Construction, engineered wood
Rewood
5×more keywords in the Top 3 in 12 months: from 4 to 20, with the Official AI Knowledge Base on the website.Semrush (Brazil database), August 2025 to July 2026
Read the case study (in Portuguese)SEO agency and SEO specialists to get your company found on Google and cited by AI
Flowup is an SEO agency based in São Paulo, Brazil, that works remotely with companies in Brazil, the United States, Canada and worldwide. Specialists in technical SEO, content, authority and AI SEO execute the strategy with method, data and a focus on organic traffic that turns into business opportunities.
By Guto Bertoncini, founder and lead strategist of FlowupUpdated on 16 min read
5.0 on GoogleSince 2011Proprietary B.I.N.A. Method
Summary
An SEO agency in seven points
The essentials for anyone who needs to decide quickly. The details, the sources and the frequently asked questions are right below.
- An SEO agency continuously executes the technical, content and authority work that gets a website found; SEO consulting decides and prioritizes, and the agency implements.
- Flowup's work covers technical SEO, architecture and content, authority and E-E-A-T, and AI SEO, with GEO and AEO as layers on the same foundation.
- Search has turned into answers: when Google shows an AI summary, clicks on traditional results fall from 15% to 8% of visits (Pew Research Center, 2025).
- Ranking helps, but it does not guarantee citation: only about 38% of the URLs cited in AI Overviews were in the top 10 in March 2026 (Ahrefs).
- Google itself warns that no one can guarantee the first position. Flowup measures and publishes results with their sources, without promising rankings.
- Based in São Paulo, Brazil, Flowup works remotely with companies in Brazil, the United States, Canada and worldwide, in English, Portuguese and Spanish, with the work led by Guto Bertoncini since 2011.
- The first step is the free B.I.N.A. Diagnosis, which points to the layer that most limits organic growth today.
Definition
What does an SEO specialist do?
An SEO specialist makes a website findable, understandable and relevant to search engines and answer engines.
An SEO specialist works on three fronts that build on one another: technical, content and authority. The goal is not to push up a single keyword. It is to turn organic presence into a predictable channel of business opportunities, one that does not depend on paid ads. Today that includes appearing inside the answers generated by artificial intelligence.
In an SEO agency, these specialists work together, under the same method, and analysis becomes implementation. It is the difference between receiving a report and seeing the website change.
- Technical
- Crawling, indexing, rendering, speed, URL architecture and structured data: the foundation that sets the ceiling for results.
- Content
- Search intent, page architecture, clusters and semantics: every page with a clear role, and none competing with the others.
- Authority
- Reputation, mentions, authorship and brand consistency on and off the website: the signals Google calls E-E-A-T.
- AI answers
- Content that can be retrieved, understood and cited in AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.
Agency, specialist or consulting
SEO specialist, SEO agency or SEO consulting: which to hire
All three show up in the same search, but they solve different problems. The choice comes down to one question: do you need capacity to execute, or direction?
| Model | What it solves | When it makes sense | At Flowup |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEO specialist | One front in depth: technical, content or authority. | When the challenge is specific and the company already has the structure to implement. | Senior specialists on each front, within the same team. |
| SEO agency | Continuous strategy and execution, with several fronts working together. | When SEO is a strategic channel and needs scale, consistency and measurement. | This page: Flowup executes, measures and adjusts every month. |
| SEO consulting | Diagnosis, priorities and direction for whoever executes. | When the gap is direction, not capacity, or when leadership wants a second opinion. | SEO consulting, with a specialized, senior-level consultant and an action plan. |
At Flowup the three coexist. Many companies prefer to hire SEO consulting first, to know what to do and in what order, and then continue with the agency to execute. Others hire direction and execution together from the start.
SEO services
SEO services: what the agency executes
The scope comes out of the diagnosis. Not every front is part of every contract, but all of them start from the same information base about the company.
Technical SEO
Auditing and fixing crawling, indexing, rendering, redirects, canonical tags, sitemaps, speed and Core Web Vitals.
Architecture and content
Intent mapping, pillar pages and clusters, cannibalization fixes and data-driven production of optimized content, with Growth Content.
On-page SEO
Titles, descriptions, heading hierarchy, internal links and direct answers at the start of each section.
Structured data
JSON-LD that mirrors the visible content, for rich results and for entity consistency.
Authority and E-E-A-T
Identifiable authorship, public proof and editorial mentions that build authority (what the tools call domain authority), with Data-Driven PR when reputation needs to grow beyond the website.
AI SEO, GEO and AEO
Citable content, entities and measurement of presence in AI answers, with AI SEO as the program.
Migration and redesign
Inventory, a 301 redirect map and monitoring, to move to a new website without losing what already ranks.
Measurement and reporting
Search Console, Analytics and Google's new generative AI report, read to support decisions, not as a dashboard.
When to hire
When to hire an SEO agency
Projects rarely start with the sentence "we want SEO". They start with a concrete business situation: the company needs its website to show up in the searches that bring in customers, and today it either does not show up or does not convert.
Visible, but not converting
The website gets impressions, but the traffic does not turn into qualified leads.
Stuck on page 2
Good positions that never reach the top, usually because of cannibalization, technical issues or authority.
Dependence on paid media
Acquisition costs keep rising, and organic has never been treated as a channel.
Invisible to AI
The company does not know how ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews describe it.
Migration or redesign
Technical decisions made in the coming months can preserve or lose years of authority.
No in-house capacity
The strategy exists, but there is no specialized team to execute it consistently.
How to choose
How to choose an SEO agency: six criteria
Choosing well is, to a large extent, knowing what to rule out. These criteria separate a strategic partner from a task vendor.
- Explicit method: the agency shows how it diagnoses, prioritizes and implements, and explains the reasoning behind each recommendation.
- Honest expectations: nobody controls the algorithm; a promise of the first position is a red flag.
- Business metrics: the report measures opportunities and share of pipeline, not just position and volume.
- Technical and AI together: SEO and GEO in the same plan. Impeccable technical SEO is the foundation; GEO and AEO are layers on top of it.
- Real integration: technical, content, authority and brand work are connected within the same team.
- Scope in writing: deliverables, format and investment defined after understanding the challenge.
Google says it plainly, on the page "Do you need an SEO?": "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google." Be wary of anyone who does.
SEO and AI
SEO is the foundation. GEO and AEO are the layers.
Search has changed shape: beyond the list of links, there are answers. A company needs to be findable, understandable, verifiable and citable.
- 8%of visits with an AI summary end in a click on a traditional result. Without the summary, it is 15%.Pew Research Center, 2025
- 1%of visits with an AI summary end in a click on a link cited inside the summary itself.Pew Research Center, 2025
- 38%of the URLs cited in AI Overviews were also in the organic top 10 in March 2026. In July 2025 it was about 76%.Ahrefs, 2025 and 2026
- 34%of U.S. adults have used ChatGPT, about double the share in 2023. Among adults under 30, it is 58%.Pew Research Center, 2025
The numbers show the same thing from different angles: clicks have become rarer, citation no longer follows position and a growing share of the public already puts its questions to AI. Google states that there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode: what counts is well-executed SEO fundamentals. That is why the agency treats SEO, AEO and GEO as a single foundation, not as three disconnected services.
Method
How the agency works: method, not guesswork
The work follows the B.I.N.A. Method, which structures a brand's information base for search and for AI, applied in four stages.
Context and diagnosis
Immersion in the business and a technical, editorial, semantic and competitive audit, including how search engines and AIs read the company today.
Priority and strategy
The SEO strategy comes from problems and opportunities ranked by impact, effort and dependency. A defensible work queue, not an endless list.
Execution
Flowup implements, or guides your team, with actionable instructions for technology, content and design.
Measurement and evolution
Business indicators, a review of what was done and an adjustment of the strategy at each cycle, including in response to changes in AI search.
Results
SEO results with stated source and period
An SEO agency is measured by results published with their sources, not by promises. Here are three examples; the others are in the case studies.
Trade association, bioenergy
Bioenergia Brasil
2×the organic keywords in five months, from 52 to 102; 3.1 thousand clicks and 83 thousand impressions in 12 months, with a 52% CTR on the brand query.Semrush (Brazil database), March to July 2026; Search Console
Read the case study (in Portuguese)Healthcare, ophthalmology
Dr. Ana Vega
#1position regained in the clinic's most relevant searches, after a drop from first to eighth position, about one month after the work began.The client's public review on Google
Read the case study (in Portuguese)The numbers come from Semrush and Search Console, with the period and criteria published in each case study. Past results do not guarantee future results; the time needed to produce results depends on the starting point and the competition.
Where we work
An SEO agency based in São Paulo, Brazil, serving companies worldwide
Flowup's headquarters are in São Paulo, Brazil. SEO work is remote by nature, and the agency serves companies in Brazil, the United States, Canada and worldwide.
Meetings, deliverables and follow-up happen by video call and in shared documents, in English, Portuguese and Spanish. For companies in São Paulo, proximity helps with the local market, with reading the competition and with searches that carry geographic intent.
For local businesses, the work includes consistency between the website, service pages, company data and external profiles, which is what search engines and AI systems use to answer questions with local intent.
How we work with clients
- Headquarters in São Paulo, Brazil, with remote service for companies in Brazil, the United States, Canada and worldwide.
- Projects in English, Portuguese and Spanish.
- Company founded in 2011, with a public address and Brazilian company registration number (CNPJ).
- A named technical lead on every project.
Flowup's SEO work is led by Guto Bertoncini, founder of the agency and author of the B.I.N.A. Method, together with the team of SEO specialists and analysts. Since 2011 he has led projects that integrate technical SEO, strategic SEO, AI SEO, GEO, AEO, structured data and WordPress.
Identifiable authorship is part of the strategy: real people, with verifiable experience, sustain the E-E-A-T signals that search engines and AIs use to decide whom to trust. The thesis that guides the agency fits in one sentence: ranking is not enough, you have to be the answer.
A good fit for
- Companies that depend, or want to depend, on organic acquisition.
- B2B, technology, SaaS and service businesses with consultative sales.
- Large or complex websites, or websites facing a migration or redesign.
- Teams that need specialized capacity to execute.
- Brands that want to be present in AI answers without abandoning the fundamentals.
Probably not for
- Anyone looking for a promise of first position or guaranteed results.
- Anyone who wants to buy backlinks or content volume without a strategy.
- Anyone who needs only the lowest price, not the best decision.
- Anyone who will not be able to approve and publish what is recommended.
Investment
What it costs to hire an SEO agency
Flowup does not sell off-the-shelf packages. The investment is defined in writing, after understanding the challenge.
The price depends on:
- The size and complexity of the website.
- Its current technical and content maturity.
- The fronts involved: technical, content, authority and AI.
- The format: diagnosis, specific project or ongoing work.
- Your team's capacity to implement.
For GEO and AEO, the formats are public, from the Initial Diagnosis to ongoing monthly work, and what each one includes is on the GEO and AEO consulting page. For international projects, the price is defined in a proposal.
Before any proposal, the free B.I.N.A. Diagnosis shows where the company stands and which layer most limits its results.
Next step
Your company shows up, but does it convert?
Bring us your scenario. The initial reading shows what SEO can solve, in what format and with what expectations.
No generic packagesResults with sourcesNo ranking promises
Take the B.I.N.A. DiagnosisBeyond the results, I would highlight the clarity of the strategy, the organization of the work and the long-term vision Guto brought to the project.
Read the case study
We have been Flowup's partners for more than 10 years and, over that time, our trust has only grown stronger. The service is excellent and the commitment to our requests is total. The team understands our needs, meets deadlines and delivers consistent quality.
Read the case study
Punctuality, quality and attention to each client's needs. That is our experience of working with Flowup, always very quick to find the most suitable and up-to-date solutions. They are preferred partners of MediaLink.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions about hiring an SEO agency
The questions that come up most often in searches and in first conversations.
Is your situation not here? The B.I.N.A. Diagnosis answers with your company's data.
Take the B.I.N.A. DiagnosisWhat does an SEO agency do?
An SEO agency plans and executes, on a continuous basis, the technical, content and authority work that gets a website found on Google and used as a source in AI answers. At Flowup, that includes technical SEO, architecture and content, on-page SEO, structured data, authority and E-E-A-T, AI SEO and monthly measurement.
What does an SEO specialist do?
An SEO specialist makes a website findable, understandable and relevant to search engines and answer engines. The work covers the technical side (crawling, indexing, speed and structured data), content (search intent, architecture and semantics) and authority (reputation and trust signals).
What is the difference between an SEO agency, an SEO specialist and SEO consulting?
A specialist masters one front in depth. An agency brings specialists together and takes on continuous strategy and execution. SEO consulting works at the decision layer: it diagnoses, prioritizes and guides whoever executes. At Flowup all three formats exist, and SEO consulting has its own page.
How much does it cost to hire an SEO agency?
It depends on the size of the website, its current maturity, the fronts involved and the format: diagnosis, specific project or ongoing work. Flowup defines scope and price in writing after understanding the challenge. For GEO and AEO, the formats are public, starting with the Initial Diagnosis. For international projects, the price is defined in a proposal.
How long does SEO take to show results?
SEO is a medium- and long-term channel. Technical and cannibalization fixes can show an effect within weeks; authority and content mature over months. The pace depends on the starting point, the competition and the speed of implementation.
Does the SEO agency guarantee the first position on Google?
No, and be wary of anyone who does. Google itself states that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking. What Flowup guarantees is method: an honest diagnosis, defensible priorities, technically correct execution and tracking of indicators.
How do you choose an SEO agency?
Prefer one that shows an explicit method, sets honest expectations, measures business indicators, masters both the technical side and the AI layers, integrates technical, content and authority work, and defines the scope in writing. Ranking promises and generic packages are red flags.
What is included in Flowup's SEO services?
Technical SEO, architecture and content, on-page SEO, structured data, authority and E-E-A-T, AI SEO with GEO and AEO, migration and redesign, and measurement with Search Console, Analytics and Google's generative AI report. The scope of each contract is defined by the diagnosis.
Is Flowup an SEO agency based in São Paulo? Does it work with companies in other countries?
Yes. Flowup's headquarters are in São Paulo, Brazil, and the SEO work is carried out remotely for companies in Brazil, the United States, Canada and worldwide, with meetings by video call, in English, Portuguese and Spanish.
Does SEO still work with AI search and ChatGPT?
Yes, and it has become more important. Answer engines rely on the same fundamentals: crawlable content, well-defined entities, verifiable information and consistent authority. Google states that there are no special requirements for AI Overviews beyond SEO best practices.
What are GEO and AEO?
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is optimization so that a brand is cited in AI-generated answers, such as those from ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is optimization for engines that deliver direct answers. Both rely on SEO done well.
What does an SEO analyst do?
An SEO analyst handles the day-to-day of optimization: keyword research, technical audits, rank tracking, content support and reporting. At Flowup, analysts work alongside the senior specialists, under the same method, so that analysis becomes implementation.
What is website optimization?
Website optimization is the set of technical, content and authority actions that makes a website faster, more understandable and more relevant to search engines and answer engines. It is another name for SEO, with an emphasis on the technical foundation and on page experience.
Does Flowup execute the SEO or only guide the in-house team?
Both. Flowup can take on full execution or work in a consultative role, guiding and validating the work of your team, agency or vendors. The format is defined according to the company's capacity to implement.
Does the agency work with small businesses?
It does when organic is strategic to the business and there is a way to implement the recommendations. For smaller companies, the path usually starts with the free B.I.N.A. Diagnosis and a project focused on the pages that sell the most, before any ongoing work.
How do I get started with Flowup?
With the free B.I.N.A. Diagnosis: 12 questions, an instant result and an in-depth diagnosis by email within five business days. From there, Flowup proposes scope, deliverables and investment in writing.
Transparency
Sources and references
This page uses official Google documentation, studies with a stated methodology and public data, checked on October 2, 2026. Client numbers come from the published case studies.
- Do you need an SEO?, Google Search Central: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google."
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central: no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode; SEO best practices remain relevant.
- Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search, Google Search Central (updated July 10, 2026): no AI files, special markup or special schema needed; llms.txt neither helps nor harms in Search; structured data remains useful for rich results.
- Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results, Pew Research Center (July 22, 2025): clicks in 8% of visits with an AI summary against 15% without one; 1% on links inside the summary; 900 U.S. adults, March 2025.
- Update: 38% of AI Overview Citations Pull From The Top 10, Ahrefs (March 2, 2026): 37.9% of the URLs cited in AI Overviews were in the top 10, against about 76% in July 2025, with a change of method between the studies.
- 34% of U.S. adults have used ChatGPT, about double the share in 2023, Pew Research Center (June 25, 2025): 34% of U.S. adults have used ChatGPT; 58% of adults under 30; 5,123 U.S. adults, February 24 to March 2, 2025.
- Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, Google Search Central: the content criteria Google uses as a reference, including E-E-A-T.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide, Google Search Central: fundamentals of crawling, indexing, structure and content.
- Generative AI performance report (Search), Search Console Help: impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, rolled out to all sites on August 31, 2026.
How to cite this page
Flowup Agency. SEO agency and SEO specialists to get your company found on Google and cited by AI. Guto Bertoncini, updated on . flowup.agency/en/seo-agency/
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5.0 on Google · Since 2011 · Case studies with stated sources
