Manick
Bhan

Overview

Manick Bhan founded Search Atlas, an AI-powered SEO platform serving 30,000+ customers and 5,000+ agencies worldwide, and developed OTTO SEO — the world's first autonomous AI SEO agent.

Manick graduated from Duke University with a B.S. in Neuroscience and Chemistry. He also founded LinkGraph, a full-service digital marketing agency recognized as a 3x INC 5000 fastest-growing company, SEOTheory, an SEO education platform, and serves as a Subject Matter Expert and Academy Instructor at DigitalMarketer.

With more than a decade of experience across technical SEO, machine learning, and growth automation, Manick has built products used by enterprise brands including Shutterfly, Samsung, Roto-Rooter, Serena & Lily, AutoTrader, Vendasta, University of Cincinnati, and Procter & Gamble. His work has been published in Forbes, Search Engine Journal, VentureBeat, Inc. Magazine, Content Marketing Institute, and more than 30 other publications.

Under Manick's technical leadership, Search Atlas grew from $2M to $30M ARR and from 50 to 250+ employees. In March 2025, the platform integrated with HighLevel (GHL), delivering AI-powered SEO tools to 1.4 million businesses. Search Atlas's flagship product, OTTO SEO, won Best AI Search Software Solution at the Global Search Awards 2025, beating Semrush, Ahrefs, and Moz.

Background

From Goldman Sachs to autonomous agents.

Manick was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland to parents from Kashmir. He attended high school in New Jersey near Princeton before earning a full academic scholarship — the A.B. Duke Scholarship, Duke University's most prestigious merit award — to study Neuroscience, Chemistry, and Music at Duke University (2006–2009), where he also earned a Certificate in Markets & Management and rowed on the Duke Men's Crew team.

After Duke, Manick joined Goldman Sachs as a quantitative analyst, where he spent approximately five years on the bond trading desk. During his tenure, he served on the advisory team for the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger and the Groupon IPO. Observing Wall Street's resistance to technological disruption, he left Goldman in 2012 to pursue entrepreneurship and taught himself software engineering.

In 2011, Manick founded Rukkus.com, a live-entertainment ticketing search engine described as "the Kayak.com of event tickets." Co-founded with Joe Messineo and Angela McCrory, Rukkus aggregated over 100 ticket sites, pioneered VR Seat View technology photographing 900+ U.S. stadiums with custom GoPro hardware, and held two U.S. patents. The mobile app was named one of the five best ticket finder apps by iMore. Featured in Crain's New York Business, Rukkus was acquired by TickPick in July 2018, with VR seat-view IP additionally licensed to StubHub and SeatGeek.

In 2019, Manick co-founded LinkGraph with Arman Advani from a New York City apartment. The agency quickly scaled to serve hundreds of enterprise clients and was named the #1 Start-Up Agency at the U.S. Search Awards (2021) and a 3x INC 5000 fastest-growing company. The internal tools Manick built for LinkGraph's team evolved into Search Atlas, co-founded with Sophia Deluz-Bhan (COO), which now replaces 45+ marketing tools in a single platform.

1. 2006
   Duke University

   A.B. Duke Scholarship · Neuroscience & Chemistry · Duke Men's Crew
2. 2009
   Goldman Sachs

   Quantitative analyst, bond trading. Advisory on Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger and Groupon IPO.
3. 2011
   Rukkus.com

   Live-entertainment ticketing search engine. Pioneered VR Seat View tech. 2 U.S. patents. Acquired by TickPick (2018).
4. 2019
   LinkGraph

   Co-founded with Arman Advani. #1 Start-Up Agency, U.S. Search Awards 2021. 3× INC 5000.
5. 2020— Now
   Search Atlas

   Co-founded with Sophia Deluz-Bhan. 30,000+ customers, 5,000+ agencies, 250+ employees. Built OTTO SEO.

AI Innovations

Technologies Manick has built and shipped.

Representative Results

Outcomes from tools and strategies Manick has built.

Education

• Duke University (2006–2009) — B.S. in Neuroscience & Chemistry; Certificate in Markets & Management; also studied Music. Recipient of the A.B. Duke Full Academic Scholarship (Duke's most prestigious merit scholarship). Duke Men's Crew.
• Self-taught software engineer — Post-Goldman, studied Google patents extensively, conducted correlation studies on search ranking factors (Moz DA, Ahrefs DR, Majestic TF/CF, page speed, Alexa Rank, organic traffic), and studied Bill Slawski's SEO By the Sea research.

Awards & Recognition

Publications & Bylined Articles

Manick has published 76+ bylined articles across leading industry outlets. View the full portfolio →

Also published in: WordStream, ReadWrite, MarketingProfs, Databox, LOCALiQ, Outbrain, OnCrawl, SmartBrief, MartechSeries, Digital Summit, Serpstat, Improvado, HuffPost, Business 2 Community, Business.com, and 20+ more.

Conference Speaking

Manick has spoken at 25+ industry conferences worldwide. View full list →

Podcast Appearances

Press & Media Coverage

Philanthropy & Social Impact

Manick is the Director of the Animal Heroes Fund, which provides grants, free classes, software, and services to nonprofits protecting farmed animals. He co-operates Paz Sanctuary, an animal rescue across two countries, with his wife Sophia, and is a frequent supporter of Ranch Island Rescue Sanctuary.

Through the LinkGraph Cares program, the company has donated over $150,000 to more than 20 organizations, including Farm Sanctuary, Equal Justice Initiative, The Humane Society of the United States, Animal Equality, and Campaign Zero. In a single year, Manick personally directed $100,000 to charity (per Vegas Inc 40 Under 40 profile).

Since founding LinkGraph, every dollar the company has spent on food — events, client gifts, employee travel — has been 100% plant-based. Manick became vegan at age 12 after witnessing slaughterhouse conditions in India. This policy has been covered by DigiDay, VegWorld Magazine, and Authority Magazine.

Personal

Manick lives in San Francisco, California with his wife Sophia Deluz-Bhan (co-founder and COO of Search Atlas Group), their daughter Ruby, and a house full of animals including Voodoo the SEO cat. He manages a fully remote team of 250+ employees across time zones with an async-first culture and maintains a strict 6 PM work cutoff.