ASTOUNDZ, a national digital marketing agency headquartered in Houston, has been ranked among the top 10 SEO companies in the United States by DesignRush, highlighting the firm's focus on AI visibility optimization and measurable business outcomes.
-- ASTOUNDZ has landed in the top 10 SEO companies nationally according to DesignRush. The Houston-headquartered agency, which serves clients across all 50 states, built its reputation on what founder Steve Winter calls a "no-surprises" approach.
Winter has watched the same story play out for over 20 years: a business hires an agency that promises the moon, signs a 12-month contract, and six months later has nothing to show for it except a lighter bank account. ASTOUNDZ was built to be the opposite of that.
The agency launched in 2016. Winter had already spent two decades in digital marketing by then, including 16 years running ERGOS Technology, which he grew into one of the country's top managed IT service firms.
The Four-Legged Stool
Winter explains what makes the best SEO company using a simple test — the four-legged stool.
Technical foundation covers site speed, security, and mobile responsiveness. Strategic analysis means knowing where a business can actually compete, not just chasing whatever keyword has the highest volume. Quality content answers the questions real people are asking. Authority comes from legitimate backlinks. Miss any one of those legs and the whole thing falls over.
That last piece trips up a lot of businesses. Cheap link schemes are everywhere.
Anyone promising 500 backlinks for $99 is going to hurt a site, not help it. Winter has seen it destroy rankings. There's no shortcut that actually works.
Why AI Changed the Game
The ranking comes at a strange moment for the SEO industry. ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity — these tools now answer questions that used to send people to Google. That shift has some agencies panicking.
Rand Fishkin doesn't think they should. Fishkin co-founded Moz, one of the original SEO software companies, and now runs SparkToro. He spoke at SEO Week 2025 about what's actually happening.
"Afraid of AI? Great. Don't invest in content, don't invest in publishing, don't invest in visibility in Google and AI tools," Fishkin told the audience. "Those who do are going to receive outsized benefit from it."
Winter agrees. ASTOUNDZ pushes content across more than 300 platforms — news outlets, podcasts, video channels, social media. The strategy isn't complicated: show up in enough places with good enough information, and both Google and AI tools start treating a brand as a source worth citing.
The Scams Haven't Changed
Twenty years in, Winter has heard every pitch from every bad actor in the industry. The red flags stay the same.
Guaranteed rankings? Nobody controls Google's algorithm — nobody. Special relationship with Google? That doesn't exist. Twelve-month contract with no way out? That's an agency protecting itself, not its clients.
Winter saves particular frustration for the 30-day promises. Anyone guaranteeing page one in 30 days is either lying or planning to use tactics that'll get a site penalized down the road. Real SEO takes four to six months minimum. Houston is competitive. So is Dallas, Chicago, New York. Any market worth being in takes time to crack.
What the Numbers Show
DesignRush ranks agencies using client reviews, portfolio quality, and transparency. ASTOUNDZ holds a 4.9-star rating on the platform with more than 100 verified Google reviews backing it up.
The retention numbers tell a bigger story. ASTOUNDZ reports 93 percent of clients stick around year after year. Bain and Company research shows why that matters — boosting retention just five percent can lift profits 25 to 95 percent. Agencies that keep clients tend to be agencies that deliver.
ASTOUNDZ doesn't do long-term contracts. Clients stay because the agency drives results, not because they're stuck. That's how it should work. If the results aren't there, clients should be able to walk.
What Comes Next
The SEO industry is splitting into two camps. One side keeps doing what worked in 2015. The other side is figuring out how to show up in AI answers, voice search, and whatever comes after that.
ASTOUNDZ works with healthcare companies, energy firms, professional services, tech startups, and e-commerce brands nationwide. The common thread is competition — every one of those industries fights hard for online visibility.
The agencies that survive will be the ones that stay transparent and keep adapting. Proprietary secrets and black-box reporting don't cut it anymore. Businesses are smarter now. They want to see what's actually happening.
About ASTOUNDZ
ASTOUNDZ is a national digital marketing agency headquartered in Houston, Texas. The firm provides SEO services, content marketing, web development, and paid advertising to businesses across the United States. Founded in 2016, ASTOUNDZ serves clients ranging from startups to enterprise organizations and maintains a 4.9-star rating on DesignRush. More information is available at astoundz.com.
Contact Info:
Name: Steve Winter
Email: Send Email
Organization: ASTOUNDZ SEO
Address: 4501 Brookwoods Dr., Houston, Texas 77092, United States
Phone: +1-713-904-5001
Website: https://astoundz.com/
Source: NewsNetwork
Release ID: 89182807
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