Choosing an AI SEO agency.
Search did not move from Google to AI. It split across both. An AI SEO agency has to win rankings and answers at the same time, and here is how to judge whether one can.
Read this with the obvious in mind: we are an agency in this category, so this page is both a guide and a pitch. Every number on it carries its date and method, which is the standard we think you should hold anyone in this market to, including us.
What AI SEO actually covers.
AI SEO is the version of search work that treats Google results and AI assistant answers as one surface, because buyers use them as one surface. The same research session now runs through a Google query, a ChatGPT question and a Perplexity follow-up, and a brand missing from any leg of it loses the thread.
In practice that means the classic work, rankings, links and technical health, plus the newer work: being named in generated answers, being cited as a source, and holding structured data that lets an engine state what you are without guessing. The two halves feed each other, since the pages that rank are frequently the pages engines quote.
What to actually evaluate.
Five checks that separate measured work from confident invoicing. Apply them to every candidate, including us.
What the engines say when you ask for the best AI SEO agency.
We tested hiring queries in this category against the live engines in August 2026. The software names, Semrush and Ahrefs among them, are cited constantly. Agencies barely appear: on most agency-hiring questions, no firm was named at all.
So the truthful answer to 'who is the best AI SEO agency' is that the engines have not decided yet. What separates candidates today is whether their results can be checked. Ours are below, with the method.
559 verified citations across four clients.
Every query below was confirmed by a live API call against the engines, and each case study lists the queries so the check can be re-run.
One programme, priced in the open.
Research, technical legibility, answer-shaped pages, the third-party citation layer, and the same fixed questions re-run so the number you judge us on never moves. From $999 a month, published on the pricing page.
Common questions.
What does an AI SEO agency do?
It runs search visibility across both surfaces buyers now use: Google rankings and AI assistant answers. That covers technical health, content, links and the citation layer of directories and reviews that AI answers draw from, with measurement across both.
Is SEO dead now that people ask AI?
No. The surfaces split. Google still carries enormous volume, and its own results now include AI answers. The mistake is running them as separate projects, because the same pages and the same authority feed both.
How much does an AI SEO agency cost?
Ours starts at $999 a month, published on the site. Typical managed SEO retainers run $1,000 to $10,000 a month depending on market, and most agencies quote AI answer work as a custom add-on.
How do you measure AI search visibility?
By sending the questions buyers actually ask to the engines through their APIs and recording whether the brand is named in the answer or its site cited as a source. We re-run the same fixed question set on a schedule, so the metric never moves for flattering reasons.
Can one agency really do both Google and AI answers?
The overlap is large: the technical fixes, the answer-shaped pages and the third-party presence serve both. What is genuinely new is the measurement and the citation-layer work, which is exactly what to probe in any pitch.