How much does AI SEO cost?
There’s no fixed price, because it depends on how big your gap is. The cost of AI SEO comes down to how much work it takes to close that gap. These are the things that decide it.
How many AI platforms you want to show up on
Each AI platform picks its sources in its own way. Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode lean on pages that rank in Google, while ChatGPT runs its own searches and leans on brands it already knows. Showing up on Google’s AI and ChatGPT takes more work than showing up on Google’s AI alone.
How many buyer questions you need to win
Buyers ask AI different questions when they research, compare and choose. A local shop might need to win a short list of questions, while a software brand with many features might need a long list. Each extra question adds more pages to check and more pages to get your brand onto.
How far ahead your competitors are
If AI already names your competitors for most of your buyers’ questions, you have more ground to make up. If AI names no brand yet, or names brands that few trusted sites talk about, you can move faster. We check who AI names today before we plan any work.
How many other websites need to mention you
AI trusts what other websites say about you, often more than what your own site says. If review sites, “best of” lists and trusted industry pages already mention you, there is less to do. If they don’t, getting your brand onto those pages is most of the work.
Your free AI visibility audit shows which of these apply to you.
How to choose an AI SEO agency
Choose an AI SEO agency that checks whether AI actually recommends you, has a separate plan for Google’s AI and ChatGPT, and works on the other websites AI trusts, not just your own site. Use the checks below to compare agencies side by side.
What to look for
| Sign of a good agency | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| They measure recommendations, not just traffic | When ChatGPT named brands it already knew, 85% of those mentions had no link to the brand’s own site. Traffic reports miss most of that. |
| They plan for each platform | Google’s AI and ChatGPT shared only 3.33% of the pages they linked to in our study. |
| They work on other websites | 80.69% of the links next to brand mentions in Google’s AI Overviews went to other websites, not the brand’s own site. |
| They track answers over time | When we asked Google the same questions three times, the brands named overlapped only 60.06% on average. |
| They show you the gap first | You should see the questions, pages and competitors that matter before any work starts. |
Red flags
- A promise that AI will recommend you, or a promise of the top spot. No one controls AI answers.
- One trick sold as the whole plan, like a special file, a pack of guest posts or a pile of near-copy pages. In our study, only 2% of the websites Google’s AI Overviews linked to were in a catalog of sites that sell guest posts.
- Reports that show rankings and traffic but never what AI actually says.
- Proof based on a single AI answer or a single screenshot.
- Vague answers about which websites they will get you onto.
Questions to ask
- Which buyer questions will you track, and on which AI platforms?
- How do you tell a mention from a recommendation?
- Which websites do Google’s AI and ChatGPT trust in my market today?
- What will you change on my site, and what will you change on other websites?
- How will I see what AI says about us between reports?
A good agency answers all five in plain words, with examples from your own market.
AI SEO consultant or AI SEO agency: which do you need?
An AI SEO consultant gives you advice and a plan, and your own team does the work. An AI SEO agency does the work for you: it finds the pages AI trusts, gets your brand onto them, and tracks the answers. Pick a consultant if your team has time to write, reach out to other websites and check AI answers often. Pick an agency if it doesn’t, or if you need to win on Google’s AI and ChatGPT at the same time. We’re a done-for-you agency, so we handle all of it, from the first check to the tracking. Either way, start with a free AI visibility audit so you know how big the gap is.
