An AI SEO agency should be able to explain, in plain language, how AI search tools find and choose sources, what it will change on your site and beyond, and how it will measure progress. The best ones treat AI search as an extension of good SEO, show you their method, and never promise guaranteed mentions or rankings in AI answers. The worst sell mystery techniques, special files and invented metrics.

This guide covers what AI SEO work should include, the questions to ask, the red flags to watch for, and how to judge a proposal.

What does "AI SEO" actually mean?

Agencies use several names for the same idea: AI SEO, generative engine optimisation (GEO), answer engine optimisation (AEO) or LLM optimisation. All of them describe work aimed at getting a business found, mentioned and cited in AI answers, such as Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Claude and Microsoft Copilot.

AI SEO, generative engine optimisation (GEO), answer engine optimisation (AEO) and LLM optimisation are four names for the same idea: getting a business found, mentioned and cited in AI answers.
Different labels, same work. Judge the scope, not the acronym.

Most of these tools search the web while they answer, then cite what they find. That means the work looks a lot like SEO: making sure the right crawlers can reach your site, that your pages answer real questions clearly, that facts about your business are consistent everywhere, and that credible sites talk about you. Google says outright that there are no extra requirements or special optimisations needed to appear in its AI features beyond normal SEO best practice.

A bearded man in a suit points at his laptop screen while talking with a woman at an outdoor table.
A good agency explains how AI tools find sources in plain language. Photo: rawpixel.com, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What good AI SEO work includes

A solid scope usually covers:

  1. Technical access. Checking robots.txt, CDN and firewall settings for AI search crawlers (OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Bingbot and Googlebot), and making sure important content is readable without JavaScript.
  2. Entity clarity. Consistent business details across your site, Google Business Profile, directories and social profiles, with accurate Organization or LocalBusiness structured data.
  3. Content that answers questions. Research into the questions your customers ask, then pages that answer them directly, with clear headings and specifics such as prices, areas and timeframes.
  4. Reputation and mentions. Reviews, directory listings, digital PR and expert commentary on sites that AI tools are likely to read.
  5. Measurement. Tracking AI referral traffic in analytics, branded search trends, and a documented, repeatable set of test prompts across the tools that matter to you.

If a proposal includes llms.txt, that's fine as a small task, but it shouldn't be the headline.

Five parts of a good AI SEO scope: technical access for AI search crawlers, entity clarity, content that answers customer questions, reputation and mentions, and measurement of AI referrals and prompt tests.
llms.txt can be a small task, but it shouldn't be the headline.

Questions to ask an AI SEO agency

  • "How do the AI tools we care about find their sources?" A good answer distinguishes training data from live search, and names the crawlers involved.
  • "What will you change in the first 90 days, and why?" Look for specific work, not "optimising for AI".
  • "How will you measure success?" Expect a mix of analytics data, leads and a transparent prompt-testing method.
  • "Which prompts will you track, in which tools, how often and how many times each?" AI answers vary between runs. A credible method repeats tests and shows the raw results.
  • "What will you not do?" A good agency will rule out tactics like hidden text aimed at AI or mass-produced pages.
  • "Can you show me an example report?" Ask to see the format with client details removed, and compare it with what a monthly SEO report should include.
  • "How does this fit with our existing SEO?" If the answer treats them as unrelated, be cautious.

Our wider list of questions to ask an SEO agency applies here too.

Red flags

  • Guaranteed mentions, citations or rankings in ChatGPT, Perplexity or AI Overviews. No outside party controls what these tools say. Our guide to fake SEO guarantees covers how to spot these promises.
  • A secret technique or proprietary "AI index". Ask how it works. If they can't explain it, walk away.
  • An "AI visibility score" with no method behind it. A single number is meaningless without the prompts, tools, dates and run counts.
  • Special files or markup sold as the key to AI Overviews. Google says you don't need new machine-readable files or special schema to appear.
  • Hidden text, prompt injection or content aimed only at machines. These tactics break Google's spam policies, risk penalties and damage trust.
  • Hundreds of thin pages generated to "cover every question". Low-value pages at scale are the opposite of what both search engines and AI tools reward.
  • No mention of Google. Google is still where most searches happen, and its AI features run on its normal search index.
Good signs from an AI SEO agency include separating training data from live search, specific 90-day work, repeated prompt tests with raw results, and ruling out risky tactics. Red flags include guaranteed citations, secret techniques, unexplained visibility scores, special files sold as the key to AI Overviews, and hidden text or thin pages.
If an agency can't explain its method, treat its promises with caution.

How to read the price

AI SEO is usually priced like SEO: a monthly retainer, a fixed-price audit or a project. Because most of the work overlaps with good SEO, be wary of a large "AI" add-on fee on top of an existing SEO retainer that doesn't come with clearly different deliverables. Ask exactly what extra work the AI component pays for. Our guide to SEO costs gives typical ranges. Before you sign, check the agreement against our list of what an SEO contract should include, so the AI work is named in the scope rather than left vague.

Checking an agency's own claims

You can test some claims yourself before you sign:

  • Run your site through the AI Crawler Access Checker and see if the agency spotted the same issues.
  • Check a few key pages with the AI-Readiness Checker.
  • Ask an AI assistant about the agency itself. Does it describe them accurately? An agency that can't get itself described well may struggle to do it for you.

Finding AI SEO agencies on FindSEO

FindSEO lists agencies that say on their own websites that they offer AI search work. You can browse AI SEO agencies by country and city, compare their services and reviews, and contact them directly, or use Get matched to be introduced to up to three that suit your needs. Use the questions above to compare them.