An AEO agency tries to get your firm named when buyers ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Copilot or Google’s AI who to use. Most of the job is SEO. Pick the agency that can show you dated changes it made to a client’s site, and that reports mentions as a share of many answers on each engine, not as a single screenshot.
What should an AEO agency actually do?
Put your firm into the answers buyers read. There are three stages, and the order matters. First the engines must be able to reach and read your pages (indexed). Next those pages need to appear in the searches that sit behind a buyer’s question (found). Finally your own pages, and other sites such as directories and registers, have to give the engines grounds to name you (mentioned). How service businesses get named in ChatGPT explains the mechanics.
Is AEO something different from SEO?
Not as different as the sales decks suggest. Google’s own guidance says optimising for generative AI search is “still SEO”. What changes is how you keep score. Either the answer names you or it doesn’t, the engines don’t agree with one another, and the next answer to the same question may be different.
What should you ask an AEO agency before you sign?
Seven questions. For each, here is what a sound answer sounds like, and the answer that should end the conversation.
1. What went live on a client’s website last week, and who checked it before it did?
Advice changes nothing until it is on your site. The agency you choose should make the changes itself, not hand a list to your web developer.
- Sound answerSpecific, dated changes to named pages: a new service page on Tuesday, location page headings rewritten on Thursday, each one reviewed before publishing. That is how IndexFirst works: a change on your site every working day, checked before it goes live.
- Warning signA strategy document, an audit or a spreadsheet of recommendations.
2. How do you count a mention?
AI answers change from one ask to the next. In SparkToro’s study of 2,961 answers, there was less than a 1 in 100 chance that ChatGPT or Google’s AI would return the same list of brands twice.
So one answer is one roll of the dice. AI visibility is the share of answers you appear in over many asks.
- Sound answerA share of answers on each engine, from the same question asked many times, with the number of asks stated: “named in 7 of 24 ChatGPT answers”.
- Warning signA single screenshot, or an “AI ranking”. SparkToro’s Rand Fishkin concluded that any tool that gives a “ranking position in AI” is full of baloney.
3. Do you report questions that include our name separately?
Ask “Is Example Accountancy any good for R&D tax claims?” and the answer will mention Example Accountancy, because the name is in the question. Ask “Who does R&D tax claims for engineering firms in the Midlands?” and you find out whether new clients will hear of them. That second kind is much harder to win.
- Sound answerA report that separates the two, like the example above, and only counts questions without your name as new reach.
- Warning sign“ChatGPT now describes you accurately” presented as the big win. It is worth fixing, but it is the easy part.
4. What will you tackle first?
An engine can’t recommend a site it can’t read.
- Sound answerChecking your pages are indexed in Google and Bing and that AI crawlers aren’t blocked. Then the pages buyers’ questions call for: services, locations, accreditations, comparisons.
- Warning signOpening with a special file or markup “for AI”. Google says you don’t need new machine-readable files or markup to appear in its AI features.
5. What won’t you promise?
No one controls what an engine says. Google states that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking in its results, and AI answers shift more than rankings do.
- Sound answerNo guaranteed mention and no deadline. A clear account of what they will deliver each month and how you will see it.
- Warning sign“Top three in ChatGPT within 90 days.”
6. What does a month cost, and what do we get for it?
Prices vary widely, so compare what is delivered, not only the fee. IndexFirst is £1,750 a month on one plan, or £1,500 a month on a 12-month contract. That covers up to 12 in-depth articles and 50+ fixes to existing pages a month, plus comparison pages, free tools and tracking of AI answers. See what’s included.
- Sound answerA monthly tally: pages written, pages fixed, comparisons published and the questions being tracked.
- Warning signA monthly checklist sent to you, with nobody on their side making the changes.
7. What stays with us if we leave?
Every agency relationship ends at some point. Ask the question while they still want your business.
- Sound answerEverything published stays on your site, and your Search Console and analytics accounts remain yours. You keep the list of tracked questions and the counts, so whoever comes next can carry on the trend.
- Warning signPages hosted on the agency’s own platform, or tracking that stops when the contract does.
How do you test an AEO agency’s results?
Take the screenshot or score they show you, open a logged-out browser window and ask that exact question six times on that engine. If their client appears once in six, that is what the screenshot was worth. To measure a full set of questions, follow the method in our AI visibility guide.