Every SEO agency rebranded as an AEO agency between 2024 and 2026. Most of them still do classic SEO and call it AEO. A small number actually understand the discipline. This guide is the vetting framework we use ourselves when evaluating partners — and it works whether you're hiring us or someone else.
What real AEO work looks like
A real AEO engagement includes: an entity audit of your brand and founders, a buyer-intent prompt panel of 30–100 queries you want to own, weekly tracking of AI citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews, structured content rewrites for extraction, and full JSON-LD schema deployment.
Red flags
Pitching 'AEO' as a paid add-on to a standard SEO retainer with no methodology change. No prompt panel. No citation tracking dashboard. No examples of schema they shipped. Promising 'AI rankings' (there's no such thing — there are citations).
- No prompt panel.
- No citation tracking.
- No schema deliverables.
- Talking about 'AI rankings' instead of citations.
- Same team, same tools, new branding.
The questions to ask
What's the prompt panel you'll track for me, and how often? What tool or process do you use to measure AI citations? Show me a before/after for a client where you moved AI share-of-voice. What schema types do you deploy by default? Who owns the schema, content, and tracking when our engagement ends?
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between SEO and AEO?
SEO targets ranked links; AEO targets generated answers. See our AEO vs SEO post for the full breakdown.
How long until I see AEO results?
Citation lift in Perplexity in 2–6 weeks; Google AI Overviews in 6–12 weeks; ChatGPT in 4–12 weeks depending on your starting authority.
Can I do AEO in-house?
Yes if you have a content writer who understands schema and you're willing to set up tracking. Otherwise a specialist is faster.