21 questions to ask a GEO agency before you sign
21 questions to ask a GEO agency before you sign
Before you sign with a GEO agency, ask 21 questions in four groups: how they work, how they measure, what you will receive, and what the contract says. GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO (answer engine optimization) are the work of getting your business described accurately and cited in AI answers from tools such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot. Nobody controls those answers, so the questions below test the things an agency does control: its method, its honesty about limits, its reporting and its terms.
Each question comes with what a strong answer and a weak answer sound like. Listen for specifics, for sources, and for a willingness to say "we don't know" where the AI companies have not published how something works.
The list works for any provider, including a freelancer or the SEO agency you already use. Ask for written answers, which can be compared across vendors and attached to a contract.
Key Takeaways
- Ask for a written baseline first: the exact prompts, the engines tested and the date, so later progress can be checked against something.
- Google's own hiring guidance tells buyers to check whether a provider's AEO or GEO advice is aligned with Google's official guidance on generative AI features.
- Free first-party reports have limits. Google Search Console's Generative AI performance report counts impressions, and GA4's AI Assistant channel excludes Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode.
- Paid mentions and paid list placements raise disclosure questions under the FTC's Endorsement Guides, so ask whether off-site work is earned or paid.
- The contract should name deliverables, reporting, ownership of the work and the accounts, and how you leave. It should not promise a ranking or a citation.
How to use this list
Use the questions in three passes:
- Before the first call. Send questions 1 to 11 by email. They cover method and measurement.
- With the proposal. Ask questions 12 to 16 about the specific scope you have been offered.
- Before you sign. Ask questions 17 to 21 with the draft agreement in front of you, and have your attorney read the final version.
If you are still choosing who to put on the shortlist, our earlier guide on how to choose an AI visibility company covers the general qualities to look for.
Method: questions 1 to 6
| # | Question | A strong answer sounds like | A weak answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | How will you establish where we stand today, before you change anything? | "We agree a list of customer questions with you, run them on named engines, save the answers with dates, and give you the file." | "Our proprietary scan gives you a score." No prompt list, no saved answers. |
| 2 | Which AI engines will you work on, and why those for our customers? | A short list tied to where your buyers are, with a reason for each and an admission of what is left out. | "All of them." No priorities and no reasoning. |
| 3 | Which parts of your plan are ordinary SEO, and which are specific to AI answers? | A candid split. Most technical and content work is shared. Prompt testing, entity consistency and AI reporting are the additions. | "GEO is a completely new discipline. SEO is dead." |
| 4 | Where does each recommendation come from? | Links to the platform's own documentation, and a plain "this part is not documented, so we test it" where that applies. | "We reverse-engineered the algorithm" or "we have inside knowledge." |
| 5 | What will you do away from our website, and is any of it paid? | Earned coverage, accurate business profiles and listings, expert contributions. Any paid placement is named and disclosed. | "We place you on our network of sites" with no list of sites and no word on payment. |
| 6 | What will you refuse to do? | A clear list: no fake or incentivized-sentiment reviews, no mass-produced pages for every query variation, no promised placements. | No limits, or "whatever it takes." |
On question 4: in its guide to optimizing for generative AI features, Google says that "many suggested "hacks" aren't effective or supported by how Google Search actually works," and that "No third-party tool has access to our internal ranking or AI systems." That statement covers Google Search only, but the test applies everywhere: a recommendation should trace to something the platform has said, or be labeled an experiment.
On question 5: the FTC's guidance on its Endorsement Guides says that a connection between an endorser and a marketer that a significant minority of consumers would not expect, and that would affect how they judge the endorsement, "should be disclosed clearly and conspicuously." Ask to see how paid mentions are labeled. This is general information, not legal advice.
Measurement: questions 7 to 11
| # | Question | A strong answer sounds like | A weak answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | What will you report, from which sources, and how often? | A named set of measures, the source of each, a fixed schedule, and a sample report you can read today. | "A monthly dashboard" with no sample and no sources. |
| 8 | Which numbers come from first-party reports, and which from a third-party tool? | Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and GA4 are listed separately from any paid tracking tool, with the tool named. | One blended "AI visibility score" with no explanation of how it is calculated. |
| 9 | What can each data source not tell us? | A specific list of gaps, such as the ones in the next paragraph. | "Our reporting covers everything." |
| 10 | How will you connect visibility to leads or sales? | Analytics conversions from AI referral visits, a "how did you hear about us" field on forms, and honesty that some influence will never show as a click. | Only mention counts, or only traffic, with no link to inquiries. |
| 11 | What result would tell you the plan is not working, and what would you change? | A named checkpoint, the measures reviewed at it, and the options if they have not moved. | "It just takes time." No checkpoint. |
For question 9, these are the limits as of October 2026:
- Google's Generative AI performance reports in Search Console show impressions, pages, countries, devices and dates for AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google lists no clicks or position metric for them.
- Bing Webmaster Tools has an AI Performance report, in public preview since February 2026, that counts citations across Microsoft Copilot, Bing's AI summaries and select partner integrations. Microsoft says the grounding query data "represents a sample of overall citation activity."
- Google Analytics 4 has an AI Assistant channel for visits from sources such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot. Google's definition says "It excludes Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode."
- None of these reports show the text of an answer or what was said about your brand. That takes prompt testing, by hand or with a paid tool.
Our guide to measuring GEO performance goes deeper.
Deliverables and team: questions 12 to 16
| # | Question | A strong answer sounds like | A weak answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | What exactly will we receive in the first three months? | A dated list: baseline, audit, prioritized fix list, named pages to be rewritten, first report. | "Ongoing optimization." Nothing you could tick off. |
| 13 | Who does the work? Are subcontractors or AI writing tools used, and who checks the output? | Named roles, open about any outsourcing and AI drafting, with a human reviewer responsible for accuracy. | "Our team handles it." No names, no answer on AI use. |
| 14 | Who makes the changes on our site: you, or our developer? | A clear split, with the hours or tickets each side needs to plan for. | A report of recommendations and silence on who implements them. |
| 15 | What do you need from us, and what access? | A list of logins with the minimum access level for each, the approvals needed, and time with your subject experts. | "Just give us admin access to everything." |
| 16 | Can we see a sample audit and report, and speak to a reference? | Yes, with client details removed where needed, and a reference in a similar kind of business. | Screenshots of a single AI answer presented as proof. |
On question 15, Google's guidance for an audit is to "only grant read access to Search Console (at this stage, don't grant them write access)."
On question 12, our guide to the first 90 days of a GEO engagement shows what a reasonable month-by-month plan looks like, and what a GEO audit includes lists what you should get back from the audit stage.
Contract and exit: questions 17 to 21
This section is not legal advice. Have your own attorney review any agreement before you sign it.
| # | Question | A strong answer sounds like | A weak answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | What is the term, does it renew automatically, and how do we cancel? | The term, the renewal rule and the notice needed are stated in one place and match the written agreement. | "Don't worry about that, nobody cancels." |
| 18 | How are fees structured? If the plan is hours-based, how are hours tracked and what happens to unused ones? | A fixed scope or a stated number of hours, a time log you can see, and a written rule for unused hours and extra work. | A monthly fee with no scope, no log and no change process. |
| 19 | Who owns the content, schema, prompt list and tracking data when we part ways? | You own what you paid for, the transfer point is written down, and the prompt list and history are exported to you. | The agency keeps the content or the data, or the point is not covered. |
| 20 | Who owns the accounts? | Analytics, Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and any tool subscriptions are in your name, with the agency added as a user. | Accounts are created under the agency's login. |
| 21 | What does the agreement say about results? | Commitments on work, deliverables and reporting, and a plain statement that rankings and AI citations are not guaranteed. | A guaranteed placement, or no commitments of any kind. |
On question 21: a promise of placement is a warning sign. So is a contract with no measurable commitments. Our guide to GEO guarantees and red flags explains what can and cannot honestly be promised.
What Google suggests you ask
Google publishes its own advice on hiring search help, and the page, last updated in June 2026, covers AEO and GEO services by name. Its "Do you need an SEO?" guidance suggests questions that overlap with this list, including:
- "What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?"
- "How can I expect to communicate with you? Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?"
The same page adds a check for this purchase: "If they have advice on optimizing for AI experiences (also known as "AEO" "GEO" services), is their advice aligned with Google Search's official guidance on optimizing for generative AI features?" Google's guidance speaks for Google Search. For ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Copilot, ask the agency to show you the equivalent page from each company.
What a good agency asks you
The questions should run both ways. Google's guidance says a provider "should ask questions about what makes your business unique, who your competitors are, how search results can help, and how your customers find you." For GEO, also expect to be asked what customers ask before they buy, which facts about the business are often wrong online, and how you record leads today.
Turning the answers into a decision
Put the written answers next to each other. Mark each one as specific, vague or missing. Where two vendors are close, use the measurement and exit answers as tiebreakers. They decide whether you can verify the work and leave cleanly.
If you are running a formal process, our GEO and AEO RFP template turns these questions into scope language, and the guide to comparing GEO proposals side by side has a scoring table for the responses.
Conclusion
You cannot test whether an agency will get you cited in an AI answer, because nobody can promise that. You can test whether it has a documented method, knows the limits of its data, and will put deliverables and ownership in writing. If you want to see how we answer these questions, start with a free GEO audit and put any question on this list to us. More guides are in our GEO and AEO Guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is the single most important question to ask a GEO agency?
Ask how they will record where you stand today. A dated baseline of real customer questions, run on named AI engines and saved with the answers, is what every later claim of progress has to be checked against.
Should a GEO agency guarantee results?
No. Google's own hiring guidance says "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google," and the same logic applies to AI answers, which the agency does not control. An agency can commit to specific work, deliverables, reporting and response times. Treat a promised citation or recommendation as a warning sign.
Can I use these questions with my current SEO agency?
Yes. The method and measurement questions are a fair test of whether an existing agency really covers GEO. Ask for a baseline, a sample AI visibility report and the first-party reports it already monitors for you.
Do I need a lawyer to review a GEO contract?
It is a sensible step. This article describes what to ask about and is not legal advice. Terms differ from one agreement to the next, and an attorney can tell you what a specific clause means for you.
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