How to choose an AEO or GEO agency

To choose an answer engine optimization (AEO) or generative engine optimization (GEO) agency, compare in writing what each will do, how it will measure results, and what it will cost. Prefer agencies that publish prices, measure AI answers over repeated runs with a stated method, and promise work rather than placement. Avoid any that guarantee rankings or citations, present their own "best agency" lists as independent, or report a score they will not explain.

The same checks apply to a consultant. This guide also covers when an AI search visibility platform, software that you run yourself, is the better choice. It draws on Google's guidance on hiring an SEO, the AI platforms' own documentation, regulator guidance, and published tests of AI answers about agencies. AEO HQ sells AEO services, so it is one of the companies a buyer might compare. This guide names no agency as better or worse than another, and AEO HQ's own prices are on its pricing page.

Scope and definitions

• An AEO or GEO agency is a firm that does this work for clients. The names describe much the same service: Clutch's agency directory says GEO is "also known as answer engine optimization (AEO) or LLM optimization" (opens in a new tab).
• A consultant is one person who advises on the work or does part of it. Google's hiring advice covers hiring "a company or person" (opens in a new tab).
• An AI search visibility platform is software that sends buyer questions to AI assistants and reports how often a brand is mentioned or cited. It is also called an AEO tool or a monitoring tool.
• In-house means your own staff do the work.
• A statement of work is the document that lists what a provider will deliver, when, and how results will be measured.
• A self-ranking list is a "best agencies" article published by an agency that includes itself, often in first place.

How this market works

No one controls placement in AI answers

Google's guide to hiring an SEO says "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google" (opens in a new tab), and that if a provider guarantees its changes will put you first in search results, "find someone else" (opens in a new tab). The same limit applies to AI answers. Google lists services "promising improvements for AI experiences and search formats (also known as 'AEO' or 'GEO' tools)" (opens in a new tab) among those to evaluate critically, and says third-party tools "can't guarantee performance" (opens in a new tab). OpenAI says of ChatGPT search that "Placement is not guaranteed" (opens in a new tab), and Bing says "GEO does not guarantee grounding or citations in AI experiences" (opens in a new tab) (all official documentation).

In our view, what an agency can do is work on the inputs: pages that can be crawled and state specific facts, correct information about the company across the web, coverage on the third-party sites that assistants cite, and honest measurement. Google tells anyone considering "third-party 'AEO' or 'GEO' advice or services" (opens in a new tab) to review its guidance on evaluating outside advice (official documentation).

AI answers about agencies are shaped by agencies' own lists

An assistant's answer to "What is the best AEO agency?" draws heavily on pages written by the competing agencies (opens in a new tab), according to the studies below:

• In a published test of 48 AI answers (August 20 to September 2, 2026), almost every high-frequency source among 251 source domains was an agency's own list of the best AEO or GEO agencies that ranked itself first, one agency's site was the source for 14 of the 48 answers, and ChatGPT flagged the self-ranking in several answers (opens in a new tab) (small test by an agency).
• A six-run test on September 10, 2026 concluded that most of the pages that decide the answer are owned by the agencies competing for the answer (opens in a new tab). In the same test, a logged-in ChatGPT account that had discussed one agency named it first, while a temporary chat did not name it (opens in a new tab) (small test by an agency).
• Across ChatGPT answers to 750 prompts, including prompts asking for agencies, "best X" lists made up 43.8% of cited page types (opens in a new tab) (vendor study).

We recommend treating an AI answer, or any single list, as a way to build a long list, not as a verdict.

Directories and lists mix editorial and paid placement

• Clutch's agency directory states that "We may earn a fee for some placements" (opens in a new tab), and it labels some listings as sponsored.
• Some lists disclose their method. One agency's scored list publishes its scoring rules and leaves its own agency out of the ranking (opens in a new tab). Another publisher says "There are no paid placements" and discloses that it lists itself sixth (opens in a new tab).
• In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission's rule on reviews prohibits a business from misrepresenting that a website or entity it controls provides independent reviews or opinions about a category that includes its own products or services (opens in a new tab). The FTC's guidance takes the case of a business that runs a site ranking its own and competing products: a site with an express claim of independence violates the rule, and that claim "can't be cured by your contradictory disclosure" (opens in a new tab) (regulator guidance). The FTC's example concerns a business that sells to consumers; the guidance does not say how the rule applies when the buyers are businesses.
• One practitioner analysis linked self-promotional lists to search visibility drops at several brands in January 2026 (opens in a new tab). It is one analyst's reading, not a statement from Google.

Few agencies publish prices, and results are self-reported

In one scored list, only five of twelve agencies published a price for their AI offer (opens in a new tab); in another agency's review, three of nine did (opens in a new tab). The published prices that do exist are collected in How much does AEO cost? A sourced pricing index. On results, an agency that reviewed 13 AEO and GEO agencies wrote that none of them, including itself, "publishes an independently audited study showing how much its work increased citations in AI search" (opens in a new tab).

Agency, consultant, platform, or in-house

No study compares results across these options. The table sets out what each one provides, with published prices from the pricing index; the last column is our recommendation.

How to choose, step by step

These steps are our recommendations.

1. Decide what you need. Name the job: a diagnosis, a plan, implementation, ongoing content and third-party work, or measurement only. If your team can do the work, a platform or a one-time audit may be enough.
2. Measure a baseline yourself first. Start with the free reports, all described in official documentation. Search Console's generative AI report shows impressions, not clicks (opens in a new tab), for AI Overviews and AI Mode. Bing Webmaster Tools' AI Performance report shows citations in Copilot and Bing's AI summaries (opens in a new tab). GA4's AI Assistant channel counts visits from sources like ChatGPT, Gemini, Deepseek, Copilot, and Grok (opens in a new tab). Then ask your top buyer questions in several assistants, several times each, in a logged-out window or a temporary chat, and keep a log. A baseline of your own AI visibility lets you check what an agency tells you.
3. Build a long list from sources that show their method. Use lists that publish their scoring rules or state that they take no payment, referrals from peers, and directories' unsponsored listings. Treat AI answers and self-ranking lists as leads.
4. Compare published prices and terms. Ask for the total cost in writing. One agency passes $200 to $500 a month in tracking-tool fees through to clients (opens in a new tab), and another charges $1,750 for onboarding (opens in a new tab).
5. Ask every agency the same questions (the next section), and write down the answers.
6. Check the evidence and the references. Ask for AI answers that name a client, with the date and the session conditions. Google advises: "Check your SEO's business references. Ask past clients if they felt that this SEO provided useful service, was easy to work with, and produced positive results" (opens in a new tab).
7. Read the statement of work against the list in What the statement of work should include.
8. Start with limited access and a short first term. For an audit, Google advises that you grant read access to Search Console only, not write access (opens in a new tab). Prefer a short first term with a review date.

Questions to ask

Google's hiring guide suggests questions such as "Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?" (opens in a new tab) and "What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?" (opens in a new tab) The table adapts them for AEO work. The right-hand column is our recommendation.

Red flags

Each red flag below comes with the evidence behind it. Answer engine optimization antipatterns covers several of them in more depth.

1. Guarantees of placement, rank, or timing. Google warns buyers to "Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a 'special relationship' with Google, or advertise a 'priority submit' to Google" (opens in a new tab), and no AI platform guarantees placement (see above).
2. Self-ranking lists presented as independent. Most of the lists that AI answers draw on for this question were written by agencies that rank themselves first (opens in a new tab). Publishing such a list with a clear disclosure is honest. Presenting a list you control as independent is what the FTC rule, described above, prohibits.
3. Scores or ranks with no published method. Positions are unstable: it took about 1 in 1,000 runs to see two brand lists in the same order (opens in a new tab) (vendor study). One agency calls a score with no published formula "unauditable" (opens in a new tab). AEO HQ's own $499 automated audit reports a readiness score that an AI model writes without a fixed formula; our methodology page says to read it as a summary judgment, not a measurement.
4. Screenshots or single runs as proof. One answer is one sample from a changing distribution, and account history can change it (opens in a new tab).
5. Secrecy about methods or changes. Google advises: "Be careful if a company is secretive or won't clearly explain what they intend to do" (opens in a new tab).
6. Fake or undisclosed paid reviews, testimonials, or community posts. The FTC rule bans fake reviews and testimonials, including AI-generated ones (opens in a new tab) (regulator), and Google says that seeking inauthentic "mentions" across the web "isn't as helpful as it might seem" (opens in a new tab) (official documentation).
7. Mass-produced pages for every variation of a query. Google says that creating separate content for every possible variation of how people might search, primarily to manipulate rankings or generative AI responses, violates its scaled content abuse policy (opens in a new tab) (official documentation).
8. Tactics that Google says to ignore, sold as the core of the work. Google says that, for Google Search, "you can ignore tactics like 'chunking' content, creating unnecessary AI text files (like llms.txt), or pursuing inauthentic mentions" (opens in a new tab). Other assistants may differ; llms.txt has its own guide.
9. Unsolicited pitches. Google advises buyers to "Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that email you out of the blue" (opens in a new tab).

What the statement of work should include

A software company that sells its own AEO tool advises checking the scope before signing (opens in a new tab): how many prompts get tracked and on which engines, how many pages get produced or reworked, schema and entity work, any off-site scope, the reporting cadence, and the minimum term (vendor guide). We recommend adding:

• the baseline and the measurement method: assistants, questions, runs, session conditions, and how ranges are calculated;
• delivery of the raw data: the questions asked, the answers, and the sources cited, as the same guide also advises (opens in a new tab);
• a log of every change made to your site;
• the access the provider needs, starting with read-only access;
• who owns the content and data produced;
• tool costs, setup fees, the minimum term, and the notice period;
• what is excluded.

What the evidence shows and does not show

Checklist

FAQ

Why choose an AI search visibility platform instead of an agency?

Choose a platform when your team can act on what it finds and you mainly need ongoing measurement. Self-serve plans cost $29 (opens in a new tab) to $999 a month (opens in a new tab), less than a month of most agency retainers. A platform does not do the work: it "doesn't execute the fixes" (opens in a new tab). Check how it measures: which assistants, how many prompts, how often, and whether it queries the consumer apps or their APIs, because in one audit the API and the consumer app of the same assistant shared only 12.0% (ChatGPT) and 14.8% (Gemini) of cited domains (opens in a new tab) (preprint).

AEO agency or AEO consultant: which do I need?

No study compares them. A consultant suits a team that can do most of the work and needs direction; an agency suits a team that needs the work done. The same questions and red flags apply to both, because Google's advice covers hiring "a company or person" (opens in a new tab).

Should I hire a GEO agency or build the capability in-house?

Build in-house if you already have staff for content and technical SEO and someone who can run a consistent measurement. Hire if you lack that staff or need work on third-party sites that your team cannot take on. This is our recommendation; no study compares the two.

Can my SEO agency just add AEO?

Often, yes. Google calls optimizing for generative AI search "still SEO" (opens in a new tab) and lists "Optimizing for generative AI" (opens in a new tab) among the services SEOs provide. Check two things: that it measures AI answers properly, and that it works on third-party sources. A software company that sells an AEO tool warns against ordinary SEO "with 'AEO' stamped on it" where success is still defined only by keyword rankings and clicks (opens in a new tab) (vendor guide).

What is the difference between a GEO agency and an SEO agency?

Less than the names suggest. In our view, both work on the same pages and the same search indexes, and a GEO or AEO agency adds measurement across AI assistants and, often, more work on third-party sources. AEO HQ calls SEO with those additions SEO+. As one agency puts it, ask what is in the statement of work, not what the service is called (opens in a new tab).

Can an agency guarantee my brand appears in ChatGPT?

No. OpenAI says "Placement is not guaranteed" (opens in a new tab). An agency can promise work and measurement, not an answer from someone else's model.

How do I know if an agency's AEO results are real?

Ask for the raw data: the queries tested, the engine each ran on, and the sources each answer cited (opens in a new tab). Check that results come from repeated runs in clean sessions, with ranges, and that the agency compared changed pages with unchanged ones. That comparison matters: in the one controlled field study found, ChatGPT referrals to unchanged pages grew 3.5 times (opens in a new tab) over the period (preprint; one site), so a simple before-and-after chart can credit platform growth to the agency. Then call references.

How do I measure AI visibility myself before hiring anyone?

Use the free reports in step 2, and keep a log: 10 to 20 buyer questions, asked in several assistants, several times each, in clean sessions. How to measure AI visibility sets out a full method.

Which AEO agency is best?

AEO HQ sells this work, so it has an interest, and it does not rank agencies. Lists that publish their scoring rules, or state that they take no payment, are more useful than lists with no method; the examples above are published by agencies that disclose their own place in them. Judge any agency by its published prices, its measurement method, and what it will not promise.

Change log

• September 28, 2026: First published. Sources checked on September 27, 2026.

Next steps

AEO HQ sells answer engine optimization services at fixed, published prices, from a $499 automated audit to $8,995 for an audit, a plan, and technical implementation; the pricing page lists what each package includes. Ask AEO HQ the questions above, as you would any provider. If you are still deciding whether to buy AEO at all, see Is AEO worth it? What the evidence says.