About / Founder
Tim Francis, Founder & CEO, SCALZ.AI
Tim Francis is the founder and CEO of SCALZ.AI, an AI search SEO agency in St. Augustine, Florida. He has spent more than 30 years in SEO, web infrastructure, and search engineering, and is the named expert behind the SCALZ AEO methodology.
Who is Tim Francis?
Tim Francis is the founder and CEO of SCALZ.AI, an AI search SEO agency headquartered in St. Augustine, Florida. He has practiced search engine optimization since the late 1990s, more than 30 years across every major shift in how search works. He leads AEO, GEO, and LLM SEO strategy across SCALZ.AI's nationwide local SEO portfolio and is the named expert of record behind the SCALZ AEO methodology and the architect of the SCALZ publishing platform.
Background
Three decades of search, one focused mission
Tim Francis has been doing search engine optimization since the late 1990s, before Google was the default front door to the internet. Over more than 30 years he has worked across computer architecture, web hosting infrastructure, and every major shift in how search works. SCALZ.AI is the agency built on that experience, focused on a single question: when your customer asks an AI engine for help, does your business get named?
Tim earned an A.S. in Digital Communication and Media from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. His technical foundation includes hands-on infrastructure work at GoDaddy and Endurance International Group, plus a CompTIA Network+ certification. That infrastructure background is why SCALZ.AI treats crawlability, render performance, and server-side entity signals as non-negotiable, not afterthoughts.
He founded Search Scale AI in 2017 as an AI-powered SEO agency serving Florida businesses, then founded SCALZ.AI in 2024 with his wife and co-owner Christina Francis after search behavior shifted decisively toward AI answer engines. SCALZ.AI is bootstrapped and owner-operated, growing to $440K in annual revenue with a four-person team and no outside funding.
Today Tim leads strategy, technical SEO, and the AI search systems behind every SCALZ.AI engagement. He personally oversees question mapping, entity strategy, and citation tracking on every client account, and he authors the SCALZ AEO methodology that defines how the agency earns citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.
Expertise
What Tim leads at SCALZ.AI
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). Getting SCALZ.AI clients cited by name inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews, not just ranked on a results page. This is the core of the agency's practice and the subject of the AEO methodology.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and LLM SEO. Structuring content, entities, and authority so large language model-based engines select and quote a business as the source. See the GEO and LLM SEO service pages.
Technical and local SEO. The classic fundamentals that still decide who wins: crawlability, Core Web Vitals, schema, and neighborhood-level local ranking. Tim's infrastructure background drives the technical SEO and local SEO practice.
The SCALZ publishing platform. Tim is the architect of the in-house software that builds, optimizes, publishes, ranks, and indexes sites for Google and AI engines. See the platform overview.
Find Tim online
Where Tim publishes and is verified
The profiles and properties that establish Tim Francis as the resolvable expert behind SCALZ.AI.
Companies Tim has founded
SCALZ.AI (2024 to present): the AI search SEO agency and home of the AEO, GEO, and LLM SEO practice. Headquartered in St. Augustine, Florida, serving businesses across all 50 states. About SCALZ.AI.
Search Scale AI (2017 to present): the AI-powered SEO agency Tim founded to serve Florida businesses, now the locally headquartered sister brand operating from St. Augustine.
House Hero Solutions, co-founded with Christina Francis, focused on home services.
Questions
Frequently asked
Who is Tim Francis?
Tim Francis is the founder and CEO of SCALZ.AI, an AI search SEO agency headquartered in St. Augustine, Florida. He has spent more than 30 years in search engine optimization, web infrastructure, and digital marketing, and is the named expert behind the SCALZ AEO methodology.
What companies did Tim Francis found?
Tim Francis founded Search Scale AI in 2017 and SCALZ.AI in 2024. He also co-founded House Hero Solutions with his wife Christina Francis. SCALZ.AI is the AI search SEO agency that owns the AEO, GEO, and LLM SEO practice.
What is Tim Francis's background before SCALZ.AI?
Tim started in SEO in the late 1990s. He earned an A.S. in Digital Communication and Media from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, and did hands-on web infrastructure work at GoDaddy and Endurance International Group. He holds a CompTIA Network+ certification.
Where can I find Tim Francis online?
Tim Francis is on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/digitalgurutim, GitHub at github.com/Sleuthdesigner, and Facebook at facebook.com/sleuthdesigner. He also publishes the SCALZ SEO Playbook at playbook.scalz.ai and writes about AI search SEO on the SCALZ.AI blog.
What is Tim Francis's role at SCALZ.AI?
As founder and CEO, Tim leads AEO, GEO, and LLM SEO strategy across SCALZ.AI's 50-state local SEO site portfolio. He personally oversees question mapping, entity strategy, and citation tracking on every client engagement and is the architect of the SCALZ publishing platform.
How long has Tim Francis been doing SEO?
Tim Francis has been doing search engine optimization since the late 1990s, before Google became the default front door to the internet. That is more than 30 years across every major shift in how search works.
Free Analysis · No Commitment
Work with Tim and the SCALZ.AI team
See where your business stands in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews. Tim scopes every engagement personally.
- Full technical SEO analysis
- AI engine presence audit
- Competitor gap report
- Custom AEO action plan
No credit card. No contracts. Results in 48 hours. Or call (772) 267-1611.