In the mid-2000s, Nate Tower was a high school English teacher moonlighting as a freelance blogger writing about everything from software reviews to dating websites. He didn’t know it yet, but he was teaching himself SEO. That accidental start eventually led him to Perrill thirteen years ago, and today he leads the agency as President.
In this conversation with Ranmay, Nate Tower, President at Perrill, traces that journey and talks about why he still believes link building and brand mentions matter more than ever in an AI-driven search world, even as everyone insists organic reach is dying. He shares why a client’s website remains its hardest-working employee, and why the real answer to “how much should we hold back” is almost always: you have to give away knowledge to build trust that lasts.
They also dig into what Nate has learned building an in-house AI visibility tool, including why raw visibility percentages look great in a sales deck but matter far less to clients than actual leads and revenue, and how Perrill has stayed relevant by tying its identity to outcomes instead of fixed methods across three decades of industry shifts.
The conversation closes with an honest rapid-fire round, including the one thing Nate wishes he’d done differently as a new president: making decisions faster.
Takeaways:
- Started his career as a high school English teacher before discovering SEO through freelance writing.
- Believes link building and brand mentions remain critical for visibility in AI search tools.
- Views a company's website as its hardest-working employee — often the first thing worth fixing.
- Built trust with prospects by giving away knowledge freely instead of holding information back.
- Says raw AI visibility percentages matter far less to clients than actual leads and revenue.
- Uses proprietary AI data to build content strategies specific to each client's industry, not a one-size-fits-all playbook.
- Believes agencies survive decades of industry shifts by staying tied to outcomes, not fixed methods.