Does AI Change How Much You Should Spend on SEO?

The Search Signal · Jul 28, 2026 · 45m · transcript

Every competitor can buy the same AI tools you can, at the same price, this afternoon. That makes AI table stakes, which means the thing actually worth funding is the judgment directing it. In this episode of The Search Signal, Michael Transon puts a number on that: about 1 percent of revenue, or $800 a month at $1 million in revenue and $80,000 at $100 million, plus the four arguments to make when your CFO asks why AI can't just do all of this now. What you'll hear in this episode:

Marketing budgets have fallen to 7.8 percent of company revenue from 9.5 percent four years ago, while the AI…