Before hiring a generative engine optimization (GEO) agency, ask it to define the work, target queries and platforms, starting baseline, reporting method, approval rights, ownership terms, fees, and exit process in writing. Evaluate promised deliverables—not guaranteed appearances in AI answers: Google says eligibility for its generative search features does not guarantee that a page will be crawled, indexed, or shown.
What you are buying when you hire a GEO agency
GEO is a label for work intended to improve a business’s visibility in generative search experiences. The label does not describe a separate ranking system that an agency can control. Google Search Central says, “From Google Search’s perspective, optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO.” Google’s guidance describes its AI search features as relying on existing Search ranking and quality systems. A page must be indexed and eligible to appear with a Search snippet to be eligible for those features, but meeting requirements does not ensure crawling, indexing, or display. Google Search Central’s AI features guidance explains the limits.
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That makes a well-defined engagement more useful than an outcome guarantee. The agency can be accountable for agreed audits, changes, content, testing, and reporting; it cannot promise that a platform will cite, rank, or surface a particular business. Google also says third-party tools do not have access to its internal ranking or AI systems.
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Ask the agency to answer each question in plain language. The corresponding detail should appear in the scope or contract, not only in a sales presentation.
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| Area | Ask | Put in writing |
|---|---|---|
| Business scope | Which audience, products or services, locations, buyer questions, search experiences, and platforms are included? | Target query and platform list, exclusions, assumptions, and baseline date and method. |
| Technical work | What will be audited or changed on the site, and who approves production changes? | Audit and implementation tasks, dependencies, access required, approval steps, and evidence used to accept completed work. |
| Content work | What original expertise or evidence will each proposed page add for customers? Who provides and approves the facts? | Deliverables, responsible owners, review rounds, publication rights, and quality checks. |
| Measurement | What counts as a mention, citation, referral, or business outcome? How will observations be repeated? | Reporting cadence, queries, platforms, locations, dates, sampling method, data access, and limitations. |
| Ownership and control | Who owns accounts, analytics, content, research, and working files? Can the business export them? | Account access, intellectual-property terms, data handling, deliverable formats, handover, and exit assistance. |
| Commercial terms | What is included in the fee, and what triggers extra work or third-party charges? | Fees, payment milestones, taxes, change control, renewal, termination, and transition terms. |
| Risk and compliance | How will privacy, accessibility, factual review, and platform policies be handled for this business? | Responsibility allocation and a review process suited to the client’s context and applicable jurisdiction. |
These are evaluation prompts, not a universal contract or legal advice. The CanadaBuys scope of work for public websites illustrates how requirements such as search and AI-platform visibility, accessibility, content accuracy, and content-management autonomy can be stated explicitly. The legal effect of contract terms and applicable privacy obligations depend on the agreement and the business’s province or territory; have qualified counsel review material terms.
Test claims about tactics against platform guidance
For every recommendation, ask the agency to identify the customer need it serves, the documented platform requirement behind it, or the experiment it proposes to run. Do not accept a tactic merely because it is branded as “AI optimization.”
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- Foundations: Google emphasizes helpful, original content, technical clarity, crawlability, and eligibility for Search. Ask what specific problem the proposed work addresses.
- Not Google requirements: Google says special
llms.txtfiles, AI-specific “chunking,” rewriting pages solely for AI, and special schema markup are not required for visibility in its generative AI search features. An agency may propose an experiment, but it should label it as such rather than present it as a Google requirement. - Risky shortcuts: Google advises against seeking inauthentic mentions and warns that scaled, low-value pages can violate its spam policy. Ask how the agency will protect editorial quality and avoid mass-produced content that adds little value.
- Platform-specific evidence: These statements concern Google products. They do not automatically establish what other AI services require. For each additional platform in the contract, request the platform-specific documentation supporting the proposed tactic.
Google recommends measuring performance in its Search Console report for generative AI features. Its guidance also cautions that outside tools cannot see Google’s internal ranking or AI systems, so reports based on external observation should clearly distinguish observed results from platform-internal data. See Google’s AI optimization guide and its guidance on generative AI content.
Make visibility reporting repeatable
A screenshot of one answer is not a reliable baseline or a complete performance report. Before work starts, agree on how the agency will sample the queries and platforms in scope, how often it will repeat the checks, and what the report will and will not establish.
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- Record the query wording, platform, location, date, and sampling method for each observation.
- Define “mention,” “citation,” and “referral” so the business and agency count them consistently.
- Separate platform observations from business outcomes, such as site visits or leads, and state the data source for each.
- Specify who can access the underlying analytics and research, how results will be delivered, and what limitations apply.
- Use the agreed baseline and repeatable method to discuss changes; do not treat a short-lived appearance as proof of a guaranteed or durable ranking gain.
Check whether the business is ready before paying for a GEO layer
The Canadian Marketing Association’s 2025 AI playbook frames GEO as building on SEO fundamentals. Its readiness checks are practical filters for a proposal: do core pages answer customer problems, can the business verify its expertise through credentials or other trust signals, and is the site technically discoverable? The playbook also describes conversational answers, specific factual content, and visibility testing as additional considerations. Read the CMA AI Playbook.
If a proposal jumps straight to AI-specific tactics without explaining how it will address weak core content, unsubstantiated expertise, or technical discoverability, ask the agency to prioritize the foundational gaps or explain why they are outside scope. A Canadian public procurement for the Old Port of Montréal and Montréal Science Centre websites similarly makes visibility across conventional search engines and AI platforms, accessibility, and content-management autonomy explicit requirements; it is an example of scope-setting, not a mandatory template for private businesses. See the CanadaBuys scope.
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Interpret GEO prices and performance claims cautiously
A Surrey, British Columbia agency’s 2026 article describes Canadian-market ranges of CA$10,000–CA$25,000 for a one-off GEO sprint, CA$5,000–CA$15,000 per month for an ongoing retainer, and CA$15,000–CA$44,000 per month for enterprise GEO plus content. These are figures published by that service provider, not independently verified Canadian market averages. They are not a substitute for comparing proposals with the same scope, deliverables, reporting, and contract terms. The vendor also publishes suggested citation-rate targets; those are its own proposed outcomes, not independently established probabilities or evidence of what a typical client will achieve. See the vendor’s 2026 pricing article.
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Decide whether the proposal is signable
Compare agencies on the evidence behind their recommendations, the specificity of their deliverables, the transparency and repeatability of reporting, and the control the business retains over its site, content, accounts, and data. Before signing, make sure the written agreement resolves scope, approvals, ownership, fees, change requests, renewal, termination, and handover. Treat any promise of guaranteed AI-answer inclusion or ranking as a warning sign, and have jurisdiction-specific legal terms reviewed by qualified counsel.
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