SEO & AI Search

10 Best AI SEO Agencies (2026): Who to Hire and What It Costs

10 best AI SEO agencies compared on published retainers, AI search coverage and fit, with every price checked on the agency's own site on November 1, 2026.

Shamim Mia, Founder, SerpAstraLast verified November 1, 202613 min read

We compare pricing pages, documentation and public reviews. We never accept payment for rankings.

Key takeaways

  • WebFX is the best fit for most buyers: full-service SEO with AI search tracking from $2,900/month. TripleDart ($5,000/month) and Skale ($4,000/month) are the best B2B SaaS specialists.
  • Siege Media is the strongest content-led GEO agency at $8,000/month, and Victorious pairs SEO with answer engine optimization from $6,000/month.
  • The single most important buying factor is proof of AI citations: ask every agency to show which prompts name your brand today, and how that is measured.
  • Most agencies here do not publish a price. NP Digital and Single Grain quote custom, and iPullRank's programs start at $30,000.
  • Every price below was checked on the agency's own site on November 1, 2026. No ratings are shown: G2 returned 429 errors when we tried to open the review pages today.
On this page

Quick comparison

Starting prices checked November 1, 2026 on each vendor's pricing page
ToolBest forStarting priceFree plan
WebFXMid-market businesses that want full-service SEO with AI search built into a published, tiered price$2,900/moNo (scoping call)
Siege MediaSaaS and fintech brands with a real content operation that want AI citations earned through research-led content and digital PR$8,000/moNo (scoping call)
VictoriousEstablished mid-market and enterprise brands that want SEO and answer engine optimization from one team with transparent reporting$6,000+/moNo (scoping call)
TripleDartB2B SaaS teams that want GEO tied to pipeline and revenue, with citation tracking across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini$5,000/moNo (scoping call)
SkaleGrowth-stage SaaS and fintech brands that want organic search and AI citations tied to signups and revenue$4,000/moNo (scoping call)
First Page SageEnterprise and mid-market brands that want thought-leadership content to carry their AI search visibility$6,000/moNo (scoping call)
NP DigitalEnterprise and mid-market challenger brands that want GEO and AEO inside a global full-service agencyCustom quoteNo (scoping call)
Single GrainSaaS, ecommerce and technology brands that want AI search run inside one multi-channel growth programCustom quoteNo (scoping call)
NoGoodVenture-backed scaleups and enterprise brands that want AEO run inside a full-stack growth program$20,000+/mo avgNo (scoping call)
iPullRankEnterprise and Fortune 500 brands that need technical AI search engineered and measured at the information-retrieval levelFrom $30,000No (scoping call)

Make one of these tools?

We re-check this list every quarter. Send a correction, request a review, or ask about a clearly labeled sponsored spot.

Request a listing

The best AI SEO agencies

#1

WebFX

Best for: Mid-market businesses that want full-service SEO with AI search built into a published, tiered price

Visit webfx.com
Starting price$2,900/month (Silver, 6-month commitment; includes AI search visibility tracking)
Free planNo — free scoping call before proposal

WebFX is the easiest agency in this list to buy from, because the price is printed on the page: Silver starts at $2,900 a month on a six-month commitment, and AI search visibility tracking is included in every tier rather than sold as an add-on. Silver covers 100 tracked prompts and up to 150 phrases, with schema work, AI crawler access management and citation tracking across AI answer engines.

The trade-off is scale. A 750-person firm runs on process, so the experience can feel less personal than a boutique agency, and the six-month commitment applies at every tier. If you want the cheapest published route into managed AI search with a full-service team behind it, start here; if you want a pure AI search specialist, look at TripleDart or Skale instead.

What we like

  • Lowest published entry price here: Silver from $2,900/month with AI search visibility tracking included
  • Every tier includes prompt targeting, AI crawler access management and schema work, not just rankings
  • 750-person team with 200+ industries covered and a dedicated account manager on every plan

Watch out for

  • Silver covers only 100 tracked prompts and 150 phrases, so larger sites need Gold or above
  • Six-month commitment on every tier, with no month-to-month option at the entry level
  • A large-firm account team can mean slower turnaround than a small specialist agency
#2

Siege Media

Best for: SaaS and fintech brands with a real content operation that want AI citations earned through research-led content and digital PR

Visit siegemedia.com
Starting price$8,000/month (content marketing minimum, 12-month contract with 30-day out clause)
Free planNo — free scoping call before proposal

Siege Media is the content-first pick in this list. It earns AI citations the slow way: original research, data-led content and digital PR that other sites link to and AI engines quote. Its GEO offer runs on BlueprintIQ for strategy and DataFlywheel for keeping content fresh, and the content marketing minimum of $8,000 a month is published on its own site — rare transparency in this category.

The catch is commitment. Twelve months is the standard term, with a 30-day out clause, and digital PR starts higher, around $12,000 to $15,000 a month. Choose Siege Media when you have a content operation to build on and want citations that compound; skip it if you need results inside a quarter or a smaller monthly number.

What we like

  • Full-service GEO agency with proprietary BlueprintIQ strategy and DataFlywheel content refreshes
  • Content marketing minimum of $8,000/month is published on its own site — rare transparency in this category
  • Named client work for Zendesk, Zapier, Asana and Intuit, with case studies carrying dollar figures

Watch out for

  • The $8,000/month content minimum is the second-highest entry price in this list
  • 12-month contract with a 30-day out clause, so it is not a short test
  • Digital PR, the other half of its GEO offer, starts around $12,000 to $15,000/month
#3

Victorious

Best for: Established mid-market and enterprise brands that want SEO and answer engine optimization from one team with transparent reporting

Visit victorious.com
Starting price$6,000+/month (recommended minimum, 12-month campaign)
Free planNo — free scoping call before proposal

Victorious is the reporting-transparency pick. It sells SEO and answer engine optimization as one system, covering ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Copilot and Claude, and it reports citation visibility next to traffic, conversions and revenue. Its site is unusually direct about cost: budget at least $6,000 a month and commit to a 12-month campaign.

That directness has one wrinkle. Its G2 listing shows tiers starting at $4,999 a month, which conflicts with the $6,000 figure on its own site, so ask which is current before you sign. Victorious is SEO-only, with no paid media in the same engagement. Pick it when you want one accountable team and a report you can actually read.

What we like

  • Sells answer engine optimization across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Copilot and Claude
  • Reports citation visibility next to traffic, conversions and revenue in the same dashboard
  • Its site is unusually direct about cost: at least $6,000/month for a 12-month campaign

Watch out for

  • Recommends at least $6,000/month and a 12-month campaign, so it is not a budget option
  • Its own G2 listing shows tiers starting at $4,999/month, which conflicts with the $6,000 figure on its site — ask which is current
  • SEO-only scope: no paid media or broader growth services in the same engagement
#4

TripleDart

Best for: B2B SaaS teams that want GEO tied to pipeline and revenue, with citation tracking across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini

Visit tripledart.com
Starting price$5,000/month (standalone SEO/AEO/GEO, 6-month initial term, then month-to-month)
Free planNo — free scoping call before proposal

TripleDart is the pipeline pick for B2B SaaS. Its GEO program runs on Slate, a proprietary platform that tracks citation share and automates content refreshes, and the standalone SEO/AEO/GEO engagement starts at $5,000 a month — published on its own GEO page. The entry scope includes up to 30 content assets a month, 5,000 tracked prompts and a dedicated strategist.

Two things to weigh. Most engagements start with a six-month initial term, then roll month-to-month, and the third-party review record is thin: 2 G2 reviews against a client list of 300-plus. If your buyers compare vendors inside AI answers and you need that tied to pipeline, TripleDart is built for exactly that job.

What we like

  • Standalone SEO/AEO/GEO from $5,000/month, published on its own GEO page
  • Proprietary Slate platform tracks citation share and automates content refreshes, with 5,000 prompts tracked
  • Up to 30 content assets a month and a dedicated strategist on the entry engagement

Watch out for

  • Most engagements start with a six-month initial term, then roll month-to-month
  • Only 2 G2 reviews and a thin third-party review record relative to its client list
  • Breadth across 300+ clients and paid, RevOps and SEO lines can spread senior attention
#5

Skale

Best for: Growth-stage SaaS and fintech brands that want organic search and AI citations tied to signups and revenue

Visit skale.so
Starting price$4,000/month (full-service packages, from)
Free planNo — free scoping call before proposal

Skale is the value pick among the specialists. Full-service organic growth packages start at $4,000 a month, and GEO is part of the core offer rather than an add-on: AI citation inclusion, product-led content, authority link building and technical SEO in one engagement. Its named clients are SaaS and fintech brands, including G2, Typeform, Flodesk and Personio.

One caution on price: Skale's own pages quote both $4,000 and $4,500 a month as the starting point, so confirm the figure on the scoping call. The SaaS and fintech focus also means thinner experience in ecommerce or local verticals. For a growth-stage SaaS team, though, it is the cheapest specialist route into AI search here.

What we like

  • Full-service organic growth packages from $4,000/month — the lowest specialist entry in this list
  • GEO is part of the core offer: AI citation inclusion, product-led content and authority link building
  • Named SaaS and fintech clients including G2, Typeform, Flodesk and Personio

Watch out for

  • Its own pages quote both $4,000 and $4,500 a month as the starting point — confirm the figure on the scoping call
  • SaaS and fintech focus means thinner experience in ecommerce, local or regulated verticals
  • No published contract terms, so minimum term and exit clauses need confirming before signing
#6

First Page Sage

Best for: Enterprise and mid-market brands that want thought-leadership content to carry their AI search visibility

Visit firstpagesage.com
Starting price$6,000/month (GEO/AEO retainers, $6,000–$12,000/month, month-to-month)
Free planNo — free scoping call before proposal

First Page Sage is the research-led pick. It launched one of the first dedicated GEO services in 2023 and publishes ongoing research on how AI engines choose which brands to recommend. Its Thought Leadership SEO model puts subject-matter experts behind the content, and it publishes GEO/AEO retainers of $6,000 to $12,000 a month with month-to-month terms from the first month.

The model ramps slowly. Expert-led content takes time to produce and to earn citations, so it is a poor fit if you need results inside a quarter. Third-party lists also disagree on its price, quoting anywhere from $3,000 to $20,000 a month. Use the figure on its own site, and hire First Page Sage when authority in AI answers is a multi-quarter investment.

What we like

  • GEO pioneer since 2023, with published research on how AI engines select and cite sources
  • Publishes GEO/AEO retainers of $6,000–$12,000/month with month-to-month terms from the first month
  • Thought Leadership SEO: subject-matter experts ghostwrite under the client's brand

Watch out for

  • At $6,000–$12,000/month it sits in the middle of the market, above most SaaS specialists
  • Thought-leadership content ramps slowly — a poor fit if you need results inside a quarter
  • Third-party lists disagree on its price (some quote $3,000 or $8,000–$20,000 a month), so use the figure on its own site
#7

NP Digital

Best for: Enterprise and mid-market challenger brands that want GEO and AEO inside a global full-service agency

Visit npdigital.com
Starting priceCustom quote (no published price)
Free planNo — free scoping call before proposal

NP Digital is the big-brand pick. The global agency co-founded by Neil Patel was named SEO Agency of the Year at the 2026 Search Engine Land Awards, and it runs a dedicated GEO and AEO practice alongside enterprise SEO, backed by Ubersuggest, its own AI visibility platform. It also publishes original AI visibility research, including a Fintech AI Visibility Index built from more than 68,000 AI-generated answers.

There is no published price, so every engagement is a custom quote and you cannot budget without a sales call. AI search also shares the team with paid media, social, creative and analytics, which is a strength if you want one partner and a weakness if you want a narrow specialist. Pick NP Digital when scale and breadth matter more than a printed rate card.

What we like

  • Named SEO Agency of the Year at the 2026 Search Engine Land Awards
  • Dedicated GEO and AEO practice alongside enterprise SEO, with its own Ubersuggest AI visibility platform
  • Publishes original AI visibility research, including a Fintech AI Visibility Index built from 68,000+ AI answers

Watch out for

  • No published price — every engagement is a custom quote, so you cannot budget without a sales call
  • A full-service shop: AI search shares the team with paid media, social, creative and analytics
  • Enterprise scale and process can be slow for a small team that needs fast, narrow execution
#8

Single Grain

Best for: SaaS, ecommerce and technology brands that want AI search run inside one multi-channel growth program

Visit singlegrain.com
Starting priceCustom quote (no published price)
Free planNo — free scoping call before proposal

Single Grain is the multi-channel pick. Rather than selling AI search as a standalone retainer, it folds GEO into a coordinated growth program that also runs paid media, content and conversion optimization. Its GEO service covers ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Google AI Overviews, and it tracks share of answer, citation velocity and prompt coverage against pipeline.

The trade-off is focus. AI SEO is one line on a broad menu, and there is no published price — minimum project sizes are commonly reported at $10,000 or more. If you want one team running search, paid and CRO together, Single Grain fits; if you want a partner whose entire focus is AI search, a specialist like TripleDart or Skale is the better call.

What we like

  • Dedicated GEO service covering ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Google AI Overviews
  • Folds AI search into a coordinated program with paid media, content and conversion optimization
  • Tracks share of answer, citation velocity and prompt coverage, tied to traffic, leads and revenue

Watch out for

  • No published price — minimum project sizes are commonly reported at $10,000 or more
  • AI SEO is one line on a broad menu, so buyers wanting a pure AI search specialist should look elsewhere
  • A generalist model: depth in any single channel depends on the team assigned to your account
#9

NoGood

Best for: Venture-backed scaleups and enterprise brands that want AEO run inside a full-stack growth program

Visit nogood.io
Starting price$20,000+/month (published average retainer, not a starting price)
Free planNo — free scoping call before proposal

NoGood is the premium full-stack pick. The New York growth agency runs answer engine optimization as one channel inside a wider program of paid acquisition, lifecycle, SEO and performance branding, and it measures AI visibility through Goodie AI, a platform built by its own founder. Named clients include Nike, TikTok, MongoDB, SteelSeries and Johnson & Johnson.

The price is the filter: NoGood publishes that its average retainer is above $20,000 a month, which is an average rather than a starting price, and there are no published contract terms. AEO-only buyers also pay for breadth they may not use. Hire NoGood when you are a funded scaleup buying a growth team, not a single channel.

What we like

  • Publishes that its average retainer is above $20,000/month — unusually direct for a premium agency
  • Tracks AI visibility through Goodie AI, an AI visibility platform built by its own founder
  • Named clients include Nike, TikTok, MongoDB, SteelSeries and Johnson & Johnson

Watch out for

  • Average retainer above $20,000/month puts it out of reach for most mid-market buyers
  • AEO shares the team with paid, social, video and lifecycle, so AEO-only buyers pay for breadth they may not use
  • No published starting price or contract terms — the $20,000 figure is an average, not a floor
#10

iPullRank

Best for: Enterprise and Fortune 500 brands that need technical AI search engineered and measured at the information-retrieval level

Visit ipullrank.com
Starting priceFrom $30,000 (Emerging program range $30,000–$150,000; no period stated)
Free planNo — free scoping call before proposal

iPullRank is the enterprise technical pick. The agency led by Mike King approaches AI search as Relevance Engineering: embeddings, query fan-out and passage retrieval, so AI systems can retrieve and use your content. Its AI Search Strategy Program scores a keyword portfolio on more than 22 data points per keyword and pairs it with a measurement plan that runs from citations to revenue.

The entry point is the highest here. Its published investment ranges start at $30,000 for the Emerging tier, with no period stated, rising to $500,000-plus for Elite. There is no monthly rate to budget against, and the vocabulary needs translation for non-technical buyers. Hire iPullRank when AI search is a company-level program, not a marketing line item.

What we like

  • Relevance Engineering framework: embeddings, query fan-out and passage retrieval applied to GEO
  • Publishes three investment ranges — Emerging $30,000–$150,000, Growth $150,000–$500,000, Elite $500,000+
  • Named Profound Agency Partner, with enterprise clients including Target, Adidas, American Express and CVS

Watch out for

  • Lowest published range starts at $30,000 with no period stated — the most expensive entry in this list
  • Enterprise vocabulary (embeddings, query fan-out, passage retrieval) needs translation for non-technical buyers
  • No monthly rate to budget against: the tiers are investment ranges, not retainers

What the best AI SEO agencies actually do

An AI SEO agency does two jobs that used to be one. The first is classic SEO: technical fixes, content and links that earn rankings in Google. The second is new: making sure AI engines name and cite your brand inside generated answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews. The best AI SEO agencies in this list do both, because an AI answer still draws on the same pages, entities and authority signals that classic SEO builds.

That second job is what buyers pay the premium for. First Page Sage's 2026 pricing report, built from 1,146 GEO and AEO quotes from 214 agencies, puts the median GEO/AEO retainer at $6,850 a month — 45% more than the $4,740 median for traditional SEO. The gap is the extra work: prompt research, answer-shaped content, schema and entity work, and citation tracking across engines that change monthly. An agency sells you the team that does that work; a tracking tool only shows you the result.

Full-service agencies first

If you want one partner for everything, start with the full-service agencies: WebFX, NP Digital and Single Grain. They run SEO, content, paid media and analytics under one roof, so AI search sits inside a wider program rather than as a standalone line. WebFX is the most transparent of the three, with a published five-tier price list from $2,900 a month. NP Digital and Single Grain both quote custom, which is normal at their size — the scoping call decides the price.

The trade-off is depth. A full-service team is strong on coordination and weak on narrow specialization: the same account that runs your GEO may also run your paid social. If AI search is the whole brief, a specialist will usually go deeper for the same money.

Content-led GEO specialists

Siege Media and First Page Sage earn citations the slow way: content and authority. Siege Media builds research-led content and digital PR that other sites link to and AI engines quote, with a published $8,000-a-month content minimum. First Page Sage puts subject-matter experts behind thought-leadership content and publishes its own research on how AI engines choose sources, with GEO retainers from $6,000 a month on month-to-month terms.

This group fits brands that already believe content is the moat. It does not fit anyone who needs results inside a quarter: expert content takes time to produce, publish and earn citations from. If your site has thin content or no subject-matter experts to feature, fix that before you hire either of them.

B2B SaaS specialists

TripleDart and Skale are built for one buyer: the B2B SaaS team that needs AI search tied to pipeline. TripleDart runs GEO on its Slate platform, tracks citation share weekly and connects it to demos and revenue, from $5,000 a month. Skale runs full-service organic growth with GEO in the core offer from $4,000 a month, with product-led content and authority link building aimed at signups rather than traffic.

Pick this group when your buyers compare vendors inside AI answers before they ever reach your site. Both agencies speak the SaaS funnel fluently, and both measure success in pipeline rather than positions. Their weakness is breadth: neither is the right call for local, ecommerce or heavily regulated verticals.

Enterprise and premium growth

Victorious, NoGood and iPullRank sit at the top of the market, and they sell to buyers who treat AI search as a strategic program rather than a marketing line item. Victorious pairs SEO with answer engine optimization across six engines from $6,000 a month, with reporting that puts citations next to revenue. NoGood runs AEO inside a full-stack growth program averaging above $20,000 a month. iPullRank engineers AI search at the information-retrieval level, with program ranges from $30,000.

These are the right calls when the budget is large and the site is complex — migrations, multi-brand portfolios, Fortune 500 procurement. They are the wrong calls for a first agency engagement: the minimums, terms and vocabulary all assume a buyer who has done this before.

Bar chart of starting monthly retainers: WebFX $2,900, Skale $4,000, TripleDart $5,000, Victorious $6,000, First Page Sage $6,000, Siege Media $8,000
Starting retainers, billed monthly. NoGood, iPullRank, NP Digital and Single Grain are not in the chart — see the footnote inside it for why.

What the retainer actually buys

The monthly number is only half the price. A $5,000 retainer that includes content production, schema and citation tracking is cheaper than a $3,000 retainer that bills those separately, and most agencies in this list scope content volume, prompt coverage and reporting cadence into the quote. Ask every agency for the same three numbers before you compare: how many pages or content assets a month, how many prompts are tracked, and how often reporting arrives. Our guide to how much SEO costs breaks down the same math for traditional SEO retainers.

Contract terms matter as much as price. Twelve-month terms are the norm at Siege Media and Victorious, six months at TripleDart, and month-to-month at First Page Sage. A long term is not a red flag on its own — AI search compounds over quarters — but the exit clause is: Siege Media's 30-day out clause is the one to copy in your own negotiations.

Matrix showing what each agency engagement includes: daily updates, free plan, AI visibility and white-label
What the engagement includes, checked November 1, 2026. A dash means the feature is not included.

Quick comparison: tool type by need

BuyerBest pickWhy
Mid-market business, first AI SEO agencyWebFX$2,900/month published, AI search in every tier
SaaS or fintech brand with a content operationSiege MediaResearch-led content and digital PR that earn citations
Established brand that wants transparent reportingVictoriousCitations reported next to traffic and revenue
B2B SaaS team that needs pipeline attributionTripleDart or SkaleGEO tied to demos and revenue from $4,000–$5,000/month
Enterprise brand with a complex siteiPullRankRelevance Engineering at the retrieval level
Funded scaleup buying a growth teamNoGood or NP DigitalAEO inside a full-stack program

How to choose: a short decision path

  1. Set the budget band first. Under $5,000 a month, the realistic options are WebFX, Skale and TripleDart. Between $5,000 and $10,000, add Victorious, First Page Sage and Siege Media. Above $20,000, NoGood and iPullRank enter the picture.
  2. Match the model to your bottleneck. No content operation? A content-led agency will stall. No technical SEO foundation? A technical agency like iPullRank or Victorious fits better than a content shop.
  3. Ask for the prompt list. Before you sign, ask each agency which buying prompts it will track and where your brand appears on them today. That baseline is the only honest way to judge progress later.
  4. Check what the crawlers can see. Before you pay anyone, confirm AI crawlers can read your site — our free llms.txt generator builds the file that tells them what they may crawl. An agency cannot earn citations for pages the engines cannot reach.
  5. Run the reference check. Ask to speak to a client in your vertical, and read our questions to ask before hiring an SEO agency before the first call so you know what a good answer sounds like.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Comparing a starting price with an average. NoGood's $20,000 is an average retainer, not a floor; iPullRank's $30,000 is a program range with no period stated. Neither is comparable to WebFX's $2,900 starting tier.
  • Trusting a directory price. Victorious shows $4,999 a month on G2 and recommends $6,000 a month on its own site. Always use the agency's own page, and ask about the gap on the call.
  • Buying on the label. AI SEO, GEO and AEO are the same job under three names. Compare deliverables — prompts tracked, pages shipped, schema implemented — not the acronym on the proposal.
  • Signing a long term with no exit clause. Twelve months is normal, but a 30-day out clause, like Siege Media's, protects you if the first quarter shows nothing.
  • Skipping the baseline. If the agency cannot show where you appear in AI answers today, it cannot prove progress tomorrow. Get the prompt baseline in writing before work starts.

How we chose

We checked each agency's own site on November 1, 2026 and recorded the starting price exactly as published — or "Custom quote" where no price is published, and the published average or program range where the agency discloses that instead of a starting price. We tried to open every agency's G2 review page the same day, but G2 returned 429 rate-limit errors on all of them, so no ratings are shown rather than estimated ones. We ranked the agencies by fit for the most common buyer — a mid-market business hiring its first AI SEO agency — not by brand size. No agency paid for a place in this list, and none of the links here are affiliate links.

What to do next

Start with the decision path above: set the budget band, match the model to your bottleneck, and get the prompt baseline from your top two picks before you sign anything. Take the free scoping call from each and compare the deliverable lists line by line, not the headlines. If you would rather compare the agency quotes against a service first, our AI search optimization service starts with the same free audit. If you'd rather have this set up and read for you, request a free SEO + AI visibility audit and get a ranked fix list in 2 business days.

Rather not run the tools yourself?

Tools show you the data. SerpAstra turns it into higher rankings, more map-pack calls and citations in AI answers.

Get a free SEO + AI visibility audit→
Sources we checked (10)
Shamim

Shamim

Founder of SerpAstra

A full-stack SEO and digital marketer who spends most days on Local SEO for dental practices, AI search visibility and lead generation.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an AI SEO agency cost in 2026?

Published retainers in this list run from $2,900 a month (WebFX) to $8,000 (Siege Media) for mid-market programs, with enterprise programs far higher: NoGood averages above $20,000 a month and iPullRank's programs start at $30,000. First Page Sage's 2026 pricing report puts the median GEO/AEO retainer at $6,850 a month. Always confirm whether the figure is a starting price, an average or a program range.

What is the difference between AI SEO, GEO and AEO?

They describe the same job with different labels. AI SEO is the broad term for optimizing for AI-driven search. GEO (generative engine optimization) focuses on getting cited inside generated answers, and AEO (answer engine optimization) focuses on being the answer an engine gives. Most agencies in this list use two or all three terms for one service, so compare the deliverables, not the label.

Should I hire an AI SEO agency or buy AI visibility software?

Buy software when you have an in-house team to act on the data — tools like the ones in our AI search tracking guides show where you appear, but they do not fix anything. Hire an agency when you need the work done: content, technical fixes, schema and digital PR. Many teams do both: an agency for execution and a tracking tool to verify the agency's reporting.

How long does it take an AI SEO agency to show results?

Expect the first citation signals within one quarter and meaningful movement in three to six months. AI engines re-crawl and re-summarize continuously, and a new citation has to survive several refresh cycles before it sticks. Any agency promising guaranteed citations in ChatGPT or AI Overviews within weeks is promising something no one controls. Six- and twelve-month terms are the norm for this reason.

What should I ask before hiring an AI SEO agency?

Five questions cover most of it: which prompts do you track for us today, and where do we appear; what does the monthly deliverable list include; who does the work, senior staff or juniors; what is the minimum term and exit clause; and can we speak to a client in our vertical? Our guide to questions to ask before hiring an SEO agency covers the checklist for the first call.

Do AI SEO agencies guarantee citations in ChatGPT or AI Overviews?

No honest one does. An agency controls your content, your technical setup and your third-party mentions, but not which sources an AI engine picks for a given answer. What it can guarantee is the work: the prompts tracked, the pages shipped, the schema implemented and the citations measured. If a proposal promises a fixed number of citations, ask how it is measured and what happens if it is missed.

Free SEO and AI visibility audit

Find out what is holding your rankings back

Send us your site. Within 2 business days you get a written audit, an AI visibility check and a short fix list ranked by impact. Free, with no contract attached.

Request my free audit→