How to Choose an AEO Agency: A 7-Step Process and Scorecard [2026]

Every AEO agency's website says roughly the same thing. They get brands cited in ChatGPT, featured in AI Overviews and recommended by Perplexity. Their decks show rising charts and happy logos. So how do you tell the real specialists from the rebranded ones?

Knowing how to choose an AEO agency comes down to evidence. AI answers change from run to run, so the proof you ask for, and the way you score it, matters more than any pitch. A clear process protects your budget and saves you months of guessing.

This guide gives you that process. You will get seven evaluation steps, a list of proof to request, a weighted scorecard, and twelve AI search questions to ask, each with an example of what a good answer sounds like.

Key Takeaways

• Set your baseline before you talk to anyone. You cannot judge an agency's claims without knowing where you stand today.
• Ask for repeated prompt data, not screenshots. SparkToro found AI tools almost never return the same brand list twice.
• Test advice against Google's own guide. Google's hiring guidance now suggests checking whether AEO or GEO advice aligns with its official AI optimisation guide.
• Weight measurement most heavily. An agency that cannot measure AI visibility honestly cannot improve it reliably.
• Look for off-site capability. AI answers draw on what others say about you, so content alone is not enough.
• Start with a paid audit or short pilot. A small first engagement reveals how an agency really works.

How to Choose an AEO Agency

Quick answer: To choose an AEO agency, first record your own AI visibility baseline. Then shortlist three to five agencies, request proof such as raw prompt-run data and dated case studies, and ask AI-search-specific questions about crawlers, prompt selection, measurement and off-site work. Score every answer on a weighted scorecard, favour the agency whose advice matches Google's published guidance, and start with a small audit or pilot before committing to a long retainer.

The seven steps below turn that summary into a repeatable process.

Step 1: Record Your Own Baseline

Do this before any sales call. Otherwise, every agency will define your starting point for you.

1. Write 20 to 30 real buyer questions. Use questions from sales calls, support tickets and reviews, not questions that contain your brand name.
2. Run each one several times in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI Mode, and record whether you appear.
3. Check Search Console. Google's AI optimisation guide points to the Generative AI performance report for visibility in its AI features.
4. Check GA4 for referral visits from AI assistants.

Repetition matters. In research published in January 2026, SparkToro had 600 volunteers run 12 prompts a combined 2,961 times. It found less than a 1 in 100 chance that ChatGPT or Google's AI would return the same brand list in any two responses. One check tells you nothing; twenty checks tell you a lot.

If you would rather have this done independently, an AI citation audit gives you a baseline across four engines that no agency on your shortlist controls.

Step 2: Build a Longlist of Three to Five Agencies

Sources worth using include referrals from peers, agencies that already appear in AI answers for your category, and agencies whose own content shows real depth on AI search. Be wary of agencies that found you through cold outreach promising AI placement.

Also decide early whether you need an agency at all. If your team can implement and you mainly need direction, compare the options in our guide to AEO consultant vs AEO agency.

Step 3: Run Quick Desk Checks

Before booking calls, spend fifteen minutes on each agency's website. Look for:

• References to primary sources, such as Google's AI optimisation guide or OpenAI's crawler documentation
• Published pricing or clear scope, even if only indicative
• Case studies with dates and numbers, not just logos
• Honest language about uncertainty, with no guaranteed placements
• Services beyond your website, such as digital PR, reviews or community work

Drop any agency that guarantees placement in ChatGPT or AI Overviews. Google's hiring guidance still states that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking, and AI answers are even less predictable.

Step 4: Request Specific Proof

Pitch decks are easy to polish. Ask each shortlisted agency for these instead.

Ask for anonymised examples if confidentiality is a concern. A credible agency will find a way to show its work. For a sense of the detail to expect, Billion Game's case studies report specific figures and timeframes, such as 43 times organic traffic growth for Consentz over 14 months.

Step 5: Ask AI-Search-Specific Questions

General agency questions about contracts, ownership and communication still matter, and our list of questions to ask an SEO agency before hiring covers them. The twelve below are specific to AI search.

Questions about access and foundations

1. Which crawler controls whether we appear in ChatGPT search, and how will you check it?
Good answer: OAI-SearchBot. According to OpenAI's crawler documentation, sites that opt out of it will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, while GPTBot is a separate setting for training. The agency should check robots.txt, CDN and firewall rules.

2. Can AI crawlers read our key pages without running JavaScript?
Good answer: "We will compare your page source with the rendered page, and fix any content that only appears after scripts run."

3. Which of Google's AI mythbusting points do you agree with?
Good answer: All of them. Google's AI optimisation guide says to ignore llms.txt files, content chunking, rewriting just for AI and inauthentic mentions, and that no special schema is needed. A good agency explains how its plan reflects that.

Questions about measurement

4. Which prompts will you track, and where do they come from?
Good answer: Unbranded buyer questions drawn from your sales calls, search data and community discussions, agreed with you and owned by you.

5. How many times do you run each prompt, and on which engines?
Good answer: Several runs per prompt per engine, reported as a share of runs in which you appear, not as a single "position".

6. How will you separate branded from unbranded visibility?
Good answer: "We report them separately, because branded prompts inflate results and do not reflect how new buyers search."

7. What data will I be able to verify myself?
Good answer: Search Console's Generative AI performance report, GA4 referrals from AI assistants, and raw exports of every prompt run.

Questions about the work itself

8. What will you do off our website?
Good answer: Genuine digital PR, review generation, directory accuracy and helpful participation in communities, with no fake accounts.

9. What will you not do?
Good answer: A clear list, such as planting forum posts, selling llms.txt as a core deliverable or mass-producing thin answer pages.

10. What happens if AI answers describe our brand inaccurately?
Good answer: Find the sources feeding the error, correct them on your site and on third-party profiles, and then retest the affected prompts.

11. What exactly does month one contain?
Good answer: Named, dated tasks, such as the crawler access review, entity consistency fixes and the first content briefs.

12. Show me a prompt you lost for a client. What did you learn?
Good answer: A specific, honest story. Agencies that claim they never lose are not measuring properly.

Step 6: Score Every Agency on a Weighted Scorecard

Score each criterion from 1 to 5, multiply by the weight, and add the results. The maximum score is 500.

How to read the totals: above 400 is a strong candidate, 300 to 400 deserves a second call, and below 300 is usually a pass. However, any single disqualifying answer, such as a guaranteed placement, overrides the total. Our list of AEO agency red flags explains which warning signs belong in that category.

Step 7: Start Small, Then Commit

Even a high-scoring agency deserves a trial. Good first engagements include:

1. A paid audit with a prioritised fix list and a prompt-level baseline
2. A 90-day pilot focused on one product line, city or market
3. A fixed review point where you compare results against your own Step 1 baseline

Then agree a longer retainer only if the pilot delivered what was promised. Keep ownership of your Search Console, GA4, prompt list and tracking data throughout.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

Choosing an AEO agency is harder than choosing an SEO agency, because the results are harder to see. That is exactly why a structured process pays off. Your own baseline, specific proof and a weighted scorecard remove most of the guesswork.

So set the baseline, ask the twelve questions, and score every answer honestly. Once you know how to choose an AEO agency this way, the right partner usually stands out within a single round of calls.

About the author

Ganesh Shanmugam

Ganesh Shanmugam is an SEO and AEO consultant based in Chennai, India, and the founder of Billion Game — a boutique agency serving clients across the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Ireland. He previously held SEO roles at 7 Eagles and Digital Scholar before going independent, and brings 4+ years of hands-on experience

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