Direct answer
Choose the provider who can do the missing work
Start with SEO-capable support when evidence points to a crawl, indexing, site structure, local visibility, content or organic conversion problem. Check the relevant queries and demand first: a page that does not rank for an unrelated search has not necessarily failed.
Consider AI visibility expertise when relevant buyer questions repeatedly produce missing or incorrect information about your business. Ask whether the work involves source research, factual corrections, content changes or measurement. An SEO agency may already provide it; an AI consultant may also have strong technical SEO skills. One capable provider can cover both.
Google says its generative AI features build on Search systems. Start with SEO and AI visibility services if you need implementation. See the dental visibility example for a related problem, or read how we work.
Choose by condition
Match the provider to a verified problem
| Observed condition | Best first choice | Evidence to request |
|---|---|---|
| Important pages have a confirmed indexing, relevant-query or inquiry problem. | SEO agency or SEO-capable team. | Search Console, crawl evidence, page/query data, conversion path, and a prioritized work plan. |
| Local visibility is weak in Search and Maps. | Local SEO first. | Business Profile accuracy, location rules, reviews, local pages, links, and ownership. |
| Relevant buyer questions repeatedly show competitors or incorrect information about your business. | AI visibility specialist or an SEO team with proven AI-retrieval work. | Prompt set, test conditions, named competitors, cited domains, cited URLs, factual errors, and change hypotheses. |
| Both channels matter and each team has a separate job. | Both, with one shared measurement plan. | Scope boundary, decision owner, handoff, shared content rules, and one outcome report. |
| The pitch promises placement or sells special markup before showing a problem. | Neither yet. | A baseline and diagnosis before a long contract. |
Scope test
Make the vendors name the work
The labels GEO, AEO, LLMO, AI SEO, and traditional SEO do not tell you who owns the result. The contract should.
SEO scope
Search eligibility and demand
Crawl and indexing, site architecture, internal links, pages for real demand, local visibility, technical controls, authority, Search Console performance, and organic conversions.
AI-specific scope
Retrieval and recommendation evidence
Commercial prompt taxonomy, repeated answer tests, competitor recommendation frequency, cited source analysis, wrong facts, source gaps, and first-party AI performance reports where available.
Shared scope
Content, reputation, and outside proof
Useful pages, factual consistency, product or service evidence, expert mentions, digital PR, comparisons, reviews, communities, and structured business data may affect both channels.
Owner scope
Customer truth and business outcomes
The business must define a qualified lead, accepted opportunity, sale, or other outcome. A vendor cannot prove commercial value with a visibility score alone.
Procurement worksheet
Eight fields every proposal should answer
Compare an SEO audit with a monthly retainer when proposals cover different periods or split advice from implementation. The cost worksheet helps you compare the same work.
- Observed problem: what is failing now, on which pages, queries, prompts, places, and platforms?
- Baseline: what first-party or repeatable measurements exist before work begins?
- Work: what exact assets, pages, profiles, sources, or systems will change?
- Owner: who approves, implements, measures, and keeps each asset?
- Acceptance: what receipt proves the deliverable exists and works?
- Outcome: how will discovery connect to qualified demand, customers, or revenue?
- Limit: what remains outside the vendor's control and cannot be promised?
- Exit: what access, files, data, and documentation return to the business?
Do not pay twice for the same page. If the SEO agency and AI consultant both propose “authoritative service content,” require a single owner and a non-duplicated scope.
Worked example · Fictional business
Two providers, one content owner
This example shows how to divide work without buying the same page twice. It is not a client case study or a claim that these changes produced more citations.
- Observed problem
- A fictional B2B service firm receives relevant organic inquiries, but repeated buyer questions describe a service it no longer offers.
- Baseline
- Save the exact prompts, products, dates, region and cited sources. Record the relevant search and inquiry baseline separately. The cause of the wrong answers is not yet established.
- Work
- The specialist maps cited sources and conflicting facts. The existing agency updates the named service page and an owned profile after the business verifies the facts. Request corrections from independent sources where appropriate; their decisions remain outside the contract.
- Owner
- One business approver confirms the current offer. The agency owns publishing. The specialist owns the observation log. Only one provider writes the shared page.
- Acceptance
- The agreed page and profile accurately describe the current service, render correctly and link to a working inquiry form. The research log includes reproducible observations. An AI citation is not an acceptance requirement.
- Outcome
- Review comparable prompts and platform reports at agreed checkpoints, alongside qualified inquiries. Record unchanged or worse results as well as improvements; do not attribute changes solely to the edits.
- Limit
- Neither provider promises a correction in every assistant, a recommendation, rankings or sales. No need to buy a second team if the existing provider can perform the whole scope.
- Exit
- Deliver the agreed source log, change record, report exports and relevant account access. Confirm file rights and third-party licenses in the agreement.
Compare providers using the same eight questions
Put both proposals in one sheet. Record the answer, evidence, owner and open questions for each field. Mark missing evidence as unknown; a confident sales answer is not a completed deliverable.
Download the blank worksheet · CSVNo email required. Opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers. Keep private reports in your own workspace.
Measurement
Use platform evidence before a private score
Google Search
Use index coverage, page/query performance and Search Console’s generative AI impression reports. Google says AI impressions are included in overall performance; do not add the two totals together. Keep dates, country and device consistent.
Bing and Copilot
Bing’s AI Performance report shows citations and cited pages across supported experiences. A citation count does not establish placement, visits or leads, and grounding queries are a sample.
ChatGPT and Perplexity
For ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok or another assistant, keep a separate record of the product, model or mode when shown, exact prompt, date, region, search setting, cited URLs and answer. Repeat the same relevant questions. A Bing report does not establish visibility in every assistant; a screenshot does not establish a trend.
Business results
Record referral visits and accepted inquiries separately from citations or mentions. Branded search and direct visits can provide context, but they do not prove AI caused a sale. Agree an outcome definition and keep known attribution gaps visible.
Common questions
Answers without a sales pitch
Is GEO completely separate from SEO?
No. Google says its generative AI features use Search systems and normal SEO remains foundational. AI visibility can add a distinct cross-platform source and recommendation layer, but much of the work overlaps.
When should I hire both?
Hire both only when each provider owns a different measured scope and the handoff is clear. One may own technical and organic search while the other owns cross-platform prompt, citation, and source analysis.
Can either vendor promise placement or AI citations?
No credible vendor can control all ranking or source-selection systems. Ask for a baseline, work receipts, and a measurement plan instead of a placement guarantee.
What should the business keep?
Keep business-controlled administrator access to your domain, website and measurement accounts. Agree which commissioned files, research and reporting exports you receive. Check licenses and the contract for agency tools, third-party assets and source files; payment alone does not establish every transfer right.
Sources and method
Platform guidance and additional research
Platform guidance below was checked October 17, 2026. The worksheet and fictional example are Stan Consulting educational material. Research articles are additional reading, not platform rules or a formula for placement.
- Google Search Central: AI optimization guide: Google’s current position on SEO and generative AI features.
- Google Search Central: Do you need an SEO?: Vendor selection, guarantees, and services an SEO may provide.
- Google Search Central: SEO Starter Guide: The ordinary Search foundation.
- Google Search Central: Helpful, reliable content: Original value, authorship, expertise, and people-first content.
- OpenAI Help: Searching the web with ChatGPT: Search, query rewriting, and location context.
- OpenAI: crawler documentation: OAI-SearchBot for search and GPTBot for training have separate controls.
- Bing: AI Performance in Webmaster Tools: AI citation reporting and its limits.
- Google: Generative AI performance reports: First-party reporting for Google AI search activity.
- Additional research: the following studies are not platform documentation.
- Princeton: Generative Engine Optimization research: Experimental evidence and domain-dependent results.
- Ahrefs: AI Overview citation overlap study: Large independent dataset; directional, not a platform formula.
Get the search and AI visibility work scoped
Share your website, the buyers you want to reach and any search reports or prompts that concern you. Stan Consulting can plan and implement website, content and SEO improvements, with a defined scope, price and review point.
For delivery planning, use our SEO audit and retainer cost comparison and content update checklist.