Agencies face a challenge that is fast becoming common across all industries: visibility. A threat that not only affects their organic traffic levels, but also their overall revenue. 

Until now, appearing in the top positions of search engine results pages has been enough to drive targeted, high-quality traffic to their websites. But this is no longer the case, and it’s becoming a threat for agencies. 

On the one hand, search engines are constantly updating and changing their algorithms, decisions that have a major impact on visibility and acquisition costs. On the other hand, people are also changing, especially the way they search and behave online. All of this is happening as AI makes its way into the search world, changing the way people search and engage with content.

So what can agencies do to maximise visibility and be relevant? 

To answer this question, at Sortlist, we conducted a deep analysis of 80,000+ agencies and 500,000 buyer online searches: including an in-depth look at what influences visibility in AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

We also tapped into our own marketplace data, analyzing search activity, category trends, and buyer intent signals, to reveal the patterns driving discovery in 2025. The insights shared in this Agency Discovery Report empower agencies to make smarter, data-backed decisions about visibility, positioning, and expansion.

In this Agency Discovery Report:

In a landscape where search habits are shifting and trust is harder to earn, this report helps agencies navigate the new rules of visibility in 2025. Here’s what you’ll discover:

• The Visibility Gap: Why traditional tactics are losing ground (and what agencies must change to stay competitive)

• The Case for Diversification: Why betting everything on Google (or any one channel) is no longer sustainable and what a balanced, resilient strategy looks like

• The Shifting Discovery Landscape: How AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are reshaping how buyers find agencies and how to stay visible in this new ecosystem

• Mapping Demand in Real Time: Play with interactive dashboards to uncover where market demand is rising, which services are trending, and how your agency can act with precision

If you’re still relying on outdated tactics, you’re already falling behind. This Agency Discovery Report shows you where to show up, how to get found and where to grow next.

The new reality of agency acquisition: rising costs, skeptical buyers, discovery behaviours

As user behaviour has evolved, so has agency acquisition. It’s no longer enough to rank highly for industry keywords. Today, agencies face more skeptical buyers with a decision-making process that includes gathering enough information and looking for third-party reviews and comments.

In other words, today, in 2025, agency acquisition faces three modern challenges:

1. Customer acquisition: more expensive and competitive than ever

Customer acquisition is becoming a losing game for many agencies, and the numbers tell a sobering story. Between 2014 and 2020, B2B acquisition costs surged by over 60%. And that wasn’t a temporary spike. Since then, costs have continued to climb steadily, rising between  3% and 15% each year.

This isn’t just inflation, it’s a reflection of a crowded digital landscape where everyone is chasing the same audiences, in the same places, with the same strategies. Paid channels are saturated, competition is fierce, and the returns are thinning.

Even worse? Consumers are tuning out. Only 12% of them say they find search ads relevant at all, meaning most of your ad budget is likely being scrolled past, skipped, or ignored.

The message is clear: more spend no longer guarantees more visibility. And in 2025, standing out requires something smarter.

2. Prospects don’t trust agencies they trust their peers

Modern B2B buyers rely on their peers, not your pitch. Reviews. Ratings. Case studies. That’s what drives decisions now.

Younger buyers, Millennials and Gen Z, trust third-party platforms more than your website. For agencies, social proof isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It’s the price of entry.

At Sortlist, we see this play out every day. With over 500,000 buyers visiting our platform each month, agency reviews aren’t just nice to have, they’re decisive. More than 65,000 verified reviews help agencies earn trust upfront and spark more meaningful, high-intent conversations. In fact, verified social proof is one of the most powerful levers agencies can pull: often winning trust before a single word is exchanged

3.  Timing: being in the right place at the right time

B2B buyers are proactive in their purchasing decisions. Research indicates that a significant majority of customers conduct online research before making a purchase, emphasizing the importance of a brand’s early visibility in the buyer’s journey.

This underscores a critical challenge: a substantial portion of the buyer’s journey is completed before a prospect even reaches out to a potential vendor. If your agency isn’t visible during these initial stages, you’re likely missing out on valuable opportunities.

Most B2B purchasing journeys begin with an online search, highlighting the necessity for agencies to establish a strong digital presence. From that initial search, the discovery process is rapid, fragmented, and often occurs without the agencies being aware they’re under consideration.

Being present at the right time isn’t just advantageous, it’s crucial. Agencies that position themselves effectively early in the buyer’s journey, providing compelling proof and clear positioning, are the ones that convert visibility into tangible business opportunities.

This is the landscape agencies are navigating in 2025: rising costs, vanishing trust, and fleeting attention spans. But it’s not all bad news. The agencies that understand this new buyer behaviour, and adapt their strategy. are already pulling ahead.

Up next, we’ll explore what those strategies look like.

The case for diversification: relying on a single channel limits growth

Putting all your visibility efforts into Google is a risky move for agencies, especially when margins are on the line.

Yes, search engines can drive traffic. But they’ve also become increasingly unstable. A few years ago, Google made occasional updates to its algorithm. Now it rolls out thousands each year, often with no warning – meaning your hard-earned rankings can disappear overnight.

And it’s not just about rankings. The cost of visibility is rising fast. Competition for both paid and organic spots is fierce. Since 2022, Google Ads CPC has jumped more than 65% , making it harder (and more expensive) to stay visible.

You might think about shifting to social platforms instead, but acquisition costs are growing there too:

Meta ads CPM is up 7.4% since 2023

TikTok CPM has soared 90%+ since 2021

LinkedIn CPC has climbed 52% since 2023

It’s clear: the entire digital ad space is oversaturated, expensive, and unpredictable.

So what’s the alternative?

To stay competitive, agencies need a more resilient visibility strategy, one that goes beyond just search and social. That means showing up where prospects are already looking: trusted third-party directories.

Platforms like Sortlist connect over 120,000 businesses with nearly 100,000 vetted agencies every year, putting agencies in front of decision-makers right at the moment they’re searching for a partner.

And the results speak for themselves:

• 76% of consumers still turn to directories for service providers
• Agencies in trusted directories see 24% more website visits
• That traffic converts 15% better than organic search alone
• In niche sectors, specialized directories drive 3.4x more qualified leads than general platforms

Being listed on a high-trust business directory helps agencies:

• Build credibility with buyers
• Attract qualified, high-intent leads
• Improve backlink diversity and SEO
• Tap into demand without high acquisition costs

It’s not about replacing paid media, but balancing it. Diversifying your acquisition strategy with platforms like directories, email, social, and referrals helps reduce risk and build a more stable, scalable pipeline for growth.

The shifting discovery landscape: how AI is changing visibility

The way people search for information is undergoing one of the biggest shifts in over a decade and AI is driving the change.

Google, for example. It’s gradually rolling out AI-generated overviews that now appear at the top of search results summarizing key answers before you even reach the ads, maps, or websites. This is more than a design tweak. It’s a fundamental change in how users interact with search and who gets noticed first. If your agency isn’t part of those summaries, you may not be seen at all.

And Google isn’t the only player rewriting the rules. Platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are quickly becoming go-to tools for information discovery, especially during the early research and comparison stages of the buyer journey. These tools don’t pull from just any website. They prioritize verified, structured sources like business directories, knowledge hubs, and trusted content.

For agencies, this means one thing: you need to show up where AI is looking.

AI tools favor clarity, structure, and credibility. They scan directories and trusted sources, pulling in content that is cleanly formatted, consistent, and verified over time. That means being listed on platforms like Sortlist isn’t just helpful. It’s strategic.

To improve visibility in this AI-powered landscape, agencies need to get the fundamentals right:

• Clearly define your services, expertise, and locations
• Keep pricing, availability, and contact details up to date
• Collect client reviews and case studies to build trust
• Use long-tail keywords and direct answers that AI models can easily quote
• Add schema markup and keep your site mobile-friendly
• Build links from trusted, relevant sources like business directories

AI is changing who gets discovered, and how. Agencies that adapt early will be the ones showing up first, earning trust faster, and winning more business.

Expanding the reach: where demand is growing, and how to spot it

As the way clients search evolves and visibility becomes harder to secure, knowing where demand is growing (and when to act) is more important than ever. That’s why, as part of this Agency Discovery Report, we’ve gone beyond search behaviour and AI-driven discovery to also explore where real, actionable demand signals are emerging.

At Sortlist, we analysed thousands of buyer projects across Europe to help agencies turn data into strategy, making smarter decisions around positioning, market expansion, and acquisition.

To support this, we’ve built four interactive dashboards that map out the key discovery trends shaping the 2025 landscape

Together, these dashboards give agencies a real-time, data-backed view of where their services are most needed and most valuable.

💡 With these dashboards, agencies can:

• Pinpoint where demand is growing and where budgets are strongest
• Align marketing and outreach with seasonal buying patterns
• Identify which industries are actively searching for their services
• Make sharper decisions on positioning, visibility, and expansion

This is what smart, strategic visibility looks like in 2025.

👉 Dive into the dashboards and let the data guide your next move

📍 Project Value Dashboard – See where budgets are highest by country and expertise.

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📈 Project Volume Dashboard – Track which services are most in demand across Europe.

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📅 Seasonality Dashboard – Understand how service demand fluctuates by month and region.

Examples: what the data reveals and how to use it

• UX/UI agencies in Italy may benefit from expanding into Germany, where both budgets and Q2 demand are stronger.
  
• Branding firms in Belgium could increase visibility in the UK or Netherlands, where both volume and value rise mid-year.
  
• Email marketing and SEO see consistent demand in France and Spain, but Germany and the Netherlands offer higher average budgets.
  
• Software and cloud services experience clear Q2 demand spikes, pointing to annual IT investments.
  

🏭 Top Industries per Service Dashboard – Discover which sectors are actively seeking services like SEO, branding, software development, and more.

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The Top Industries dashboard reveals new targeting angles:

• Social and influencer marketing is booming in beauty, fashion, and restaurants, especially in Spain and Italy.

• Video, design, and PR thrive in education and healthcare sectors across France and Belgium.

• Digital strategy and development see strong pull from construction, utilities, and agriculture in Belgium and Spain.

• B2B services like marketing, SEO, and content strategy are in demand in Germany and the UK, particularly in software, legal, and consulting.

These trends are based on real buyer behaviour happening on our platform right now. Whether your agency is refining its timing, exploring new verticals, or expanding into new markets, these insights provide a practical edge.

Final thoughts: positioning your agency where it matters most

The rules of agency discovery have changed, and they won’t stop changing anytime soon.

In an increasingly complex, competitive, and AI-driven search landscape, visibility is no longer about simply showing up. It’s about showing up in the right places, with the right proof, at the right time.

This Agency Discovery Report has uncovered how clients really search for agency partners in 2025, backed by over 500,000 buyer journeys, 80,000 agency profiles, and thousands of real-world project signals across Europe.

At Sortlist, we don’t just observe these changes, we help agencies stay ahead of them.

With the most comprehensive marketplace data in the B2B agency space, we give you the insights, tools, and exposure you need to be found, trusted, and chosen. Whether you’re looking to expand into new markets, improve visibility in AI-powered search, or convert more high-intent buyers, we’re here to help you grow where it counts.

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2025 Agency Discovery Report: want to take the next step?

Reach out to our team at hello@sortlist.com to:

• Request a personalized analysis of your visibility and growth opportunities
• Learn how Sortlist can position your agency where buyers are already searching
• Access deeper insights or support for your expansion strategy

Let’s make sure your agency isn’t just visible, but chosen.

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