Today we’d like to introduce you to Zach Pace.
Hi Zach, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was first introduced to search engine optimization (SEO) at 18 during an internship with a water filtration company. At the time, I had never even heard of SEO. I was simply asked to become the in-house “SEO guy” and figure it out.
That experience sparked something.
As I started learning about keyword research, content marketing, and how search engines actually work, I quickly became obsessed. I spent the next few years teaching myself everything I could, reading blogs, watching YouTube videos, and applying what I learned in real time while I was still in college.
After graduating, I stepped into my first full-time role as a web content strategist at my alma mater, where I began applying SEO at a much deeper level. From there, I went on to manage SEO in-house for universities like Grand Canyon, Furman, Charleston Southern, and North Greenville building strategies, creating content systems, and driving measurable growth through organic search.
But during that time, I noticed a pattern.
Even large organizations with resources were struggling to get real results from SEO. Many were working with agencies that focused on deliverables and reports instead of outcomes and revenue. That same problem was even more common with service-based businesses.
In 2024, after years of seeing this firsthand, I realized I could deliver a better, more focused approach.
So in March 2025, I launched Ridgeline Digital Marketing.
Today, I work with service-based businesses to help them get found in search through SEO, local SEO, and content marketing. Instead of chasing leads through ads or inconsistent marketing efforts, we focus on building organic growth systems that bring in qualified leads consistently.
Our approach is simple: we don’t treat SEO like a checklist, we treat it like a growth engine. Every strategy is built around real search demand and designed to turn visibility into calls, leads, and revenue.
Since launching Ridgeline, I’ve helped businesses generate measurable results, from ranking at the top of local search to driving significant increases in traffic, leads, and booked clients.
At the end of the day, the goal is straightforward: help businesses get found everywhere people are searching for what they offer and turn that visibility into real growth.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The journey to starting Ridgeline, and becoming an entrepreneur, was not exactly a smooth road. Entrepreneurship was no where on my radar.
A combination of factors drove me to it.
My wife and I had just begun having kids, and we still had student loans and a car loan to pay off. Money was tight, and we were really feeling the strain.
During that time, I had grown tired of the corporate life. I had the typical high-performer experience. You work really hard, deliver great results, and instead of being rewarded with a raise and promotion, you get rewarded with more work.
The incentives didn’t really line up for me, and at the same time I was feeling high financial pressure.
Something had to change for us.
I couldn’t keep depending on a raise that was never coming. I had to find another way.
As it turns out, entrepreneurship became the life I never realized I wanted.
Everything that it requires of you is everything that I wanted to be able to do in my corporate jobs but was disincentivized to do.
I wanted one thing: freedom.
I wanted the freedom to grow my income on my terms. I wanted the freedom over my time, and I wanted the freedom to choose what I did with my time — what projects I would work on.
In short, I wanted financial, time, and vocational freedom.
Entrepreneurship felt like the key to that for me. So I pulled the trigger.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Ridgeline Digital Marketing is an SEO agency focused on helping service-based businesses grow through organic search.
We help businesses get found everywhere people search for what they do, and we turn that visibility into leads, calls, bookings, and revenue.
We specialize in building organic growth systems through a combination of:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO/GEO) – Full-service strategy and execution to help businesses rank in traditional search engines like Google as well as emerging platforms like ChatGPT.
Local SEO – Helping businesses dominate their local market through Google Maps, the local pack, and location-based search visibility.
Content Marketing – Creating and optimizing content that aligns with real search demand and drives qualified traffic.
Analytics & Conversion Tracking – Setting up the infrastructure to track what’s actually working, so you can make more confident business decisions.
AI Workflows & Automation – Building custom automations that reduce manual work and help teams operate more efficiently.
SEO Consulting – Providing strategic guidance for teams that want to execute in-house but need expert direction and oversight.
What sets Ridgeline apart is that we don’t treat SEO like a one-time project, we treat it like the long-term growth channel that it is.
A lot of businesses have been burned by SEO agencies before. They were given a bunch of reports and spreadsheets or a set-it-and-forget-it website that didn’t amount to real business outcomes. We take a different approach by tying everything back to what actually matters: qualified leads and revenue.
Every strategy we build is rooted in real search demand, tailored to the specific business and market, and continuously optimized based on performance data.
We don’t feel like we’ve successfully helped you until we can show that the overall health of your business has improved as a result of our work.
We help businesses move from inconsistent, referral-based growth to consistent, compounding lead generation where they’re no longer wondering where the next client is coming from.
We want our clients to feel like they would want to work with us over and over again because they can actually feel the effects of growth from SEO.
At the end of the day, everyone wants to be less stressed and make more money, and that’s what we help businesses achieve.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Luck is a tricky subject.
Luck can be cultivated if you put yourself in a position where luck can find you.
I like to say, “Nobody knows you exist, if nobody knows you exist”.
That’s so obvious, but we forget that it’s our responsibility to make certain that people know we exist.
To me, that means meeting new people and building real, lasting relationships and leaning on those relationships to create introductions for my business. It also means posting consistently on social media about my life, my thoughts, and my business.
Marketing is inherently about getting into the minds of consumers.
Being lucky is kind of the same thing.
In order for luck to find you, you have to be in the rooms and around the people where great things happen.
And, in order to achieve that, you have to show up and be a real human being with other real human beings.
It’s as simple as that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ridgelinedigitalmarketing.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Ridgeline-Digital-Marketing/61573169474295/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ridgeline-digital
- Google Business Profile: https://share.google/4gNb7qDDOhepzYcbh
- Business Email: zach@ridgelinedigitalmarketing.com
