Reading time: 15 minutes
GEO for agencies is the service in which an agency measures and improves its clients’ presence in AI answers. The service has five parts: an entry diagnostic, a monthly scope, cost-based pricing, a contract with no citation promise and a report that supports renewal. This guide shows how to build each one and how to sell GEO alongside SEO.
In short
- The service starts with a diagnostic using fixed prompts and continues with monthly measurement, content, technical fixes and third-party sources.
- An agency sells GEO as an extension of SEO, because ranking on Google doesn’t guarantee showing up in the AI answer.
- We found no public survey on how much agencies charge for GEO in Brazil. The published ranges in reais come from those who sell the service.
- So pricing comes from cost: team hours, tools per client and collection volume, about 1,000 answers per client per month.
- The contract can’t promise citations, because OpenAI says placement in ChatGPT search isn’t guaranteed.
What is GEO for agencies?
GEO for agencies is the service that helps a client’s brand show up in AI answers. It combines measurement with fixed prompts, content and technical fixes, as well as presence in third-party sources. An agency can sell GEO as its own service line or as an add-on to an SEO contract.
The technical and editorial work follows the step-by-step GEO plan for agencies and brands in our main guide. This article, in contrast, covers the commercial side: how to package it, charge for it and renew it.
In Brazil, the agency Conversion announced a GEO service for mid-sized and large brands in September 2025. The announcement ran on Conversion‘s own blog, and the agency sells the service. According to the post, the service has four pillars: data, proprietary technology, content and PR. At launch, the agency offered free diagnostics to selected companies. In the same post, the founder describes the demand:
“More and more, we get requests from some of Brazil’s biggest brands that want to be active on ChatGPT.” (translated)
Diego Ivo, founder and CEO of Conversion (2025)
Some agencies also turn GEO measurement into a product. An Adweek report from March 2026 gives an example. Havas built the Brand Insights AI tool and licenses it to clients as SaaS. Dan Hagen, Havas’ global chief data and technology officer, told the magazine that the tool helped win new business. However, the report gives no numbers on that new business.
My client already does SEO: why would they pay for GEO?
Because ranking on Google doesn’t guarantee showing up in the AI answer. GEO adds three workstreams to SEO: measuring the answers, working on third-party sources and AI bots’ access to the site. The SEO report measures position and traffic, while the GEO report measures what AI answers about the brand.
In AI assistants, cited sources and Google’s top 10 overlap little. Ahrefs showed this when it ran 15,000 long-tail queries in Google, Bing and AI assistants in early July 2025. In ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot, only about 8% of cited links were in Google’s top 10. The data comes from Brand Radar, an AI monitoring tool that Ahrefs sells. In AI Overviews, however, the overlap is larger, as our guide to Google AI Mode and AI Overviews shows.
Similarly, a Brazilian study cross-checked SEO indicators against 6,611 queries to four AIs. Professor Wilson Silva, of the ESPM business school in São Paulo, led the study. According to the Brazilian marketing news site Mundo do Marketing, some brands had high domain authority on Google and zero visibility in the models’ answers. Silva, however, is also founder and CEO of WS Labs, which offers a tool derived from the study. The report doesn’t detail the full methodology.
How does an agency sell GEO to clients who already do SEO?
An agency should sell GEO as an extension of SEO. Google itself says that, from Google Search’s perspective, optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, “and thus still SEO.”
The market recognizes the topic but does little about it. RD Station’s Panorama de Marketing e Vendas 2026 (Marketing and Sales Panorama) surveyed 955 marketing professionals in Brazil about trends. SEO for AI and zero-click search rank as the 4th most relevant trend. Even so, in another question of the survey, 36% of respondents say their company takes no action to optimize its presence in LLMs. Another 23% don’t know whether it does anything.
Which agency clients have the most to gain from GEO?
The clients who gain most are those whose buyers research and compare options before deciding. In these categories, AI tends to answer with a short list of brands. So brands that are left out lose the comparison stage. Therefore, the agency should start its GEO offer with these clients and use the diagnostic to size the gap.
The type of question matters. In the ESPM study, according to Mundo do Marketing, queries like “quais são as melhores opções” (“what are the best options”) tended to produce lists of brands. On the other hand, questions about how to choose led to explanations, with fewer companies cited.
The industry matters too. In the same study, automakers, restaurants and hospitality had the highest average visibility. Health care, K-12 education and corporate travel were among the lowest, and B2B appeared less than consumer categories. On average, the three most cited brands in each industry accounted for more than half of the mentions.
For this reason, the two extremes call for different arguments. Where AI already recommends brands, the client competes for space with visible competitors. Where almost no one shows up, there’s open space, but the diagnostic needs to show that buyers ask these questions. Online stores and local businesses need their own items in the scope, such as the catalog, reviews and business profile. The details are in the guides to GEO for e-commerce clients and GEO for local business clients.
How does an agency build the entry diagnostic (GEO audit)?
The entry diagnostic is the first GEO deliverable an agency hands over. It shows where the brand stands today in AI answers and what keeps AI from citing it. First, it runs a list of prompts on the main engines. Then it checks technical access and maps the sources AI uses. As a result, the findings become the baseline and the starting point for the monthly proposal.
| Block | What to check | Deliverable |
|---|---|---|
| Technical access | AI bots, CDN and Bing | List of fixes |
| Baseline | Fixed prompts, repeated per engine | Presence and citation rates |
| Competition | 3 to 5 competitors on the same prompts | Initial share of voice |
| Sources | Domains AI cites in the category | PR and content targets |
| Accuracy | Errors about price, product and company | Prioritized fixes |
For technical access, start with which OpenAI bot the site needs to allow and with registering in Bing Webmaster Tools. Then, for the baseline, mix category, problem, comparison and brand questions.
A Google rule for SEO audits also applies to a GEO audit. According to Google Search Central, an SEO audit “should be about giving you realistic estimates of improvement, and an estimate of the work involved.” In other words, the diagnostic shows the size of the job, without promising results.
Free tools help with prospecting. For example, RD Station’s Radar GEO for agencies suggests running the analysis on the client’s domain. It also suggests bringing the result to the meeting. However, the page, from a vendor, doesn’t say how many prompts the analysis runs. So use this kind of check to open the conversation, and charge for the full diagnostic as a fixed-scope project.
What do GEO agencies include in the monthly scope?
While the diagnostic is a one-off project, the monthly scope repeats the measurement and turns the findings into actions. It has four workstreams: collection and reporting, content, technical maintenance and third-party sources. Each workstream needs a countable deliverable, such as revised pages, story pitches sent and published fixes, so the client can see the work done.
- Collection and reporting. Prompts frozen per quarter, run every month on the same engines.
- Content. Pages that answer the highest-value prompts, revised every quarter.
- Technical. Bots allowed, sitemap in Bing and logs checked every month.
- Third-party sources. Press, directories, reviews and communities that AI cites in the category.
The fourth workstream carries more weight than it seems. In fact, Muck Rack analyzed more than 25 million links cited by ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. The company sells a public relations platform with GEO monitoring. In the May 2026 report, about 84% of citations came from earned media. In Muck Rack’s count, that includes journalism, academic research, encyclopedias and social networks, as well as third-party content. For that reason, digital PR, reviews and third-party mentions belong in the scope alongside the client’s site.
A GEO service calls for four roles: technical SEO, content, public relations and data analysis. In a small agency, however, one person covers two of them. For SEO clients, GEO comes in as an add-on, because it uses the same foundation. For new clients, on the other hand, an agency can build a separate GEO package that starts with the diagnostic. Without these roles in-house, an agency can resell a partner’s work under its own brand through white label GEO.
How much should an agency charge for GEO?
We found no public survey on how much agencies charge for GEO in Brazil. In addition, the published ranges in reais come from those who sell the service and don’t disclose a sample. So the safe approach is to build the price from cost: team hours, tools per client, collection volume, outside expenses, taxes and margin.
| Cost line | How to estimate | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Collection | Prompts × runs × engines | 1,000 answers per client/month |
| Tools | Plan divided by the client base | From $17 to $498 per client/month |
| Hours | Pilot hours × hourly cost | Measure on the first client |
| Outside costs | Writing, PR and development | Vendor quote |
The volume comes from the minimum measurement protocol: 50 prompts, 5 runs and 4 engines per month. In our comparison of GEO tools, for example, one client on Profound’s agency plan costs $498 per month. That is, it’s $99 for the plan and $399 for the client workspace. Ahrefs’ Scale package, at $250 per month, includes 25,000 checks and covers collection for 15 clients, without Claude. Divided by 15, it comes to about $17 per client. However, the plans aren’t equivalent: Profound’s runs 100 prompts per day on three engines.
How do you close the pricing math?
For GEO agencies in Brazil, the tools charge in US dollars. So convert at the month’s exchange rate, add the taxes on purchases from abroad and build an exchange-rate adjustment into the proposal.
Hours are the most uncertain line, because there’s no reliable public benchmark. Therefore, log the hours for the first client by workstream and adjust the next proposal. Then add the share of management and sales overhead, taxes and the agency’s margin.
Finally, charge for the diagnostic separately, as a fixed-scope project. After all, it pays for building the prompt list and the baseline, which the monthly scope only repeats.
What can’t a GEO contract promise?
The contract can’t promise a citation, position or mention in any AI engine. The agency doesn’t control the answer, and the answer also changes with every run. So the contract guarantees deliverables: the diagnostic, revised pages, technical fixes, story pitches sent and a report with a fixed method.
The platforms say the same. OpenAI, for example, states that placement in ChatGPT search results isn’t guaranteed. Google has guidance on third-party SEO, AEO and GEO services and tools. In it, Google notes that “using a service or tool doesn’t guarantee ranking success.” It also says it doesn’t evaluate third-party services. On the buyer’s side, the guide on how to choose an SEO and GEO agency lists the promises that are red flags.
Variation in the answers also reinforces the rule. In a SparkToro study, the chance of ChatGPT repeating the same list of brands was below 1 in 100. SparkToro ran the study with Gumshoe.ai, a startup that sells AI tracking.
Include in the contract:
- Countable monthly deliverables, with a deadline for each.
- The list of prompts, engines, country and language, frozen per quarter.
- Metrics, margin of error and the diagnostic’s baseline.
- Client access and deadlines: robots.txt, CDN, Search Console, Bing and content approval.
- Delivery of the exported answers at the end of the contract.
How do you use the report at renewal?
At renewal, the report shows what changed since the baseline, with the same prompts, engines and competitors. At the same time, it separates what the agency delivered from what AI started to answer. Thus, variation within the margin of error shows up as stability, not as a gain for the quarter.
Blocks and metrics are in our template for an AI visibility report for the client. Under that article’s protocol, with 1,000 answers per month, only a change of more than 4 to 10 points counts as a real change. It also needs to repeat the following month.
Bring three things to the quarterly meeting: deliverables completed, rates with margin of error and next actions. Also include AI traffic from GA4 and Search Console impressions, but without adding these numbers to the presence rates. Finally, propose scope changes based on the data, such as new third-party sources to win or one more engine.
What we found when we analyzed 7 GEO pricing pages from agencies and consultants
We analyzed 7 Portuguese-language pages that answer how much GEO costs or how much to charge for it, found in searches on the topic. They come from 6 authors, and all of them belong to agencies or consultants that offer services on the page itself.
- Ranges in reais: 3 of 7 publish ranges from R$1,500 to R$40,000 per month, not counting ranges with no ceiling. All three are from agencies that sell GEO.
- Where the number comes from: none cites a survey with a declared sample. Two say only that they gathered prices published by agencies and vendors.
- Cost-based math: 2 of 7, by the same author, show the calculation by hours and tools in hypothetical examples.
- Guarantee: 3 of 7 clearly say that citations can’t be guaranteed. Another 3 only warn against promises of quick results.
- Dollars: 2 of 7 give prices in dollars, from authors who work outside Brazil.
Therefore, this guide doesn’t adopt these ranges as a price benchmark. Without a survey with a sample, cost-based math is the safest benchmark.
Frequently asked questions
About 1,000 answers per client per month. The math comes from the minimum measurement protocol, that is, 50 prompts, 5 runs and 4 engines. At this volume, only a change of more than 4 to 10 points counts as a real change. The guide on how to measure brand visibility in AI shows the details.
At the prices checked for this guide, the tool costs from about $17 to $498 per client per month. Ahrefs’ Scale package, divided across 15 clients, comes to about $17. At Profound, one client on the agency plan costs $498. However, the plans aren’t equivalent.
An agency should charge for a full GEO audit separately, as a fixed-scope project. That’s because it pays for building the prompt list and the baseline, which the monthly scope only repeats. Free checks, such as RD Station’s Radar GEO, are useful to open the conversation with the client.
A GEO service calls for four roles: technical SEO, content, public relations and data analysis. In a small agency, one person covers two of them. Log the hours for each workstream on the first client in order to adjust the next proposal.
Want to know how your brand shows up in AI answers today?
NotHuman is opening spots for agencies and brands to track how they appear in AI answers. Join the waitlist and we’ll let you know when a spot opens up for you.
Main sources
- Ahrefs, overlap between links cited by AI assistants and Google’s top 10 (2025).
- Mundo do Marketing, report in Portuguese on the ESPM study of 552 brands (2026).
- RD Station, Panorama de Marketing e Vendas, in Portuguese (2026).
- Muck Rack, What Is AI Reading? report, May edition (2026).
- Adweek, report on agencies building GEO products for clients, with the Havas example (2026).
- Google Search Central, guidance on third-party SEO tools and advice (2026).
- OpenAI, how ChatGPT web search works (2026).
