The short answer
For a business that wants pages built and wants to be named in AI answers, RunOctopus is the better choice than a typical SEO agency. Most agencies split a retainer across audits, links, reports and calls, so content is one line item. RunOctopus puts the whole effort into building pages on your site, from week one, for $497 a month.
Four reasons RunOctopus is the better choice:
- We do the work and publish on our own. Ollie (our AI) and our team research, write, publish and link the pages on your site, on Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce or Wix. Nothing waits on you: there is no approval queue, and you can read anything that went live and ask for changes. With a traditional agency, work often waits on calls, briefs and your sign-off.
- We know your catalog and services. Pages are built from your real products and services and linked into the pages that sell them, so a reader who is ready to buy is one click from buying.
- Proven on real clients. A Los Angeles apartment broker went from 12 to 57 Google clicks a month to 283 in August 2026 (Sterman case study). On October 12, 2026, ChatGPT named a Florida recruiting site on 7 of 8 test questions (Florida careers case study). We publish the misses too.
- Fully automated, and built on real inputs. Ollie does the work automatically from start to finish, and our team keeps watch. Every page is built from real inputs, not generic AI text: your own catalog or services, your own search data, the real questions buyers ask AI assistants, and facts checked before anything publishes. An AI writer handed a keyword produces generic text about that keyword.
What you are really choosing
SEO agencies have been the default answer for business owners who want search traffic but don't have the time to do it themselves, and a good one earns its fee. The question is what you need most. If it is pages that answer what buyers search for and ask AI assistants, linked into what you sell, an agency is an expensive way to get them.
What agencies charge. Prices vary widely, so here are the two most-cited surveys. Ahrefs polled 439 SEO providers (updated August 2024): agencies averaged $3,209 a month, the most common retainer was $501 to $1,000 a month, and 68.8% of providers charged $2,000 a month or less. SE Ranking's 2025 survey of 260 agencies found 64% charge under $1,000 a month, and 22% of US and Canadian agencies charge over $2,000. What those fees buy varies just as much: some retainers are mostly reporting, some mostly links, some mostly content.
RunOctopus is done for you. Ollie (our AI) and our team research, write, publish and link pages on your own site, from online stores to local service companies, on Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce or Wix. The pages go live on their own. It is $497 a month, one plan, month to month.
An agency sells hours of expert attention spread across many jobs. RunOctopus does one job end to end: building and publishing the pages that get you found, from what you sell, every month.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | SEO agency | RunOctopus |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | Most charge under $2,000. Agencies averaged $3,209 (Ahrefs, 2024) | $497/mo, one plan |
| Content volume | Depends on the retainer. Content is often one line item | 50+ pieces at launch, 175+ a month after |
| Time to first pages | Often after onboarding and a strategy phase | Content live in week one |
| Approval | Drafts often go to you for review | Publishes on its own. Ask for changes any time |
| Contract | Varies. Many ask for a minimum term | Month to month, cancel anytime |
| Built from what you sell | Depends on the team | Planned from your catalog or services, linked into the pages that sell |
| Technical SEO | Full audits, speed, crawl fixes | Not offered. Content-focused |
| Link building | Outreach, guest posts, digital PR | Not offered |
| Interactive tools | Sometimes, as a separate project | Calculators, quizzes and product finders included |
| People | Account manager and strategy calls | Our team does the work, and you can reach us with questions |
Who does each step
Follow one page from idea to live and ask who does the work at each step.
What a good SEO agency gives you
- Technical SEO. Speed, crawl paths, indexing and schema problems can hold a site back no matter how many pages it has. Agencies audit and fix them. RunOctopus doesn't.
- Link building. Outreach, guest posts and digital PR still matter in competitive markets, and it is slow, human work.
- Strategy across channels. The best agencies look at technical health, content, links, conversion and paid search together.
- A person to call. Some owners want a strategist they can brainstorm with and hold accountable. That has real value.
What RunOctopus does differently
- All of it goes into pages. At the Ahrefs agency average of $3,209 a month, a year of agency work costs about $38,500, spread across every service. A year of RunOctopus is $5,964, spent entirely on building pages.
- Speed. Pages go live in week one: articles, collection pages and an interactive tool. Six months comes to $2,982 at $497 a month.
- No approval queue. Pages publish on their own. You can read anything that went live and ask for changes.
- Built from your catalog and services. Every page links into the product, collection or service page that closes the sale, which is what earns topical authority for a business, not just traffic.
- Built for AI answers. Pages are written to be the source ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI answers draw on. Our GEO vs SEO explainer covers what that changes, and our AI SEO agency guide covers what to ask any agency about it.
Can you use both?
Yes, and it often saves money. Let RunOctopus build and publish the pages, and keep a smaller agency or a consultant for technical SEO, link building and conversion work. You stop paying agency rates for content production, and they spend their hours where human expertise matters most. If you are also weighing writers or software, see our freelance writer comparison and AI SEO services overview.
When the other choice is right
Pick an agency instead if your site has real technical problems (crawl errors, speed, indexing), you are in a market where you need links and PR to compete, or you want one partner covering strategy, conversion and paid search with regular calls. Those are jobs RunOctopus does not do.
Agencies sell broad expertise, technical fixes and link building, and most charge from under $1,000 to several thousand dollars a month. RunOctopus builds and publishes pages from what you sell, from week one, for $497 a month. If what you need is pages that get you found and named in AI answers, choose RunOctopus, and add a specialist only for the technical and link work.