What an AI SEO agency does that a normal SEO agency does not
Traditional SEO is a competition for position on a results page. The prize is a link, and the visitor decides between ten of them. AI SEO is a competition to be quoted. The prize is your name inside a written answer, and the assistant has already done the deciding for the reader.
The two jobs overlap but they are not the same job, and being good at one does not carry you into the other. Semrush found the pages ChatGPT cites rank at position 21 or worse in Google almost 90 percent of the time (Semrush, Jul 2025). A business can hold page one for years and never appear in a single AI answer, because assistants pull from sources page-one ranking does not measure.
So the work changes shape. Instead of chasing a keyword, we chase a question. Instead of one long page that mentions everything you do, we build one page per service that answers one question completely, in plain sentences a machine can lift. Instead of link building, we fix the record: the same name, address, phone, hours and services in every place an assistant goes to check.
- SEO measures rank. AI SEO measures whether you were named, in which questions, on which tools.
- SEO rewards a page that covers a topic. AI SEO rewards a page that answers a question and states a number.
- SEO treats listings as housekeeping. AI SEO treats them as the fact check that decides whether you exist.
- SEO reports traffic. AI SEO reports screenshots of the answer itself, which you can repeat yourself any day.
The honest overlap
Almost everything that makes an assistant understand you also makes Google understand you: structured data, one page per service, fast mobile pages, consistent listings, fresh reviews. You come out ahead in ordinary search too. We just do not sell you on that, because it is the side effect and not the target.
AI SEO, AEO and GEO are three names for the same work
The vocabulary is a mess, and the mess costs owners money, because three vendors can quote three different prices for the same job under three different labels. It is worth being clear about what each word actually means.
- AI SEO is the plain-language umbrella: the work of getting found and named by AI tools.
- Answer engine optimization, or AEO, names the target: the answer itself, not the list.
- Generative engine optimization, or GEO, names the machine: the model that generates the answer.
- AI search optimization, sometimes written as LLM SEO, names the surface: search inside an assistant.
In practice the deliverables are identical. Anyone who tells you GEO is a different service from AEO, with a different price and a different retainer, is selling vocabulary. We do one thing, at one price, and we call it whatever you are used to calling it. The guide AEO vs SEO vs GEO sets the terms out side by side if you want the longer version.
How the engines decide who gets named
There is no single algorithm to please, but the three tools we measure in behave in ways you can plan around, and they read many of the same sources.
- ChatGPT: when it looks something up on the web it searches with Bing, so Bing Places and a Bing-visible site matter here as much as Google does. A business with a perfect Google Business Profile and no Bing presence can be invisible to it.
- Google AI Mode: built on Google's own index and Business Profile data, so proximity, categories, hours, review volume and structured data all feed it, and a stale or half-filled profile shows up as an absence.
- Perplexity: writes short answers with visible citations, which means being citable is the whole game. It favours pages that state a fact plainly, in text, on a page about that one thing.
Underneath all three is the same test: can the machine read what you do, verify it somewhere independent, and trust it enough to put your name in front of a stranger. That is why the work is boring on purpose. Readable pages, verified listings, trusted signals, repeated every month.
What you get
Everything for $1,000 a month. Nothing sold separately.
One retainer covers the whole job. There is no setup fee, no separate content package and no upsell, because splitting this work into modules is how agencies bill for it, not how it works.
- 10-prompt AI visibility baseline with screenshots
- AI-readable website fixes, or a rebuild (up to 10 pages) if needed
- LocalBusiness, Service and FAQ structured data
- Google Business Profile and Bing Places overhaul
- Listings on the directories and review sites AI cites for your industry
- 2 to 4 new pages a month answering real customer questions
- Review request engine (we draft everything)
- Monthly re-run of your 10 prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode
- Simple monthly scorecard: named in 7 of 10, up from 1
- One business per industry per city, exclusivity for as long as you stay
- Everything we build stays yours, even if you leave or take the refund
Who this is for
Who an AI SEO agency is actually for
This is for local businesses where one new customer is worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, and where buyers ask a question before they pick a name: med spas, law firms, dentists, chiropractors, cosmetic surgeons, therapists, accountants, HVAC companies, roofers, plumbers, electricians and real estate agents.
It is not for national ecommerce, and it is not for businesses in markets the answer already owns. Before we take money we check whether the answer in your city is still open. In big metros a hospital system or a national chain often owns it, and we say so and decline.
- Med spas and aesthetics clinics: our deepest market, with first-party data for the cities we publish.
- Every industry we work in: the buyer question we target and what one customer is worth in each.
- Anything else local: send the site and we will tell you honestly whether the market is winnable.
Pricing
One plan. One price.
One plan at $1,000 a month, with a 3-month minimum because it takes time to show results. Local marketing retainers in these industries typically run $3,000 to $10,000 a month with no guarantee attached.
$1,000/ month
3-month minimum as it takes time to show results, then month to month. Cancel anytime after.
- The full monthly build and the monthly 10-prompt measurement
- Named by AI in 90 days, or every dollar back
- One business per industry per city
- Site and content are yours to keep
Start here
See what AI says about you before you pay anyone.
Before either of us commits, we run 10 real buyer questions for your service and your city through ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode and send you the dated screenshots.
Free, no call required, and we tell you honestly if your market is not winnable.
Read next
The working notes behind the service.
AEO vs SEO vs GEO
The three terms set side by side, what each one actually means, and which parts of the work overlap.
Read itWhat AI visibility costs
What the work costs, what typical retainers cost, and how to judge any quote you are given.
Read itOur first-party research
The Med Spa AI Visibility Index and the patient prompt library: what we found screening real local websites and real AI answers, free to cite.
Read it
Questions