How Agencies are Evolving with the AI Search Era
Blog
Building and Hiring AI Search Teams for 2027
Josh Peacock
October 21, 2026
In short: AI Search and how to build your team for it. Three agency leaders from SEO, PR and digital backgrounds agree it works only when SEO, content and earned media pull together. When it comes to hiring for it, the skill they rank highest isn’t technical at all. It’s the ability to explain a channel that changes every six months to clients who are still learning it.
About the panel
- Kaylee Peterson, Director of SEO and AI Search at Idea Grove, and founder of Your SEO Roadmap
- Alex Payne, VP Digital Strategy at Golin Ketchum
- Danny Gavin, Founder of Optidge, podcast host, and founder of ODEO.
Key Takeaways
- SEO is becoming the default owner of AI search. It still needs PR and content to execute.
- Selling AI without SEO doesn’t work. Big AI budgets with no SEO or content resource behind them have nothing to spend on.
- Engagements start with an audit and prompt tracking. They grow into implementation retainers once clients get comfortable.
- Communication is the hardest skill to hire for. It’s also the one that matters more as AI absorbs technical work.
- The panel favours promoting from within and building a junior pipeline. Paying a premium for “AI” in a title wasn’t the priority.
- For 2027 hires, ask what candidates have already built with AI. Even something simple counts.
Table of Contents
Who should actually own AI search? (00:58)
Most teams have handed it to SEO, and the panel broadly thinks that’s right. At Idea Grove, the SEO team sets AI strategy and guides PR and content on execution. Kaylee Peterson describes it as “our AI seat at this point.”
Ownership isn’t the same as doing it alone, though. Alex Payne of Golin Ketchum frames AI as a second audience that learns from everything a brand does online. That means one Reddit question might become an FAQ on the site, a social post and an earned pitch all at once. His model is an integrated strategy lead coordinating across teams, rather than a single team carrying it.
“It has to be everyone working together.” Alex Payne
Why can’t AI search be sold on its own? (09:20)
Budgets for AI search are now real line items. The problem is what they’re attached to. Kaylee regularly has PR-only clients asking to buy an AI service, and her answer is consistent: tracking and reporting are possible, but strategy and tactics need SEO and content resource behind them.
“I can’t just throw AI on.” Kaylee Peterson
Danny Gavin of Optidge faces the mirror image. His agency has traditionally covered technical and content SEO but not outreach and link building. In verticals where citations drive AI answers, he now questions whether covering two out of three is enough. The panel’s shared conclusion is that AI search exposes whichever discipline your team is missing.
What does an AI search engagement look like in practice? (10:37)
The panel described a clear progression:
- An audit to show the client how big the gap really is.
- Prompt tracking. Kaylee notes that most clients first need help simply working out which prompts their audience would ask.
- Analysis and recommendations. This is especially important for one-person marketing teams buried in data.
- An implementation retainer that pulls in web dev and PR.
At the most mature end, Alex’s team plays a “marketing engineering” role, connecting data from GEO providers into the client’s own systems.
Two cautions came up. Clients still anchored to top-ten Google rankings need to unlearn old KPIs. And clients who rush into new channels after an audit, Reddit being the usual example, risk backlash from communities that spot attempts to influence search.
What’s the hardest skill to hire for? (20:29)
Not technical skill. Kaylee’s first screen for any SEO hire is whether she could talk to them for forty hours a week and put them in front of a client. In a channel this new, most of the job is education, and “you almost have to sell what you’re doing while you’re doing it.”
Danny takes it further. If AI handles more of the technical work, the time it frees up should go into talking to clients, and the soft skills become the job. Alex adds curiosity and adaptability, since AI search is nowhere near “set it and forget it.” Kaylee adds inference: hearing “we want traffic” and asking whether the client really means traffic that converts.
Should you promote from within or hire? (27:05)
The panel leaned firmly toward growing talent. Danny recently promoted someone into his head of SEO role and called it “the best thing ever.” His longest-serving people all started at the bottom.
Alex warns that the mid-level tier is narrowing, “especially with the promise of AI.” That makes a junior pipeline more important, not less. Kaylee’s advice is to keep that early energy by building roles around what people care about, even before the role formally exists.
What should a 2027 AI search hire bring? (32:21)
The panel’s checklist:
- Proof of hands-on AI use. Danny’s question is simply “what have you built already?” A personal workflow counts.
- Self-awareness about search habits. Alex wants to hear how a candidate’s own search behaviour has changed.
- A business mindset. Kaylee looks for people who think in ROI, revenue and leads, not traffic for its own sake.
- Comfort talking. Kaylee estimates 75% of her client interactions right now are discussion and education.
Before hiring at all, the panel’s advice is to find your gap first (44:50). That might be a data analyst, account managers who can speak AI, or the missing third leg of technical, content and PR.
Is the “AI premium” in job titles real? (36:44)
The panel was sceptical:
- Danny asks why AI is attached to SEO titles but not PPC, when AI already runs paid search. He says his agency doesn’t need a $250,000 “AI person.”
- Kaylee reads the current rush of AI money as “a kind of short-term market reaction” to panic, likely to fade as people get comfortable.
- Alex sees echoes of 2010’s “social media wizard” titles.
For candidates, Alex’s closing advice (46:57) applies: most job specs list everything a team wants, when they really need about 80% of it. If the core fits, apply.
Related Reading
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
Who should own AI search in an agency?
Usually SEO, according to the panel, with PR and content involved in execution. Alex Payne of Golin Ketchum recommends an integrated strategy lead coordinating all three.
Can you sell AI search without SEO?
Not effectively. Kaylee Peterson of Idea Grove can offer tracking and reporting alone, but strategy and implementation need SEO and content resource.
What skills matter most when hiring for AI search?
Client communication first, then hands-on AI use, a business and data mindset, and curiosity. Technical skills were seen as the most teachable.
Should agencies promote from within for AI search roles?
The panel favoured it where possible, alongside a strong junior pipeline, as the mid-level talent tier narrows.
Is the AI salary premium worth paying?
For agencies, the panel thinks it usually isn’t. Danny Gavin of Optidge says his agency doesn’t need a $250,000 AI hire, and the panel sees the premium as a short-term market reaction.
