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    GEO Strategy

    How to Evaluate a GEO Agency: 10 Questions to Ask

    Yuval Halevi · January 2026 · 7 min read

    GEO is new. There aren't decades of case studies. No industry certifications. No established benchmarks. Every agency with an SEO background is suddenly a "GEO expert."

    From my experience on both sides of this table, the difference between agencies that deliver and agencies that don't comes down to how they think. Do they understand what LLMs actually want? Can they execute the technical foundations? Do they have the authority-building capabilities that make optimization actually work?

    Here are the 10 questions that separate real practitioners from repackaged SEO shops.

    TL;DR

    • •GEO without strong SEO foundations is a house built on sand
    • •Technical implementation (schema, structured data) is non-negotiable
    • •Authority building (PR, coverage) matters more than optimization tactics
    • •Watch for agencies that can't work with your developers and designers
    • •How they think matters more than case studies in this emerging space

    The 10 Questions

    1
    "What's your SEO background, and how does GEO build on it?"

    GEO doesn't replace SEO. It extends it. An agency without deep SEO expertise is trying to build a second floor without a foundation. The same signals that make content rank on Google—authority, relevance, technical excellence—are what AI models use to decide what to cite.

    ✓ Good Answer
    "We've done SEO for 8+ years. GEO adds entity optimization, AI-extractable content structures, and multi-platform monitoring. But 70% of what makes GEO work is still traditional SEO done well."
    ✗ Red Flag
    "GEO is completely different from SEO. We've developed proprietary AI optimization techniques that go beyond traditional search."
    2
    "How do you handle schema markup and structured data?"

    This is the question that exposes pretenders. Schema and structured data are how you tell AI systems what your content means. If an agency can't speak fluently about Organization schema, FAQ schema, HowTo markup, and entity relationships, they're not doing real GEO work.

    ✓ Good Answer
    "We audit existing schema, identify gaps, and implement using JSON-LD. We work with your dev team to deploy properly and validate with Google's testing tools. Different page types need different schema strategies."
    ✗ Red Flag
    "We focus on content optimization. Schema is more of a technical SEO thing—we'd need to bring in someone else for that."
    3
    "Can you work directly with our developers and designers?"

    GEO requires implementation. Schema needs to be deployed. Site architecture needs to change. Content structures need design support. An agency that only delivers strategy documents and "recommendations" will leave you with a PDF and no results.

    ✓ Good Answer
    "Yes. We create implementation specs, review PRs, and join standups when needed. We've worked in Jira, Linear, GitHub. We can speak developer language and designer language."
    ✗ Red Flag
    "We provide detailed documentation. Implementation is up to your team. We can do a training session if that helps."
    4
    "What's your approach to building authority, not just optimizing content?"

    Here's what most GEO agencies miss: AI models cite sources they trust. You can optimize content structure perfectly, but if AI doesn't recognize your brand as authoritative, you won't get cited. Authority comes from PR, industry coverage, expert mentions, and consistent presence across trusted sources.

    ✓ Good Answer
    "Authority building is 40% of our work. We do PR outreach, podcast placements, industry publication features, expert quote sourcing. The content optimization only works once AI trusts you."
    ✗ Red Flag
    "We focus on content optimization and technical implementation. PR is usually handled by a separate agency or your internal team."
    5
    "How did you adapt when ChatGPT last changed its retrieval logic?"

    AI platforms change constantly. If an agency can't tell you specifically what changed and how they responded, they're not actually monitoring and adapting. This question tests whether they're practitioners or just reading the same blog posts you are.

    ✓ Good Answer
    "In [specific month], ChatGPT started weighting [specific signal] differently. We saw it across 12 clients within a week. We adjusted by [specific tactic]. Here's what the data looked like before and after."
    ✗ Red Flag
    "We stay up to date on all the latest changes. AI is evolving quickly and we're constantly learning and adapting our strategies."
    6
    "Which AI platforms do you optimize for, and how do they differ?"

    ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot all work differently. Perplexity searches in real-time. ChatGPT uses periodic training. Gemini powers Google's AI Overviews. An agency should know these differences and have platform-specific strategies.

    ✓ Good Answer
    "Perplexity is real-time, so strong SEO translates directly. ChatGPT requires entity building over time. Gemini needs traditional SERP optimization plus structured data. We track all of them and prioritize based on where your buyers actually are."
    ✗ Red Flag
    "We primarily focus on ChatGPT since that's where most users are. The principles are similar across platforms."
    7
    "What do you believe LLMs actually 'want' from content?"

    This tests their mental model. Do they understand how LLMs process and evaluate content? The right answer involves entities, relationships, trust signals, and extractable structures. The wrong answer sounds like SEO keyword optimization with AI buzzwords.

    ✓ Good Answer
    "LLMs want to confidently answer questions. That means clear entity definition, consistent information across sources, content structured for extraction, and trust signals that reduce hallucination risk. They're not matching keywords—they're building a knowledge graph."
    ✗ Red Flag
    "LLMs look for comprehensive, high-quality content that answers user questions thoroughly. It's similar to what Google wants, just optimized for conversational queries."
    8
    "How do you measure GEO success?"

    Traditional SEO metrics (rankings, traffic) don't fully capture GEO performance. You need citation tracking, brand mention monitoring across AI platforms, and query coverage analysis. An agency should have tools and processes for this.

    ✓ Good Answer
    "We track citation rate across platforms, monitor brand mentions in AI responses, analyze query coverage in your category, and measure referral traffic from AI sources. We'll show you dashboards monthly with trends over time."
    ✗ Red Flag
    "We track organic traffic, keyword rankings, and engagement metrics. AI visibility is harder to measure directly, but you'll see it in overall growth."
    9
    "What content formats get cited most by AI, and why?"

    Real practitioners have tested this. They know that data tables work differently than paragraphs. That FAQ structures get extracted more reliably. That certain content patterns consistently outperform others for AI citation.

    ✓ Good Answer
    "From our testing: data tables with clear headers, FAQ sections with concise answers, numbered lists under specific character counts, and definition patterns. Different platforms have preferences. Copilot loves tables. ChatGPT extracts FAQs well."
    ✗ Red Flag
    "Comprehensive, well-structured content with clear headers and good formatting. Quality content performs well across all channels."
    10
    "What would you do in the first 30 days?"

    This reveals their process. A real GEO agency has a systematic approach: audit, baseline measurement, quick wins, foundation building. Vague answers about "strategy development" and "stakeholder alignment" mean they're making it up as they go.

    ✓ Good Answer
    "Week 1: Full AI visibility audit across all platforms. Week 2: Technical audit, schema gaps, site architecture review. Week 3: Competitive citation analysis. Week 4: Prioritized roadmap with quick wins identified. You'll have baseline data and a clear plan by day 30."
    ✗ Red Flag
    "We'd start with discovery calls to understand your business, align on goals, and develop a customized strategy based on your unique needs."
    🚩 Immediate Disqualifiers
    • "We don't handle technical implementation" - GEO without technical execution is just strategy documents
    • "Schema is someone else's job" - Structured data is core to how AI understands content
    • "We focus only on content optimization" - Without authority building, optimization doesn't matter
    • Can't name specific AI platform differences - They're guessing, not testing
    • No measurement tools for AI citation tracking - They can't prove results
    • "GEO is completely different from SEO" - They don't understand the foundation
    The Bottom Line

    In an emerging space, how they think matters more than case studies. Any agency can show you a traffic graph and claim GEO credit. The questions above test whether they actually understand the mechanics.

    The four capabilities you need: Strong SEO foundation, technical implementation (especially schema), authority building (PR and coverage), and cross-platform expertise. If any of these are missing or outsourced, keep looking.

    Trust your gut on the technical questions. If they fumble on schema, can't explain LLM retrieval logic, or treat implementation as "your team's problem," they're not ready to deliver real GEO results.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Yuval Halevi

    Yuval Halevi

    Helping SaaS companies and developer tools get cited in AI answers since before it was called "GEO." 10+ years in B2B SEO, 50+ cybersecurity and SaaS tools clients.