To choose a GEO agency, look for one that measures AI visibility honestly, can explain why answer engines cite some sources over others, and talks about improving your odds rather than guaranteeing placements. Generative engine optimization is real and worth doing, but the category is young and full of rebadged SEO and impossible promises. The good agencies sound like SEOs who genuinely understand answer engines and entities. The weak ones sell a guaranteed spot in ChatGPT, which no one can honestly deliver.
I’m Andrii Byzov, a fractional CMO for B2B tech. GEO is where SEO was a long time ago: real demand, lots of noise, and buyers who cannot yet tell a method from a pitch. Here is the checklist I would use to pick one.
Key takeaways
- A real GEO agency improves odds and measures honestly. It does not guarantee placements.
- Watch for rebadged SEO: the same services with a GEO label and no answer-engine method.
- The work is content plus entities plus structured data plus earned third-party mentions.
- Pay for a clear method and measurement, not a promise of a spot in ChatGPT.
- Any guaranteed AI placement claim is a red flag at any price.
What good GEO actually involves
GEO is not one trick. A credible agency works several levers at once, because that is what moves AI visibility.
Content built for extraction. Direct, useful, accurate content that answer engines can lift, with clear definitions, structure, and honest comparisons. Thin or generic content does not get cited.
Entity and structured data. Consistent facts about your brand across the web, schema markup, and the signals that help engines discover and interpret who you are. This supports citation, it does not force it.
Earned third-party mentions. Answer engines lean heavily on authoritative third-party sources. Getting accurately mentioned on the pages they already trust is a large part of the job, and it is the hardest part to fake.
Honest measurement. Tracking presence, accuracy, share of voice, and cited sources across assistants over time, so you can see a trend and act on it. This is the part rebadged SEO agencies usually cannot do.
If an agency only talks about on-page content and never mentions entities, third-party mentions, or how they measure AI visibility, they are doing SEO with a new label.
The buyer’s checklist
Run a prospective GEO agency through these. The early ones filter out most pretenders fast.
| Check | What good looks like | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Promises | ”We improve your odds of being cited" | "We guarantee you in ChatGPT” |
| Measurement | Tracks presence, accuracy, sources over time | ”You’ll just see more traffic” |
| Method | Content + entities + earned mentions | On-page SEO only, GEO label |
| Understanding | Explains why engines cite some sources | Hand-waves how AI answers work |
| Third-party | Has a real earned-mentions approach | No answer for how they earn citations |
| Honesty | Tells you what they cannot control | Promises certainty about AI output |
Best for a smart buy: pick the agency that is honest about what it cannot promise. Avoid: anyone selling guaranteed placements, because the guarantee itself proves they are overselling.
Red flags, named
Four things that should end the conversation, or at least sharpen it.
- Guaranteed placements. AI answers vary between runs and pull from sources no agency controls. A guarantee is either ignorance or a lie.
- No measurement method. If they cannot tell you how they will track your AI visibility, they cannot tell you if their work is doing anything.
- Pure on-page SEO in a GEO wrapper. Useful, but not GEO, and not worth a GEO premium.
- No earned-mentions plan. Third-party authority is central to AI citations. An agency with no approach to it is missing half the job.
None of these mean GEO is a scam. They mean the category attracts overselling, and the buyer has to filter.
What you should expect to pay
GEO is usually sold as a monthly retainer in the range of mid-tier SEO or content work, though it varies widely by scope and market, so treat any single figure with caution. The useful signal is not the price, it is what the price buys. Pay for a clear method and honest measurement. Be suspicious of both the cheapest offers, which are often rebadged basic SEO, and the most expensive ones that promise outcomes no one can control. My GEO services pricing post covers what should and should not be included.
How this connects to the rest
Choosing a GEO agency is a commercial decision, and it pairs with the in-house question. If you are weighing agency versus building it yourself, AI SEO agency vs in-house vs consultant covers the trade-off, and how to track AI visibility covers the measurement any good agency should be doing for you. If you want to understand the discipline itself first, what is answer engine optimization is the primer.
If you want a second opinion on a GEO agency you are evaluating, or help deciding whether to hire one at all, I’m reachable on LinkedIn.
FAQ
What is a GEO agency? A GEO agency does generative engine optimization: improving how often and how accurately your brand appears in AI assistant answers like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. The good ones combine content, entity and structured-data work, earned third-party mentions, and honest AI-visibility measurement. The weak ones rebrand basic SEO as GEO and promise guaranteed placements no one can deliver.
How do you evaluate a GEO agency? Check that they measure AI visibility honestly, can explain why engines cite some sources over others, and talk about improving odds rather than guaranteeing placements. Ask how they track presence, how they earn third-party mentions, and what they will not promise. A credible agency sounds like an SEO who understands answer engines, not a vendor selling a guaranteed spot in ChatGPT.
How much does a GEO agency cost? It varies widely, so be cautious with any single number, but GEO is usually a monthly retainer comparable to mid-tier SEO or content work. Cheaper offers are often rebadged SEO, and very expensive ones often promise outcomes they cannot control. Pay for a clear method and honest measurement, not a promise of guaranteed AI placements.
Can a GEO agency guarantee I’ll be recommended by ChatGPT? No, and any agency that guarantees it is a red flag. AI assistants generate answers that vary and are influenced by many sources the agency does not control. A serious GEO agency improves your odds by making you more useful, more accurately described, and more referenced on authoritative pages. The honest promise is better odds, never a guaranteed placement.