Try this sometime. Type the services you offer into Google or ChatGPT and see who comes up. Then click through a few of those websites.
You’ll start to notice something. The same phrases keep showing up. “Data-driven storytelling.” “Results-focused creative.” “We help brands unlock growth.” After a while you can’t remember which site you were on, because they all say pretty much the same thing.
That’s no coincidence. Everyone is using the same tools to answer the same questions, so everyone is getting the same answers.
How we got here
Search has changed a lot in the last couple of years. People still Google things, but more and more of them are asking ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity to recommend a company. So every business, and every agency, is scrambling to show up in those answers. That’s smart. We do it too, and we help our clients do it.
The problem is the shortcut a lot of companies are taking. Ask an AI tool which keywords you should rank for, and it’ll hand you a list. Ask it to write your homepage, and you’ll get something polished and perfectly optimized. Now picture your competitor asking the same tool the same thing. They’re getting nearly the same list and nearly the same homepage.
Multiply that by a few hundred agencies and you end up with an industry that sounds like one big echo.
Sounding good is cheap now
A few years ago, a great website took real effort. You needed people who could write, design and think strategically. If a company sounded sharp, there was a decent chance they actually were.
That connection is gone. Today anyone can sound like a top creative shop in an afternoon. The words are there. The buzzwords are there. Sometimes even the design looks the part.
What isn’t always there is the work behind it.
That puts buyers in a tough spot. If you’re a marketing director looking for a partner, you might not notice the problem until you have five agency websites open in five tabs and realize you’re reading the same pitch five times. At that point, how are you supposed to choose?
We still have to play the game
We’re not saying you should ignore SEO or AI search. That would be bad advice. If people can’t find you, it doesn’t matter how good your work is.
So yes, structure your content so search engines and AI tools can understand it. Answer the questions your customers are actually asking. Make sure your site is technically sound. Show up where people are looking.
Just know that all of that is the starting line now. Everyone has access to the same tools, which means the tools alone don’t give anyone an edge anymore.
Proof is the one thing you can’t prompt
There are a few things AI can’t do for an agency. It can’t invent a real client who got real results. It can’t make up a campaign that actually ran and actually made a difference for a business. It can’t fake years of doing the work.
The good news is that this matters for search too. AI search tools are getting better at telling the difference between a page full of generic claims and a page full of specifics. Named clients, real numbers, original thinking and a clear point of view give those tools something real to work with. Generic copy gives them nothing to remember you by.
So the substance that makes a company worth hiring also helps it get found. Optimization gets you on the list. Proof is what gets you picked.
How to tell the difference
If you’re shopping for an agency right now, a few simple questions will cut through a lot of the noise.
Can I see the work? Skip the mood boards and the list of services. Ask for actual campaigns, actual websites and actual brands.
What happened because of it? A good agency can tell you what changed for its clients, whether that was more leads, more sales or a stronger brand.
Who did the thinking? Ask who came up with the strategy and the creative. If the answer is vague, that tells you something.
Does it sound like them, or like everyone? Read their site next to a few competitors. If you could swap the logos and nothing would change, keep looking.
Where we stand
We use AI at Splendor. It helps us work more efficiently, and we’d be silly not to use it. But the thinking, the design and the strategy still come from our people.
We’d rather show you what we’ve done than tell you how great we are. Our case studies, our clients and their results are the best argument we have, and no prompt can write those for anyone else.
The vocabulary is easy to fake. The work isn’t.
Splendor believes an educated client is our best client. Stay tuned to our blog for insight into the world of everything design, web, and digital media. Have something to add? Connect with us on LinkedIn – we’d love to hear from you.