Search Atlas COO Sophia Deluz-Bhan Scales AI Search Marketing Company to $30M ARR Through Contrarian Strategy

Sophia Deluz-Bhan, COO and co-founder of Search Atlas Group, has scaled the AI-powered search marketing company from $2 million to $30 million in annual recurring revenue in five years through operational excellence and a contrarian multi-brand strategy. The 250-plus employee company now operates three distinct brands serving enterprise, mid-market, and SMB segments, positioning itself at the forefront of Answer Engine Optimization as traditional SEO undergoes its most significant transformation in decades.

While most tech entrepreneurs chase SaaS from day one, Deluz-Bhan and co-founder Manick Bhan took a different path in 2019. They launched LinkGraph, an enterprise SEO agency, before building software. That agency-first approach proved prescient. LinkGraph scaled to $10 million ARR by 2022, serving major enterprise clients including Roto-Rooter, Shutterfly, and Serena & Lily. More crucially, it revealed market gaps that would shape the company's flagship AI product, OTTO SEO.

Deluz-Bhan made another contrarian call: building Search Atlas as remote-first from day one, pre-pandemic, when most companies still viewed remote work skeptically. That infrastructure became Search Atlas Group's secret weapon. While competitors struggled with remote transitions during the pandemic, Search Atlas seamlessly scaled from 50 to 150 employees without missing a beat. The company's performance management system focuses on outcomes rather than hours, enabling high-performing team members across different time zones and work styles to thrive.

In 2022, Deluz-Bhan led Search Atlas Group's first major M&A transaction, acquiring Signal Genesys, a press release distribution platform. The move expanded the portfolio to three brands and showcased her operational leadership. The acquisition created an ecosystem approach that differentiated Search Atlas from competitors offering point solutions. Clients could now access enterprise SEO services, AI-powered search marketing software, and press distribution through one unified partner.

The 2024 launch of OTTO SEO represented the culmination of years of product development informed by real client needs. Deluz-Bhan oversaw the entire launch process, from product positioning to sales strategy, customer success infrastructure, and marketing coordination. The platform addresses the seismic shift happening in search marketing as AI-powered answer engines transform how users discover information. Traditional SEO tactics are becoming obsolete; OTTO SEO helps businesses optimize for how AI systems surface and present information.

Search Atlas was awarded the "Best SEO Global Software Suite" at the 2024 Global Search Awards, validating Deluz-Bhan's operational execution and the company's technology positioning. The recognition came as the company hit $30 million ARR, representing 15x growth from its 2019 starting point. The accolades continued to pile up. Capterra named Search Atlas the #1 SEO Platform of 2024, with the platform maintaining a 4.9 out of 5 average rating. Software Advice selected Search Atlas as a Front Runner for SEO Platform, while GetApp designated it as a Category Leader. Gartner voted Search Atlas the #1 SEO platform for customer satisfaction and usability.

Search Atlas earned the "Best AI Search Software Solution" award at the Global Search Awards 2025, cementing its position as a leader in AI-powered search marketing. Deluz-Bhan's leadership extends beyond operational metrics. She has positioned Search Atlas Group at the intersection of three major trends: AI transformation of search, the rise of answer engines, and the shift from manual to agentic marketing. Her vision has shaped Search Atlas Group's product roadmap, with OTTO SEO incorporating AI capabilities that automate previously manual SEO tasks while maintaining the strategic thinking that separates high-performing campaigns from mediocre ones.

Deluz-Bhan's scale-up approach offers lessons for other AI marketing companies: start with revenue generation, not just product development; build scalable systems early; think ecosystem, not point solutions; time major launches carefully; and prioritize profitability over growth-at-all-costs. As Search Atlas Group enters its next growth phase, Deluz-Bhan is focused on agentic marketing—where AI agents handle complex, multi-step marketing tasks with minimal human intervention. The company is also expanding its enterprise offering, leveraging LinkGraph's relationships to introduce OTTO SEO to Fortune 500 companies facing the Answer Engine Optimization challenge.