About Chris

The Person Behind the Strategy

Most local agencies are founded by creatives, designers, and developers who love the craft. Omni Search Labs is no different. We are an East Providence search and AI optimization studio led by a multi-business owner who is also a marketer. I am someone who had to learn SEO to pay the bills before ever offering it to anyone else.

I did not enter this trade as an agency marketer. I entered it as an entrepreneur who needed to pay my mortgage. I learned SEO, analytics, and digital strategy out of necessity to grow my own companies first, on my own dime, and at my own risk. I did this for more than a decade before pivoting to offer these specific search services to other businesses.

When I look at your marketing budget, I see it the way an owner does: as an investment that has to produce a return. My goal is to deliver big business strategy and deep search knowledge designed specifically for small business budgets. I view your marketing spend as an engine for more qualified calls, better-fit leads, and steady revenue.

Maybe you paid for a beautiful, functional website, but the phone still does not ring. Perhaps your online visibility and rankings have quietly slipped over the last few years. Or maybe you are noticing competitors show up in AI answers while you are nowhere to be found, and you are wondering what that is costing you.

A 29-YearJourney — Experience, Pays Dividends

I have been doing SEO since 1997, before Google was the default search engine, back when it was still a Stanford project called "BackRub." I started working with Google Ads in 2000, the year it launched in the US. And I started building with IBM’s Watson AI in 2018, five years before ChatGPT made AI a household word.

Sometimes, the best way to understand where search is heading tomorrow is to have spent decades building the plumbing for it yesterday.

Here's the timeline:

  • Omni Search Labs (December 2025 to present): I founded OSL to do what I've always done best: work directly with the micro and small businesses that need real sustainable online leads and revenue, not a one-time jumpstart that only starts your engine, but doesn't get you to your destination. There are no account managers, no handoffs, and no junior strategists running point on your account. It's just me, your business, and the playbook I've spent 29 years building.

  • Brave River Solutions and Vertikal6 (2022 to 2025): I led the digital services department post-acquisition, continuing the same SEO, PPC, and AI search work for local and regional businesses throughout my contracted term. It was in this role in 2025 that I was named a Rhode Island Tech10 Award recipient, becoming the first recipient from the search and digital marketing industry to be honored.

  • Sidewalk Branding Co. (2009 to 2022): I founded Sidewalk Branding Co. in 2009 and grew it into one of the regions most recognized SEO and digital marketing agencies - with clients that spanned industries across the globe (see the list). We earned "Top Web Development Firm" from Providence Business News, "Top Startup in New England" from Mass High Tech, and consistent placements as a top SEO and digital marketing firm in Rhode Island. In 2022, I exited Sidewalk through an acquire-to-hire transaction with Brave River Solutions (absorbed 2026 by Vertikal6). It was proof the strategies worked well enough for another firm to buy the agency and hire me to grow their department.

  • The early years (1997 to 2009): Before fully immersing myself in search optimization, I spent over a decade working as an operator and entrepreneur in the automotive and insurance technology industries. I founded my own appraisal firm and later took on a regional management role overseeing 31 franchises. Reviewing over 30 profit and loss statements every month and coaching businesses on lean operations, financial control, and exceptional customer service provided incredible training. However, nothing prepared me to help other businesses quite like being a business owner myself.

During those early years, I also noticed a gap in how the automotive industry accessed data online. To solve this problem, I developed a custom vertical search engine called CollisionVision. Using Google's search engine as the backbone, I built the backend architecture to fill a highly specific niche need. From conception to successful sale, the entire project took just two years. Although the original software eventually became obsolete due to technological advancements, it is an honor that the brand name still lives on in the auto industry today.

That journey shaped my perspective completely. I was writing business plans, managing cash flow, protecting intellectual property, and developing back-end search platforms long before I sold my first SEO service. That shared owner-to-owner connection remains my strongest asset today. It is the lens through which I view your business budget, growth goals, and search strategy.

Teaching Is in My DNA

My experience has been tested and grown in the classroom as well as in the field. I've been honored to have strong technical training and higher education ties in many meaningful ways:

  • Rhode Island School of Design (RISD): Created curriculum and instructed SEO and digital marketing.

  • New England Tech: Curriculum advisor, Technology Advisory Committee member since 2011, and guest lecturer on data ethics for the Master's program.

  • University of Rhode Island: Graduate program digital marketing consultant.

  • Columbia and Johnson & Wales Universities: Subject matter expert on entrepreneurship.

  • Rhode Island Polaris MEP: Manufacturing SEO and digital marketing workshops, featured in a NIST success story.

  • Auburn, Mercer, and St. John's Universities: Published contributor on marketing-major career strategies and AI-era search.

Backstory: My mother is a retired business owner and high school English teacher. My brother owns a sports agency and is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Colorado Law School. Teaching is in my DNA.

Why "Labs"?

Marketing should not be a guessing game. It should be part art, part experiment, and part science.

Omni Search Labs treats your strategy like a laboratory. I form a hypothesis, test it, and verify the results with data. This approach is grounded in nearly 30 years of working with hundreds of businesses across diverse industries. There is no magic here. There is only process, discipline, and the EQUATE Framework.

Recognition, Press & Publications

Awards & Industry Recognition

Recently Published & Cited

  • Search Engine Journal — author

  • MarketingProfs — author

  • Social Media Today — author

  • GoLocalProv — recent author on AI search

  • Databox — contributor on operational efficiency and Google Analytics for SEO

  • GoodFirms — contributor on AI in CRM

  • Marketer Magazine — contributor on SEO fundamentals for SMBs

Academic & Career Publications

  • Auburn University— contributor, marketing-majors career guidance (2026)

  • St. John's University — contributor (2026)

  • Mercer University — contributor (2026)

See the full As Seen On for every citation, syndication, and recognition.

Beyond Client Work

When I am not in client engagements, I serve as a SCORE Rhode Island volunteer Subject Matter Expert (SME) to help small-business owners get past the same challenges I have worked through. I have also served on New England Tech's Technology Advisory Committee since 2011, shaping the curriculum that prepares the next generation of web developers. I have presented to marketing majors at Rhode Island College, and I have lectured on data ethics in NEIT's Master's program. This was a great opportunity to speak to the people building tomorrow's tools in a clear-eyed conversation about what we owe the people on the other side of the screen.

Beyond the Screen

I'm a New Englander, a New Haven area native (home of apizza!) transplanted to East Providence over 30 years ago, and I genuinely live and breathe this market. When I'm not auditing a site or keeping up with the latest SEvO developments, I'm probably out for a drive in my old car, grabbing a cabinet (not a milkshake) with my wife, debating (and testing) who has the best pizza, or spending time with my family at Blount's Clam Shack digging into some stuffies with chouriço.

I believe in doing the hard work, being brutally honest, and doing the job right the first time.

Ready for kind of conversation? You don't need more jargon. You need someone who speaks your language and actually gives a damn about your bottom line.

See What Our Clients Say | Start the Conversation

Chris Sheehy - restaurant
Chris Sheehy - founder - Omni Search Labs 0n URI campus
Chris Sheehy, founder Omni Search Labs smiling, sitting in a workshop or garage in the engine bay of a sunfire yellow 1968 Barracuda car.
The front cover of the Rhode Island Monthly magazine features Chris Sheehy of Omni Search Labs. He is the first recipient of the Rhode Island Tech10 award from the SEO industry in 2025.
Chris Sheehy, from Omni Search Labs (OSL), is depicted in a relaxed setting, casually seated in a chair and holding an Old-Fashioned cocktail in a crystal whisky glass.

About OSL

My Mission

To ensure the Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts businesses that deserve to be found actually appear across every search engine, AI tool, map, and voice assistant where their customers are already looking.

For businesses that deserve to be found online but are not, it's rarely because the website is terrible. It's typically because the way search and artificial intelligence work has changed faster than most sites and content have kept up, especially for small and mid-sized businesses.

That's the gap OSL exists to close. I provide big business strategy and advanced search knowledge that fit micro and small business budgets, ensuring you get the visibility you deserve. This is my primary focus.

The Name

"Omni" comes from the Latin omnis, meaning "everywhere."

"Search" is both an action and a destination. Each question asked, answer discovered, and business located defines this space. It's omnipresent and serves as the foundation of my work.

"Labs" reflects my approach. I treat your strategy like a laboratory: form a hypothesis, test it, verify with data, and iterate. I embrace the idea that failure is simply part of the innovation process. The Kaizen mindset of continuous improvement is woven into how I operate. If I'm not occasionally failing, I'm not testing the limits to find what actually succeeds for your business.

"I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work." (Thomas Edison)

After nearly 30 years in digital marketing, I've found more than a few of those failures myself, along with a lot of what works. Like any investment, there are ups and downs in the market and in the strategies I test, but it's the long-term outlook where real progress occurs.

Experience brings tangible results. That's not just a slogan. It's 29 years of SEO, 26 years of Google Ads, and eight years of working with AI compounding into the playbook you're hiring.

The EQUATE Framework

The six hexagons in the OSL logo aren't just decorative. Each one represents a core pillar of the EQUATE framework. This framework is the blueprint I use to ensure your strategy meets the highest standards for search and AI platforms, as well as your future customers.

  • Expertise: Showcasing your deep knowledge and professional skills in your specific field.

  • Quality: Crafting clear, helpful, and well-structured content that directly answers your customers' questions.

  • Uniqueness: Highlighting what makes your business distinct and bringing your original perspective to the table.

  • Authority: Establishing your reputation as a reliable, go-to source in your industry.

  • Trust: Building a transparent and secure foundation that gives your audience absolute confidence in your business.

  • Experience: Demonstrating your first-hand, real-world practice and history with your products or services.

My Vision

A world where search sparks curiosity, creates opportunity, and inspires continuous improvement for businesses and searchers alike.

  • Most agencies treat SEO as one line on a long list of services. At Omni Search Labs, search visibility — across Google, Maps, and AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity — is all I do, and you work directly with the founder, not an account manager.

  • We structure your content using the EQUATE framework so both search engines and AI systems can understand, trust, and recommend you, which means more of the right leads find you when they ask for what you do.

  • We’ll spend 15–20 minutes walking through where my agency tools show you showing up now, where you’re invisible, and what’s blocking you from getting more calls, form submissions, and sales — no jargon, no pressure, and no slide deck. Just a B2B conversation about your B.

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