyAI in three ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1. AI search report cards as a client entry point.<\/strong> The team runs clients\u2019 brands through OtterlyAI and shows them how they appear in ChatGPT and other AI engines. <em>\u201cPeople are really liking that. They\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m showing up pretty high. The work you guys are doing is helping me on ChatGPT too.\u2019\u201d<\/em> Several clients converted the one-off report card into ongoing monitoring. Three of the roughly five clients who received a report card kept ongoing monitoring going, and nearly every participating client actually landed a client through ChatGPT or another AI tool during that stretch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2. Content recommendations tied to citations.<\/strong> OtterlyAI\u2019s recommendations feed client conversations. One client runs a podcast essentially nobody listens to. <em>\u201cI said, \u2018If you\u2019re doing it anyway, we might as well try this \u2014 it could get cited, right?\u2019 And he\u2019s like, \u2018Wow, that\u2019s a good point.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>3. Query fan-out data as prompt research.<\/strong> For local businesses, Sam\u2019s core insight is that the game isn\u2019t getting into the model: <em>\u201cWhen I look at Jim\u2019s Roofing Company in Bend, Oregon &#8211; you\u2019re not getting in the model. We\u2019re not even playing that ball game. What happens when somebody says, \u2018What\u2019s a highly rated roofing company near me in Bend?\u2019 First thing it does is a web search.\u201d<\/em> OtterlyAI\u2019s query fan-out feature shows him how AI engines actually search: <em>\u201cEvery once in a while I see a wording where I\u2019m like, \u2018I didn\u2019t think about that. That\u2019s interesting that it searched like that.\u2019 That can feed directly into our tracked prompts, and it feels like our reports are closer to how the LLMs are actually thinking.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-why-local-seo-ai-search-is-a-different-game\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why local SEO + AI search is a different game<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sam\u2019s take on local GEO, in his own words:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The buyer sits higher in the funnel.<\/strong> <em>\u201cThey\u2019re not at the \u2018kitchen remodeling Portland, Oregon\u2019 page yet, deciding which provider to go with, that comes later. If they\u2019re using AI, they\u2019re still researching. They\u2019re higher up: \u2018Do I even hire somebody? What kind of cabinets?\u2019 How do we get recommended during that buying process?\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Local is grounded, not memorized.<\/strong> Almost every local prompt triggers a live web search \u2014 so citations, Google Business Profile, and authority signals still carry the day.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Local is more resilient.<\/strong> <em>\u201cWe haven\u2019t gotten hit with AI Overviews as much as national SEO, because we don\u2019t rely on blogs. We rely on service and location pages. And until robots can fix furnaces, local service providers are gonna be around for a minute.\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-the-results\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The results<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>~5 clients received AI visibility reports; 100% converted to a first quarter of monitoring, and 3 converted to ongoing local GEO plans.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Using the data, the team found keywords the client was missing in the organic SERPs. After going back and working on that page, the client went from not showing up for a keyword, to showing up first in Google, to being cited daily on ChatGPT and other AI engines.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Added over $1000 in MRR from local GEO plans and all clients stayed on with their original local SEO plans<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">OtterlyAI now the recommended AI search tool in Sam\u2019s Local SEO Academy (100+ students), alongside Semrush for classic SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen it comes to AI SEO, there\u2019s gotta be a tool I recommend. And right now it\u2019s OtterlyAI &#8211; I like to recommend the stuff I use.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>See how your brand shows up in AI search. Start monitoring with OtterlyAI from $29\/month.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-snapshot\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Snapshot<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Customer<\/strong><\/td><td>Thencan Designs \u2014 thencandesigns.com<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Founder<\/strong><\/td><td>Sam Sarsten<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Location<\/strong><\/td><td>Bend, Oregon, USA<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Industry<\/strong><\/td><td>Web design &amp; local SEO agency for small businesses<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Team<\/strong><\/td><td>9 people, 20+ clients<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Also runs<\/strong><\/td><td>Local SEO Academy (<a href=\"http:\/\/localseoacademy.co\">localseoacademy.co<\/a>) with 100+ students<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Use case<\/strong><\/td><td>AI search visibility \u201creport cards\u201d for local SEO clients, ongoing GEO monitoring, content recommendations<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Key result<\/strong><\/td><td>~5 clients received AI visibility report cards; 3 converted to ongoing local GEO plans, with 100% retention on their SEO plans<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From zero clients to an SEO-first agency Sam left his job in May 2023 with no paid clients and started pitching websites at local networking events in Bend, Oregon. The response was humbling: \u201cI said, \u2018I build websites for small businesses.\u2019 And everyone was like, \u2018Cool. So does Squarespace.\u2019\u201d Stuck in the feast-or-famine cycle between [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ayudawp_aiss_exclude":false,"_ayudawp_aiss_exclude_summary":false,"_ayudawp_aiss_summary":"He picked SEO - specifically local SEO - tested it on his own site, then on his first clients. \u201cI went back to their websites, just tweaked a couple things, and next thing you know my doula is ranking second.\u201d. Two and a half years in, the agency serves over 20 clients with a team of 9, and Sam teaches his local SEO playbook to 100+ students in his academy, Local SEO Academy. OtterlyAI now the recommended AI search tool in Sam\u2019s Local SEO Academy (100+ students), alongside Semrush for classic SEO. \u201cWhen it comes to AI SEO, there\u2019s gotta be a tool I recommend.","_ayudawp_aiss_summary_provider":"extractive","_ayudawp_aiss_summary_hash":"bb36c7ddf2bfdf49f2e41cd32c194fd953613387","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-case-studies","eq-blocks"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.8 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How a Local SEO Agency Sells AI Search with OtterlyAI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How Thencan Designs turned AI visibility report cards into $1,000+ MRR and 100% client retention. 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