“Don’t start in SEO now. It’s too late.” That’s a surprising thing to hear from someone who has run an SEO agency for 23 years. 😮
At the Chiang Mai SEO conference, where he was the first Indian speaker, I sat down with Navneet Kaushal, CEO of PageTraffic, one of India’s oldest SEO agencies, for Inside A Hustler’s Brain. (Fun fact: I applied for a job at his company back in 2012!) 🎙️
We talked about how he started, his 23-year client, personal branding, his first million, AI, and the advice he wishes he’d been given. 🔥
📊 In this episode, we unpacked:
- 🚀 How a website during his MBA became PageTraffic
- 🤝 His 23-year client and first international client
- 🏷️ Personal branding and showing up in ChatGPT
- 🚘 “Mercedes quality” and giving back
- 🛡️ Handling attacks and negativity
- 💰 His first million and his view on AI
- 💬 Regrets, family and big dreams
🎥 Watch the full episode:
🚀 How a Website During His MBA Became PageTraffic
While doing his MBA, Navneet registered a website and started learning SEO. One day people started calling: “Do you do SEO?” 📞
His rule: never say no. If someone asked if he knew something, he’d say yes, study it, and come back the next day. He used tools like WebPosition Gold, learned on forums like Digital Point and WebmasterWorld, and followed Danny Sullivan. 📚
His dad, who worked in banking, gave him ₹10,000 to launch the company. Navneet says he was a below-average student, but his parents never questioned him: “It never crossed our mind that you’re not going to succeed.” ❤️
Amazingly, he didn’t see a computer until 11th class and still doesn’t come from a technical background. 💻
🤝 His 23-Year Client and First International Client
His first client, Stellar Informatics, is still a client after 23 years. They paid ₹20,000 a month. Back then, WebmasterWorld had a moon chart predicting Google updates, so he’d tell clients they’d get rankings tomorrow. 🌙
His first international client was a hotel whose SEO person had died in a road accident. He worked with them for about 15 years. Then US agencies looking to outsource SEO “changed the game.” 🌍
The early challenge wasn’t clients but talent. Nobody knew what SEO was, so job titles said “internet research executive.” 🧑💼
🏷️ Personal Branding and Showing Up in ChatGPT
Navneet has spoken at more than 150 conferences since 2008–09 and has blogged since 2005. He wasn’t consciously building a brand, but now people know both him and PageTraffic, and the brand is the agency’s number one referral source. 🎤
That’s now paying off in AI search. Any “top SEO agencies in India” list looks incomplete without PageTraffic, so even competitors include it. Years of brand mentions mean it shows up naturally in ChatGPT for many India SEO queries. 🤖
For more on agency building, read how to grow a 7-figure SEO agency. 🔗
🚘 “Mercedes Quality” and Giving Back
“I’m not a soft boss.” Navneet is hard on himself and has high standards. PageTraffic is intentionally not the cheapest: “If you buy a Mercedes, you expect Mercedes quality.” 🚘
He’s supportive in his own way. After speaking at conferences, he gives the same talk to his team, and even to employees of friends’ companies over Zoom. He shares his templates with friends who could be competitors because of the “theory of abundance: the more you give, the more you get.” 🎁
He has no co-founder because there was no co-founder concept when he started, but his team is loyal. His sales head has been with him for 14 years and his content lead for 17. 👥
For another agency founder’s story, read Liam Quirk on scaling his agency. 🔗
🛡️ Handling Attacks and Negativity
When Navneet spoke at a conference in Chandigarh, PageTraffic’s website was hit by a DDoS attack and was down for three days. Now his team expects negativity whenever he speaks. 😤
“I’ll be disappointed if my competition doesn’t do anything.” He doesn’t worry about negative posts or reviews anymore and sees the silver lining. 🌤️
Would he trade fame for more money? No. He loves sharing value and the respect it brings: “Money doesn’t motivate me” beyond the early days. 💡
💰 His First Million and His View on AI
“Believe it or not,” he made his first million building links. In 2002–04, reciprocal links were the main business, and he built backlinks for many agencies. 🔗
PageTraffic is now building AI solutions, including its own SaaS product. Will AI take jobs? Not if you treat AI as a tool and an assistant. “It will take the job of the dumb people,” those who see work as a 9-to-5 and won’t invest in their careers. “There’s no second choice.” 🤖
For another view on AI and SEO, read Anil Agarwal’s survival plan. 🔗
💬 Regrets, Family and Big Dreams
- 🇺🇸 Business regret: not going to the US and networking more early on instead of being “married to computers”
- 💡 Biggest failure: he had website ideas that later became billion-dollar companies, but didn’t have the resources to build them
- 👨👧 Family: he used to take pride in 18-hour days. Now he makes time for his kids and wants them to learn that “nothing came to me on a plate”
- 🏛️ Last wish: to leave a legacy where he’s known as the father of his kids, not the other way round
- 🙋 Missed people: two passionate early employees from his Lajpat Nagar shop-office days
- 🚀 A day with: Elon Musk, for his forward thinking
- 🎯 FIRE number: around ₹200–250 crore, though he won’t stop working
- 📐 Education: India’s system is “stuck in old things” and needs to be more practical
- 👍 Who he admires: his dad, who gave him money from a salaried job without questioning
Worst advice: be content with what you have. “I would have reached 100 million if I had dreamed 100 million.” Best advice: don’t get too involved in day-to-day operations, because work isn’t everything. 🌟
His advice for newcomers: find your passion, whatever it is. “The world today has more opportunities than it ever had. Money will follow.” 💰
- 🙋 Say yes, then learn fast
- 🏷️ Years of speaking and blogging build a brand that AI search picks up
- 🚘 Price and deliver like a premium brand
- 🎁 Share knowledge freely, because the more you give, the more you get
- 🤖 Treat AI as your assistant and keep investing in your career
- 🌟 Dream big, since your ambition sets your ceiling
- ❤️ Find your passion, and money will follow
Navneet Kaushal is the CEO of PageTraffic, one of India’s oldest SEO agencies, with more than 23 years in SEO and over 150 conference talks.
By building links for clients and agencies in the early 2000s, when reciprocal links were the main business.
Not for people who treat AI as a tool and keep learning. He says it will replace those who see work as a 9-to-5 and don’t invest in their careers.
Don’t start something just because others are. Find your passion, whether it’s SEO, AI or anything else, and the money will follow.
🎙️ More Inside A Hustler’s Brain Interviews You’ll Love
- Chris Tzitzis On Selling His 7-Figure Agency, Life Regrets, and Missing His Mom 👇
- How Alexander Ljubinkovic Built a Profitable SEO Agency from Scratch? 😮
- How Pranav Jha Built a $30k/Month SEO Agency from Scratch
- The Secret to SEO Agency Success in the LLM SEO / AI SEO World ft. Adam Chronister
If Navneet’s journey inspired you, share this with a friend who’s thinking of starting an agency. 💬
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Jitendra Vaswani is a well-known expert in SEO and AI-driven digital marketing. He has spoken at international events and founded Digiexe, a digital marketing agency, and AffiliateBooster, WordPress plugin designed specifically for affiliate marketers. With over 10 years of experience, Jitendra has helped many businesses succeed online. His bestselling book, Inside A Hustler’s Brain: In Pursuit of Financial Freedom, with over 20,000 copies sold globally, underscores his influence and commitment to empowering digital marketers.