In this episode of the Digital Agency Growth Podcast, I’m joined by Brock Murray, co-founder of SEO Plus, a digital marketing agency he launched back in 2012 that has grown into a 50+ person team serving clients across North America and beyond.
Brock shares the arc of his journey, from launching his first web hosting business at 14, to building SEO Plus with his partner Eddie, to scaling through multiple growth stages while navigating the challenges of delegation, client specialization, and leadership layers.
If you’re running an agency, this episode is a playbook on scaling without losing touch, adapting to seismic industry shifts like AI search, and building a growth engine that lasts.
⏱️ Timestamps
0:00 – Intro & Brock’s early start in web hosting at age 14
1:00 – Founding SEO Plus in 2012 and partnering with Eddie
2:00 – Growth stages: from the first hire to 10, 25, and 50 employees
3:30 – The challenge of scaling culture and building management layers
5:00 – Hybrid account management and the role of AMs in sales
7:00 – Upsells, long-term relationships, and winning bigger accounts
9:30 – Balancing farming existing clients vs. chasing new ones
12:00 – Building a partner program: from 20 informal partners to 80+ active ones
15:00 – Partnerships vs. web leads vs. outbound
16:00 – Scaling from meetups to AI-focused community events
18:00 – Outbound experiments: Apollo, coffee chats, and free AI brand audits
20:00 – Structuring partnerships transparently and acquiring a partner’s business
23:00 – Fractional CMOs (VCMOs) as high-value partners
24:00 – How Brock got out of the sales seat and what made it possible
27:00 – Building trust and reach through events—local vs. national scale
30:00 – Fewer clicks from Google, more searches on ChatGPT & Gemini
32:00 – Launching Generative Engine Optimization and building AI tools internally
34:00 – Why agencies can now afford to build internal products
35:00 – The future of SEO: rebrand or double down?
37:00 – Where to connect with Brock online
🔑 What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- How Brock scaled SEO Plus from two partners to a 50+ person global agency.
- The “resistance line” at 50 employees and how to push through.
- Why hybrid account management can be both a strength and a bottleneck.
- How to use events as a serious new business channel (without getting stuck locally).
- Why partnerships with VCMOs and boutique agencies can lead to acquisitions.
- How outbound campaigns, coffee chats, and case studies fuel growth.
- Why clicks from Google are dropping and what Generative Engine Optimization means for agencies.
- How to leverage AI tools internally to save hundreds of hours and increase ROI.
- The looming question: does SEO need a rebrand in the age of AI?
Links & Resources:
