For managing partners with vendors but no single owner of strategy

One accountable owner of your firm’s organic case acquisition · across every vendor, every page, every quarter.

Who in your firm owns the organic case acquisition strategy? If the honest answer is “no one” or “the agency” · that’s the engagement.

Senior strategic leadership for PI firms past the execution stage. Embedded with your in-house team, your agencies, and your developer · setting direction, owning the roadmap, and governing every vendor under one strategic frame. No content writing. No code commits. No ad management. One direction, one owner, one accountable point of failure.

Honest scarcity: Maximum two strategic engagements globally. One per metro. Currently 1 of 2 slots filled.
Two engagements concurrent globally PI exclusive (US, UK, Canada) Direct partner-level access 30-day evaluation guarantee Assets owned outright by your firm
02 · The diagnostic question

Most firms past $5M aren’t underperforming because tactics are wrong. They’re underperforming because nobody owns the strategy.

One senior strategist sits above your vendors and your in-house team, sets direction across the four pillars, and is accountable for the result. Three patterns describe the firms this engagement is built for.

Pattern 01

Strategy lives nowhere.

No single accountable owner of organic strategy across in-house, agencies, and developers. Every vendor is doing tasks. No one is making decisions about what tasks matter.

Pattern 02

Vendor reports look fine. Cases do not arrive.

Your monthly report shows traffic growth. Your intake team flags weaker calls. Nobody connects the two. Rankings move. Signed cases do not.

Pattern 03

You hired execution. You needed leadership.

An agency builds the site, runs ads, writes blog posts. None of it composes into a coherent organic asset because no one is composing it.

$61.7B total US personal injury market in 2025. 164,000+ PI attorneys competing for the same query networks. Winners are not the firms with the biggest agency. They are the firms with the clearest internal direction.

03 · The mechanism

The same four pillars · governed, not executed.

The Fractional PI Search Strategist is the governance layer of the PI Authority Engine. Same four pillars · but instead of running them inside one engagement, the Strategist sets direction across every vendor, every page, and every team that touches them. The Engine becomes your firm’s internal decision lens.

The Engine you read about on /pioae/ is the method your vendors should be running against. The Strategist is the person who makes sure they are · and intervenes the moment any one of them drifts.
01 / Pillar

Technical Stability

You stop arguing with developers about indexation. One strategy owns the technical roadmap.

Crawlability, indexation, site architecture, Core Web Vitals, schema integrity · governed at the architecture level, not patched ticket by ticket.

02 / Pillar

Intent Capture

You stop fighting the agency over keyword targeting. One strategy owns the Query Network map.

Practice-area structure, location pages, keyword alignment, search-intent mapping, cannibalization prevention · sequenced once and held to.

03 / Pillar

Authority & Entity Reinforcement

You stop relying on the agency to know which authority signals matter for PI. One strategy owns the entity work across schema, Google Business Profile, and the external citation profile.

Internal linking, entity signals, topical authority, E-E-A-T alignment, Local Entity Reinforcement (NAP consistency, category strategy, citation alignment, review architecture).

04 / Pillar

Case Acquisition Optimization

You stop wondering why rankings rise and cases do not. One strategy owns the conversion architecture.

Conversion paths, page structure, CTAs, intake-flow tuning, lead quality · measured against signed cases, not impressions.

See the full PI Authority Engine →
04 · Why this is not an agency

An agency executes tasks. A strategist owns direction. Those are different jobs.

Most PI firms past $5M already have execution capacity · usually too much of it. What they lack is one person above the vendors, accountable for whether the work composes into an organic asset.

SEO agency

  • Scope: execution capacity
  • Specialization: multi-vertical
  • Sits above vendors? No · is a vendor
  • Writes content, pushes code? Yes
  • Owns ranking outcomes? Reports them

Fractional CMO

  • Scope: all marketing channels
  • Specialization: multi-vertical
  • Sits above vendors? Yes (all channels)
  • Writes content, pushes code? No
  • Owns ranking outcomes? Not directly

What the Strategist actually owns

Six named responsibilities. Each is a category of decisions someone in your firm is already making · or no one is. The Strategist makes them, defends them, and documents them.

Organic strategy ownership

The single accountable owner of the four-pillar direction across every vendor and every internal seat that touches the website.

Technical direction

Architecture, indexation, schema, and Core Web Vitals direction routed to your developer or technical agency. You stop adjudicating between competing tickets.

Content and intent guidance

Practice-area structure, location strategy, and the Query Network map handed to your content team or agency as a sequenced brief.

Authority strategy

Entity reinforcement across on-site schema, Google Business Profile, and the external citation profile · governed as one system, not three silos.

Team and vendor oversight

Quarterly written vendor scorecards. Intervention the moment any vendor drifts from the published roadmap. Partner-level reporting.

Executive reporting

Quarterly briefings to the partnership tied to signed cases, qualified intakes, and case mix · not impressions, sessions, or rankings alone.

What Behzad does not do

  • Write content for your blog
  • Build links or run outreach
  • Push code to your website
  • Run Google Ads, LSAs, or any paid media
05 · The engagement

Three phases. Six named deliverables. One direction.

The engagement is structured as governance, not as a campaign. Phase 1 is diagnosis across every vendor. Phase 2 is direction setting to every executor. Phase 3 is governance · the part most firms have never had before.

Phase 1

Diagnosis

Weeks 1 to 3

Audit current state across every vendor, every workflow, and every page that matters. Output: diagnostic memo plus the 6-month strategic roadmap. The roadmap is yours from day 21, regardless of what happens next.

Phase 2

Direction setting

Weeks 4 to 8

Direction routed to your developer, your content team, your digital PR partner, and any other vendor under oversight. One direction, multiple executors. Vendor scorecards begin.

Phase 3

Governance

Week 9 onward

Weekly or biweekly strategy calls. Vendor review. Intervention when execution drifts. Quarterly executive briefings to the partnership tied to signed cases.

First 30 days of a Strategist engagement

90 seconds of the cadence · what week 1 looks like, what the first strategy memo covers, what changes inside your vendor stack by day 30.

Six named work products

Cadence

Strategy calls

Weekly or biweekly with your firm’s decision makers.

Documentation

Monthly strategy memos

Direction, decisions, priorities · in writing, signed and dated.

Direction

Roadmap ownership

Across all four pillars, sequenced and defended quarter to quarter.

Oversight

Vendor review and audit

Written scorecard and recommendation, every quarter, every vendor.

Access

Direct advisory access

Slack or WhatsApp between calls. Partner-level, not coordinator-routed.

Reporting

Quarterly executive briefings

Tied to signed cases, qualified intakes, and case mix. Not impressions.

6-point fit rubric

  • PI firm with 5 to 50+ attorneys
  • $2M to $30M+ annual revenue
  • Operating in US, UK, or Canada
  • Already running in-house SEO, outside agency, or both
  • Results plateaued; decisions scattered; no single owner
  • Managing partner thinks in business outcomes
06 · Commercial impact

This tier is priced against the marginal case the absence of strategy is leaking each quarter.

A firm running three vendors, an in-house marketing manager, and a developer · with no single accountable strategy owner · burns $20K to $60K per month in coordination overhead, duplicate work, and reversed decisions. None of it shows up on the agency invoice. The Strategist tier closes that gap in 90 days while compounding the case-acquisition gap closed.

The cost of doing nothing is not zero. Every quarter that continues, your competitors with a single strategy owner compound authority, and your team’s coordination cost compounds against you. The agency invoice stays steady. The signed-case ceiling does not lift.
If your firm signs
At average contingency on
The Strategist tier ($12K/mo) pays back in
1 additional truck case per quarter
$250K, 33% fee
~7 months of retainer per quarter
1 additional MVA case per month
$75K, 33% fee
$25K/mo recurring · roughly 2x retainer monthly
1 wrongful-death case in Year 1
$1M+, 33% fee
2+ years of retainer covered by a single case
Before the strategist
After the strategist
Partners adjudicate SEO disputes between vendors
One direction source. Partners stop refereeing.
In-house team works on tactics with no priority
Strategic priority attached to all work
Agency reports are the ceiling of insight
Strategist challenges work product harder than the agency does
Intake case mix from random keyword wins
Case mix shifts with a controlled query network
Reporting: impressions and rankings
Signed cases, qualified intakes, acquisition cost
07 · Pricing and guarantee

One tier. Two slots globally. Booked by call, not by form.

There is no menu. There is one engagement, structured the same way every time, priced inside a range that flexes with metro complexity and the number of vendors under oversight.

Premium tier

Fractional PI Search Strategist

Senior PI SEO leadership for firms with a team but no strategy.

Investment$10,000 to $15,000+ per month
Minimum3 months
Ideal length6 to 12 months
BookingBy call, not form
ConcurrencyTwo engagements globally at any time
What you do30 to 60 minutes weekly or biweekly on the strategy call. Async approvals. Granting vendor access.

30-day evaluation guarantee

The first 30 days are evaluative by design. If we are not the right fit by day 30, you keep:

  • The diagnostic memo
  • The prioritized 6-month roadmap
  • The vendor scorecard

All assets, documents, and credentials are issued in your firm’s name. After day 30, exit anytime with 30 days written notice. No clawbacks. No renewal traps.

Question answered
PI SEO Diagnostic
PI Authority Growth System
Question answered
What is blocking organic case acquisition?
How do we build the system?
Behzad’s role
Auditor
Architect
Investment
$4,500 (one-time)
$5K to $12K per month
Length
7 to 10 days
3-month minimum, 6 to 12 ideal
Strict territory exclusivity. While your engagement runs, no direct competitor in your metro can hire it. Global maximum: two engagements concurrent at any time. Outcomes are held in confidence by request of partner clients · organic strategy intelligence is competitive collateral inside a metro PI market, and we do not case-study our partners.
08 · Next step

The four-step path into the engagement.

No proposal cycles. No discovery calls disguised as sales calls. One scoping call, one written engagement memo, one kickoff · all within 14 days of the first conversation if fit is confirmed on both sides.

Step 01

Book the call

30-minute scoping call. 24-hour prep brief sent to you before the call so the conversation is substantive on minute one.

Step 02

Scoping call

Within 5 business days. Both sides confirm fit · or both sides confirm it is not a fit, plainly.

Step 03

Written engagement memo

Within 7 days of the call if fit is confirmed. Scope, cadence, exit terms, and the 30-day evaluation window in writing.

Step 04

Phase 1 kickoff

Within 14 days of signed memo. Diagnosis across every vendor begins.

Honest scarcity: Maximum two strategic engagements globally. Currently 1 of 2 slots filled. One engagement per metro. While yours runs, no direct competitor in your metro can hire it. Booked by call only. Form submissions are responded to with the Calendly link.

Questions partners ask before the Strategic Fit call.

How is the engagement priced across the $10K to $15K+ range?

The range flexes with metro complexity and the number of vendors under oversight. A two-vendor firm in a tertiary metro sits at $10K. A four-vendor firm in a top-10 metro with multi-office structure sits at $15K. Above $15K is reserved for firms with full in-house marketing departments where Strategist oversight extends to a marketing director’s reporting line.

What is the minimum commitment, and why?

3-month minimum. The first 30 days are evaluative · if it is not a fit, you keep the diagnostic memo, the 6-month roadmap, and the vendor scorecard. After day 30 you may exit anytime with 30 days written notice. The 3-month structure exists because Phase 1 (diagnosis) and Phase 2 (direction setting) only compose into governance starting in Phase 3.

How is this different from an SEO agency?

An agency is a vendor. The Strategist sits above the vendors. The Strategist does not write content, build links, push code, or run paid media. The Strategist directs the firm’s organic strategy across whatever vendors are already in place · including the agency you may keep. Most engagements at this tier preserve existing vendors and put strategic direction in one place for the first time.

How is this different from a Fractional CMO?

A Fractional CMO owns all marketing channels and is, by necessity, multi-vertical. The Strategist owns organic case acquisition only and is PI-only. The depth of specialization is the trade. If you need someone owning brand, paid media, intake operations, and BD partnerships, you need a Fractional CMO. If you need someone owning organic search across vendors with PI-only depth, you need this engagement.

How does the Strategist work with our existing agency or in-house team?

The agency continues to execute. The in-house team continues to execute. The Strategist sets the four-pillar direction, sequences the work, audits both quarterly against a written scorecard, and intervenes when execution drifts from the published roadmap. Most engagements begin with the existing agency in place; some end with the same agency performing visibly better; some end with a different agency that fits the strategy.

Will the Strategist work with our firm’s direct competitors?

No. Strict territory exclusivity. While your engagement runs, no direct competitor in your metro can hire it. Global concurrency is also capped at two engagements at any time. Outcomes are held in confidence by request of partner clients · organic strategy intelligence is competitive collateral in a metro PI market.

What if the engagement is not the right fit by day 30?

You keep the diagnostic memo, the prioritized 6-month roadmap, and the vendor scorecard · all issued in your firm’s name. No assets are retained. No platform lock-in. After day 30, exit with 30 days written notice anytime. The 30-day evaluation is the only risk-reversal mechanism we offer · and the only one we need to offer.

How is success measured?

Quarterly executive briefings tied to three numbers: signed cases attributable to organic, qualified intakes from organic, and case mix shift toward the practice areas you targeted. Impressions, sessions, and rankings appear in the briefings as supporting evidence · they are never the headline metric. If you do not want to be reported to in signed cases, this engagement is not the right fit.

What happens at engagement end · is there a handoff?

Yes. A written end-of-engagement memo · the 12-month state of the four pillars, the next 12 months of recommended sequencing, and a one-page brief for whichever vendor or internal seat picks up direction next. All artifacts move with you. No retained IP, no proprietary dashboards.

Why personal injury only?

Because PI is the most expensive vertical in search, and the structural patterns that win it do not generalize to other practice areas. PI-only depth produces a method an entity is recognized for. PI-only depth is also why I can decline competitors of yours · and why your engagement carries metro exclusivity in the first place.