What Big SEO Agencies Do Differently: Lessons From Omnicom’s Former Head of SEO

E994: I sit down with Yas Haque, former Head of SEO at Omnicom, to break down what actually separates the world’s largest SEO agencies from smaller shops. This is how enterprise SEO works in practice - how big agencies win clients, structure work, get buy-in from massive organizations, and where they waste time and money. We cover what smaller agencies can immediately adopt, what they should ignore, and how to compete against companies with far more resources. If you run an SEO agency, work in-house, or are trying to get better results from SEO, this episode will give you a clearer picture of how the highest level of the industry operates. Topics covered: - The single most important thing small SEO agencies should improve immediately (packaging) - Why presentation and storytelling matter as much as technical SEO - How enterprise teams think about SEO as both an art and a system - How to structure SEO work so non-SEOs understand and act on it - The role of storytelling in getting buy-in and driving implementation - How large agencies analyze competitors and find gaps at scale - Why granular keyword segmentation creates real competitive advantages - How quick wins (like featured snippets and AI results) can drive outsized impact - How SEO influences other channels like paid search and direct traffic Inside enterprise SEO: - What it’s actually like working at companies like Omnicom and Dentsu - The types of tools and resources large agencies have access to - How big agencies support teams with data, tooling, and internal resources - Why implementation is the hardest part of enterprise SEO - How to get changes deployed inside large organizations - Real examples of solving technical challenges across complex systems What might surprise you: - Why most clients don’t use the dashboards they pay for - Where large agencies spend time that doesn’t drive real results - How packaging and communication often matter more than the work itself - Why many enterprise SEO proble