Pew Research Center found that only about 1% of visits to Google AI Overviews led to a click on a cited source. That is the market GEO agencies are selling into. Every week a new one appears, with a deck, a dashboard and a promise. Here is a GEO agency vetting checklist for brands before the contract lands.
Why the cottage industry formed so fast
Budget moved faster than expertise. Executives asked “are we showing up in ChatGPT?” and nobody had a clean answer. Freelancers, SEO shops, PR boutiques and tool resellers rebranded within a quarter.
That is not automatically bad. Early markets are messy, and some of these teams are doing real work. But the buyer carries the risk, because there is no shared standard for what “GEO” even includes.
The sizing data shows why leadership is anxious. Pew’s browsing panel study found about 18% of Google searches generated an AI Overview, and users clicked a result link in 8% of visits to pages with an Overview versus 15% without one. Fewer clicks mean the fight moves to being named, cited and remembered. It also means a vendor can easily wave this chart at you to justify any retainer.
If an agency cannot explain what it will change on your site, in your content or in your earned media, it is selling a dashboard, not a service.
Start with the claim: what do they say GEO is?
Ask for a one-paragraph definition. Then compare it with what the platforms say.
Google’s own guidance on optimizing for generative AI features points back to foundational SEO: pages that are indexed and snippet-eligible, a clear technical structure, and content with a unique point of view. It also separates commodity content from non-commodity content, meaning the first-hand, experience-based material that goes beyond common knowledge. If a pitch treats GEO as a secret layer that replaces all that, press hard. Our own read on this is in SEO, GEO and AEO as one job.
Does that make GEO fake? No. Other engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude) retrieve and cite differently, and measuring that is legitimate work. The test is whether the agency can separate what Google documents from what it has observed elsewhere, and label each honestly.
The checklist
Use these ten questions in the pitch meeting. Score each yes, partial or no. Three or more “no” answers on items 1 to 5 should end the conversation.
- Can they show a method, not just a result? Ask how prompts are chosen, how many runs per prompt, which models, and which locations. Single-run screenshots prove nothing because answers vary between sessions.
- Do they audit access first? If AI crawlers are blocked or key pages render poorly, nothing else matters. A credible agency starts with robots rules, indexation and rendering. See crawl barrier audits for how to run this yourself before anyone is paid.
- Is the baseline built on your query panel? Third-party visibility scores are hard to reproduce. A fixed panel of buyer questions, drawn from your sales calls and CRM, is far easier to defend. We argue the case in query panels over vendor scores.
- Which tracking tools do they use, and why? Citation trackers disagree with each other. Ask them to explain the gap, and whether they have piloted more than one. Our comparison of AI citation trackers shows why that matters.
- What is the deliverable list? You want named outputs: technical fixes, rewritten pages, original research, expert quotes, creator evidence. “Optimization” is not a deliverable.
- How do they handle content volume? Google’s spam policies define scaled content abuse as generating many pages mainly to manipulate rankings rather than help users, including with generative AI. An agency that proposes hundreds of query-variant pages is handing you a penalty risk.
- How do they earn mentions? The same policies list buying links and using automated services to create links as link spam. Ask whether outreach is manual, whether anything is paid for placement, and read why automated pitches fail before you accept a “digital PR at scale” line.
- Who owns editorial judgment? Production can be automated. Accuracy, claims and brand voice cannot. Check that a named editor signs off, a point we cover in agentic SEO and editorial judgment.
- What are the data and tool terms? Who holds the prompt logs, dashboards and credentials? What happens at termination? Does any AI tool they use ingest your customer data?
- What does failure look like? A good agency will name the conditions under which the work should stop.
Red flags that show up in the pitch
Some patterns repeat. Guaranteed placement in AI answers is the loudest red flag, since no one controls model output. Proprietary “AI ranking scores” with no methodology come next. Be wary of any pitch that says you need special files or content formats.
Watch the case studies too. A jump in mentions from zero is easy when the starting prompt set was chosen after the fact. Ask whether the prompt list was locked before work started.
Finally, ask who actually does the work. Plenty of “agencies” are one strategist plus a licensed tool. That can be fine, provided the pricing reflects it.
Where creators and proof fit
Brands in this audience often miss a lever. AI answers draw on reviews, forums, video and expert commentary, so credible creators can supply the first-hand evidence that models and people both prefer. An agency with no view on this is working with half the map. Start with creator proof over follower counts, and make sure any creator content follows your disclosure rules.
How to structure the engagement
Do not sign twelve months up front. Run a paid pilot of 60 to 90 days with a fixed prompt panel, a technical audit, a short list of pages to rework and a pre-agreed readout. Hold back a portion of fees against delivery of the audit and baseline.
Tie success to things you can verify: crawl issues closed, pages shipped, citation share on your own panel, and, harder but essential, assisted pipeline from sources you can trace. Keep your own analyst in the loop so you can reproduce a result. Our pitch checklist offers a companion scoring sheet.
The best GEO contract is a small one with a clear kill switch.
FAQs
What is a GEO agency?
A GEO (generative engine optimization) agency aims to increase how often and how accurately your brand appears in AI-generated answers from tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI features. In practice that means technical access fixes, content improvements, earned mentions and measurement.
Is GEO different from SEO?
Partly. Google’s guidance for its own generative features leans on established SEO fundamentals, so most of the work overlaps. The differences show up in measurement and in how other AI engines select and cite sources.
How much should a brand pay for GEO services?
There is no reliable market rate yet. Compare quotes by deliverable and hours, not by promised outcomes, and start with a short pilot so you learn what the work costs before committing.
Can any agency guarantee AI citations?
No. Model outputs change between runs, models and locations. Treat any guarantee as a disqualifier and ask for a methodology instead.
What should a GEO audit include?
Crawl and indexation checks, rendering review, a fixed buyer-prompt panel with a baseline across several engines, a content gap analysis against first-hand evidence, and a list of off-site sources the models already cite in your category.
Could GEO tactics get my site penalized?
Yes, if they involve mass-produced pages or manufactured links. Google’s spam policies cover scaled content abuse and link spam, so check every tactic against them.
Before your next pitch meeting, build a 30-prompt buyer panel from sales calls and hand it to every agency on your shortlist. The one that questions your panel, then tests it, is the one worth a pilot.
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