What does a GEO agency do and should you hire one?
A GEO agency is a digital marketing agency that helps your business get named in AI search answers. Where a traditional SEO agency works on your position in Google's list of results, a GEO agency works on whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Perplexity recommend you when a customer asks a question. It is a young specialism, but the demand behind it is real and growing.
GEO stands for generative engine optimisation. It is the practice of making your content the source an AI assistant trusts and cites. If you want the full explanation, our guide to generative engine optimisation covers how it works and how it differs from SEO.
Why does this matter? Because more customers now ask an assistant directly instead of scanning ten blue links. Questions like "which accountancy firm near me is best for a small business" get answered by an AI model, and the businesses it names win the enquiry. If your site is not among them, you lose the work even when you rank well in traditional search. AI search is changing how customers find you, and the change is not coming later, it is already here.
So what does a GEO agency actually do? The work splits into four areas.
First, an audit of your current AI visibility. The agency checks which AI assistants mention you, in what context and whether the mentions are accurate. Second, content restructuring. AI models favour pages that state answers plainly, use clear headings and contain specifics they can quote. A GEO agency rewrites and reorganises your pages so they can be cited without distortion.
Third, entity and schema work. Consistent naming, structured data and clear factual statements help an AI model understand who you are and what you do. Fourth, ongoing monitoring. AI visibility changes as the assistants update, so the work is measured monthly, not set and forgotten.
How is this different from an SEO agency? The goal is the same, more customers finding you, but the mechanics differ. SEO optimises for a ranking algorithm using keywords, links and technical health. GEO optimises for an AI model's ability to understand, trust and cite you. The two overlap heavily: a fast, well organised website with clear answers helps in both. Many businesses buy SEO for the foundation and GEO for the AI piece on top.
You should not have to guess whether the agency's work is paying off. A good GEO agency reports on concrete signals: how often your brand appears in AI answers, which queries trigger those appearances and what the sentiment of the mention is. We track this for clients with Metrona, our in-house AI visibility platform, which reports across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity. If an agency cannot show you that kind of measurement, treat the claims with caution.
When should you hire one? If your customers research before they buy, and more of that research is shifting to AI assistants, GEO is worth testing. That applies to professional services, trades, B2B suppliers and local businesses where one good recommendation turns into a long relationship. Start with a single well chosen page rather than a whole-site overhaul, measure the change over a quarter, then scale what works.
It is also worth knowing what GEO work costs. Our SEO packages run from GBP 980 to GBP 3,920 per month depending on hours, and GEO work typically sits alongside or within that kind of monthly engagement. The key is that the cost is tied to measurable visibility, not promises.
If you want to see where your business currently stands, start with a free SEO report at https://victory.digital/run-a-seo-report. To find out more about GEO and how we help clients get named in AI search, see our generative AI optimisation services at https://victory.digital/generative-ai-optimisation.
What are your Feelings?
Share your reaction
Click a reaction to share how useful this article was.