What We Built in 2025 & What We’re Carrying Into 2026

As 2025 wraps up, we’re taking some time to look back at what actually worked, not just what sounded good in planning meetings.

This past year wasn’t about chasing trends or reinventing ourselves. It was about building on what was already working, paying attention to what was changing, and making thoughtful decisions about how and where to grow.

Here are a few outcomes we’re proud of, and what they mean for our partners in 2026.

We Grew Revenue by 28% YOY

We attribute that growth to three things:

• Long-standing relationships with our partners
• Deliberate effort to grow in ways that strengthen those relationships rather than stretching them
• And a focus on gaining more partners in industries where we have near-perfect client retention

Thanks to a 90% client retention rate, $1.8 million in new work didn’t just replace revenue. It added to the business. That stability gave us room to invest with intention and maintain consistency as partnerships grew.

And that momentum showed up beyond our own numbers as well. In 2025, WISE was named to the Inc. 5000 for the second year in a row. Based on our current trajectory, we expect to remain competitive for inclusion again in 2026.

New Opportunities in Untapped Places

We knew AI was changing search and discovery well before 2025. What really drove it home was what we started seeing in our own businesses, and hearing directly from prospective partners.

More and more often, they told us they didn’t find WISE through a traditional search. They found us through AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini, often before they ever visited a website.

The numbers confirmed it.

Year over year, opportunities tied to AI-driven discovery grew by roughly 240%, accounting for more than $1.2 million in new business in 2025 alone (70% of total new business last year).

And it wasn't just more opportunities. They were better ones.

For the first time in our company's history, more new revenue came from AI-driven discovery (GEO) than from traditional SEO. And the contracts were larger, 22% higher than the company average and 40% higher than those that found us through SEO.

In short, AI wasn't just influencing visibility; it was influencing fit.

That success confirmed something else as well. Our pilot AI Visibility program was not only working; it was attracting the kinds of partners we do our best work with.

That’s why expanding this program is a major focus for us in 2026: helping our partners adapt and stay visible in a search landscape most of their competitors still don’t fully understand.

Breaking Down Our 2025 Acquisition Performance

For years, search has been a primary driver of how prospective partners find WISE. In 2025, that pattern began to change.

The first chart below breaks down where WISE’s new business originated last year. While SEO was a strong driver, the data reveals a meaningful shift in how prospects are finding us. Most notably, GEO accounted for 17.9% of all new deals—clear evidence that AI-driven visibility has become as foundational as reputation and traditional search strategies.

New Deal Sources in 2025

Here's another chart that breaks down how different acquisition strategies contributed to WISE’s revenue over the past year. SEO remained a cornerstone in bringing in new deals, but GEO inched into the lead.

New Revenue Sources in 2025

Investing in the Team

The outcome we’re most proud of isn’t growth itself. It’s what that growth made possible.

In 2025, we added people across strategy, design, paid media, and SEO to support the level of work our partners expect as their needs grow and evolve.

For our partners, that means more availability, steadier momentum, and more attention on their work as projects move forward. It also means smarter decisions happen faster, issues are addressed early, and the work never feels rushed or stretched thin.

That’s the benefit. Not growth for its own sake, but the capacity to support our partners as they grow.

Looking Ahead to 2026

As we head into 2026, our focus is simple.

We’re using what we’ve built over the past year to show up as a more capable, better-resourced partner. That means more depth on the team and stronger support across strategy, copy, design, development, paid media, and SEO.

It also means we have more room to be thoughtful. More room to slow down where it matters, ask better questions, and help our clients make decisions that hold up over time.

Curious how these shifts might impact your visibility or growth in 2026? We’d love to have a conversation.