How to Choose a GEO or AEO Agency: Questions to Ask and Red Flags to Avoid

A good GEO or AEO agency improves the things AI assistants actually draw on: crawl access, clear and specific content, and what third-party sites say about you. It measures results honestly, with repeated prompt testing rather than a single "AI ranking". Be wary of any agency whose main deliverables are llms.txt files, schema markup sold as an AI lever, or guaranteed placement in ChatGPT.

Key takeaways

• Google says optimising for its AI search features is still SEO. A credible GEO agency builds on SEO fundamentals, not a separate bag of tricks.
• The biggest lever, what other sites say about you, is mostly off your own website. Ask how the agency will work on it.
• llms.txt and schema markup have no demonstrated effect on AI citations. If they're the headline deliverables, walk away.
• Nobody can guarantee mentions in ChatGPT or AI Overviews.
• Results should be reported as repeated prompt tests, cited sources and leads, not a single score.

What GEO and AEO actually mean

• GEO (generative engine optimization): improving how often and how accurately AI-generated answers mention and cite you.
• AEO (answer engine optimization): structuring content so search engines and assistants can lift a direct answer from it.

In practice they overlap heavily with each other and with SEO. Google's own guidance on AI search describes optimising for it as "still SEO" (Google Search Central). Our GEO guide covers what the research does and doesn't support.

What real GEO work looks like

A credible engagement usually includes:

1. A baseline audit: prompts your customers use, run repeatedly across assistants, with mentions and cited sources recorded. (Our guide to running an AI visibility audit shows the method.)
2. Technical access: making sure AI search crawlers aren't blocked at robots.txt or CDN level, and key content is readable without JavaScript.
3. Content clarity: pages that state what you do, for whom, and the specifics such as pricing, location, credentials and results, in quotable form.
4. Off-site work: getting accurately represented in the comparison articles, review platforms, directories and communities the assistants cite.
5. Honest measurement: monthly re-runs of the same prompts, plus "How did you hear about us?" tracking.

Want to see what this looks like for your business? We'll run a baseline AI visibility check on a free strategy call. Book it.

Related: Much of credible GEO is good SEO. If you want the foundations first, our SEO guide for service businesses covers them step by step.

Questions to ask a GEO or AEO agency

• "What will you do in the first 60 days, specifically?" Look for audit, technical fixes, content changes and off-site work, not just "optimisation".
• "How do you measure AI visibility?" A good answer involves a fixed prompt set, multiple runs and recorded sources. A bad answer is a proprietary score with no explanation.
• "What do you do about third-party sources?" If the answer is "nothing", they're ignoring the biggest lever.
• "Which of your recommendations have evidence behind them?" They should be able to name sources, and to say which tactics are unproven.
• "What won't you do?" A good agency will rule out fake reviews, paid placements disguised as editorial, and mass-produced AI content.

Red flags

• Guaranteed placement in ChatGPT, Perplexity or AI Overviews. Nobody controls these answers.
• llms.txt as a headline deliverable. Google has said it doesn't use llms.txt, and large-scale analyses haven't found it affects citations.
• Schema markup sold as the AI lever. A 2026 study of 1,885 pages that added structured data found no clear improvement in AI citations. Schema can be good hygiene; it isn't a shortcut.
• "AI rankings" reported as a stable position. Answers vary by prompt, user, location and over time.
• Scaled AI-written content promised in large volumes. Google's spam policies target scaled, low-value content regardless of how it's produced.
• Fake reviews or undisclosed paid mentions. They risk platform penalties and advertising-law problems, and they damage trust when discovered.

How GEO agencies charge

Typically a monthly retainer, sometimes bundled with SEO. Compare scope, not labels: an agency charging for "GEO" that delivers only a schema update and an llms.txt file is selling an afternoon's work as a service. Ask for the list of deliverables and how each one connects to the evidence.

Should you hire a separate GEO agency at all?

Often not. If your SEO agency already does strong technical work, clear content and real digital PR, much of GEO is covered. A specialist adds value when it brings a disciplined AI visibility measurement process and focused off-site work that your current agency doesn't do.

Frequently asked questions

What does a GEO agency do?

A generative engine optimization agency works to improve how AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI features mention and describe a business. Credible work covers crawler access, clear and specific content, third-party mentions and reviews, and honest measurement through repeated prompt testing.

Is GEO different from SEO?

There's substantial overlap. Google describes optimising for AI search as still SEO. GEO adds a stronger focus on third-party mentions, quotable content and measuring presence in AI answers, rather than only rankings.

Can a GEO agency guarantee ChatGPT mentions?

No. AI answers vary by prompt, user, location and time, and no agency controls them. Be cautious of any guarantee.

How do you measure GEO results?

By running a fixed set of customer-style prompts repeatedly across assistants each month, recording mentions, descriptions and cited sources, and tracking leads that report finding you through an AI assistant.

What's the difference between AEO and GEO?

AEO focuses on structuring content so engines can extract direct answers, as in featured snippets, voice answers and AI summaries. GEO focuses on being mentioned and cited in AI-generated answers more broadly. In practice the work overlaps a great deal.

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Looking for GEO and AEO work built on evidence? We focus on what has research behind it, and we'll tell you plainly what doesn't.

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