--- title: "SEO and AI Search Providers Ranked by What They Ship, Not What They Report" description: "A biased, output-first ranking of Google and AI search providers by pages, fixes, citations, price and contract terms—with a pick for small firms." url: "https://groas.com/post/seo-and-ai-search-agencies-ranked-by-what-they-ship-each" image: "https://pub-87da24ecbbfc4c3bad6875f3aa013712.r2.dev/generated-images/59f61332-e9a5-4017-8651-9134e3dbf358.png" published: "2026-11-02T05:35:59.123Z" modified: "2026-11-02T05:35:59.173Z" --- November 2, 2026 · 11 min read # SEO and AI Search Providers Ranked by What They Ship, Not What They Report [Alexander PerelmanHead Of Product @ groas](https://groas.com/author/alexander-perelman)[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-433793253/) ![An empty paper shopping bag with an endless till receipt of tiny charts spilling out, suggesting you paid for reports but received no actual work.](https://pub-87da24ecbbfc4c3bad6875f3aa013712.r2.dev/generated-images/59f61332-e9a5-4017-8651-9134e3dbf358.png) In this article 1. [How I ranked them, and where my pick loses](#how-i-ranked-them-and-where-my-pick-loses) 2. [1. Flat-fee managed SEO and AI search: groas for a small firm](#1-flat-fee-managed-seo-and-ai-search-groas-for-a-small-firm) 3. [2. Enterprise growth agencies: Directive when you need a full pod](#2-enterprise-growth-agencies-directive-when-you-need-a-full-pod) 4. [3. Traditional SEO agencies: strong Google work, thin AI add-ons](#3-traditional-seo-agencies-strong-google-work-thin-ai-add-ons) 5. [4. AEO and GEO boutiques: specialists for an existing base](#4-aeo-and-geo-boutiques-specialists-for-an-existing-base) 6. [5. AI visibility trackers: useful monitors, not hired makers](#5-ai-visibility-trackers-useful-monitors-not-hired-makers) 7. [6. Freelancers: good judgment, finite capacity](#6-freelancers-good-judgment-finite-capacity) 8. [The shortlist: price, term and what actually ships](#the-shortlist-price-term-and-what-actually-ships) 9. [Five sales-call questions that expose a reporting-only offer](#five-sales-call-questions-that-expose-a-reporting-only-offer) If you run a small business or professional services firm, my pick for Google and AI search is the flat-fee managed model where groas sits: **$1,499 a month for SEO & AI Search, with new pages and technical fixes every day**. I write for groas, so you know my bias before you read the ranking. I also spent nine years managing Google Ads accounts, and I would rather count work shipped than admire another dashboard. That is the test here. For each option, I looked at pages published, fixes deployed and third-party citations earned; then I checked the price floor, contract terms and whether reporting reaches enquiries rather than stopping at rankings or AI mention scores. Most offers labelled _AEO_ make the measuring sound like the making. They are not the same job. ## How I ranked them, and where my pick loses I used to tell clients that reporting was the work. I was wrong. **Reporting is the receipt.** The work is a page published, code fixed, a listing corrected or a third-party mention earned. A prompt-visibility chart can tell you where to start. It cannot do any of those things for you. I rank the options below for an owner or partner who wants Google and AI search covered by one provider and cares what gets done each month. This is not a claim that every provider publishes a comparable monthly output count; several do not. Nor is groas the right hire for every budget. If you need a large team coordinating paid, organic, creative and CRO, an enterprise agency offers capacity a $1,499 service cannot. For a smaller firm buying search execution, I put shipped work per dollar first. ## 1. Flat-fee managed SEO and AI search: groas for a small firm This is the model I wish had existed when I was negative-keyword mining at 1am for a home services client on a $3,000 retainer. [groas lists SEO & AI Search at $1,499 a month](https://groas.com/pricing), month to month, with no setup fee and a seven-day money-back guarantee. Its stated scope covers Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and more. It lists new pages and technical fixes every day, authority work on sites the engines trust, and a dedicated account manager who owns the result. It says service goes live within 24 hours of the onboarding call. **What it does better is pair daily execution with a flat price.** For a firm with 20 to 200 service pages, another useful page or deployed fix matters more than a quarterly content pillar presented beautifully. One provider also has a clearer line of responsibility when a page needs work for both Google and AI answers. What rules it out? If legal must approve every comma or 14 stakeholders need a say in every change, daily shipping may be a poor fit. If you need a large pod to run paid, SEO, CRO and creative together, look at the next option. But if your budget is under $3,000 a month and you want one provider responsible for Google and AI search, **start here**. ## 2. Enterprise growth agencies: Directive when you need a full pod Directive is the serious enterprise pick for a B2B team with a larger budget and a pipeline target to defend. A listed [startup package begins at $6,500 a month without an annual commitment](https://beomniscient.com/blog/b2b-content-marketing-agency/). One comparison places its GEO work at custom pricing typically around $7,500 to $15,000-plus a month; third-party guides put broader programs at $10,000 to $49,000. Its model brings paid, SEO, CRO and RevOps together under pipeline accountability, backed by $2.2 million a year in R\&D. The cited results include 70% organic growth and 200% more demos for AxisCare, plus $2.87 million in non-branded revenue in one B2B SaaS engagement. **What it does better is resourcing.** A full pod can coordinate creative, conversion work and search in a way a $1,499 flat fee cannot staff. That is a reason to buy Directive if those functions need to move together, not a reason for a two-partner consultancy to pay for capacity it will never use. The rule-out is the price of that breadth. The listed entry package alone costs more than four months of groas SEO & AI Search. If you spend over $25,000 a month on pipeline and need paid and organic governed together, shortlist Directive. If the immediate need is pages and fixes, **do not buy a full pod just to get them**. ## 3. Traditional SEO agencies: strong Google work, thin AI add-ons A traditional SEO shop may keep its existing retainer and add AI Overviews or ChatGPT visibility as a line item: schema tweaks, an FAQ block, a mention-tracker login. The underlying Google work can be good. The question is whether the AI-search fee buys anything beyond a new report. An [affordable-SEO pricing guide](https://www.seo.com/blog/affordable-seo-services/) puts entry services around $1,000 to $2,000 a month and lists floors including SEOTuners at $1,000 to $1,500, Boostability from $500 and WebFX from $3,000. Add-ons can accumulate: consulting from $100 an hour, audits from $650, content from $50 a page and local work from $500 a location. At the higher end, a [2026 agency comparison](https://automatelab.tech/blog/al-products-2/best-aeo-geo-agencies-2026/) lists First Page Sage at $8,000 to $20,000 a month with a six- to twelve-month minimum, Siege Media from $8,000 a month on twelve-month terms and Omniscient Digital around $10,000 a month. **What these agencies do better is established Google SEO work:** technical audits, link building and long-form content. What rules out a particular offer is an AI-search scope that stops at monitoring. Citations need pages worth citing, consistent information about the business and third-party mentions. A chart of where you were not mentioned is only a diagnosis. Low retainers make the distinction especially important. An [Ahrefs survey of 439 providers cited in this pricing discussion](https://www.egochi.com/blog/seo-pricing/) puts the average agency retainer at $3,209 a month; the same discussion illustrates how little time a $500 retainer buys at a $99 agency hourly rate. **Ask how many pages the agency published and fixes it deployed for you last month.** If the answer is a report, you bought a report. ## 4. AEO and GEO boutiques: specialists for an existing base A specialist boutique can go deeper on one problem. One [published AEO/GEO offer starts at $5,500 a month after an AI visibility audit](https://claritydigital.agency/services/earned-media/aeo-geo) and covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and AI Overviews. Its scope includes a visibility audit, content and entity strategy, FAQ, HowTo and Organization schema, authority building, and citation monitoring. It describes [90 days as a typical window for first measurable citation gains](https://claritydigital.agency/services/earned-media/aeo-geo). Three months at the listed starting price is $16,500, before any separate audit charge. **What a boutique does better is focused diagnosis and specialist execution.** If you already have useful pages and Google visibility but your business is missing from relevant AI answers, work on entity definitions, extractable comparison pages and accurate schema has a clear job to do. The rule-out for a small firm building from zero is cost and scope. An audit, a handful of pages and monitoring will not fill a large gap in basic service coverage on their own. Boutique pitches often cite the [Princeton and Georgia Tech GEO study’s claim of up to a 40% visibility lift](https://claritydigital.agency/services/earned-media/aeo-geo) alongside [Pew’s finding of an 8% click rate on searches with an AI summary, versus 15% without](https://claritydigital.agency/services/earned-media/aeo-geo). Those figures explain interest in the category; they do not tell you how many pages your retainer buys. **Hire a boutique to solve a defined citation problem, not to avoid building your base.** ## 5. AI visibility trackers: useful monitors, not hired makers Strip away the service language and these products measure visibility. Published pricing lists [Otterly.AI Lite at $29 a month for 15 prompts and Standard at $189](https://ecommercefastlane.com/ai-visibility-tools-for-ecommerce/). The same comparison lists [Peec AI Starter at $95 for 50 prompts across three engines, Pro at $245 for 150 prompts and Advanced at $495 for 350](https://ecommercefastlane.com/ai-visibility-tools-for-ecommerce/), with extra engines priced separately. It puts [Profound Starter at $99 a month for ChatGPT only and multi-engine work from $399](https://ecommercefastlane.com/ai-visibility-tools-for-ecommerce/); [enterprise deployments run $2,000 to $5,000 a month](https://ecommercefastlane.com/ai-visibility-tools-for-ecommerce/). **What a tracker does better is show the gap.** It can tell you which prompts you lose and which competitor appears instead. That is useful triage, especially when you need to decide what page or entity problem to investigate first. What rules it out as your Google-plus-AI-search hire is simple: nobody publishes the missing page, fixes the schema or earns the third-party mention just because you bought the tracker. For the longer argument, read [my open letter to the business owner paying for an AI visibility report](https://groas.com/post/an-open-letter-to-the-business-owner-who). Buy monitoring when you have a plan to act on it. **Do not mistake the prompt count for a work count.** ## 6. Freelancers: good judgment, finite capacity A good freelancer can give you senior hands on the account and direct access without an account-manager relay. I started there myself, and I still recommend freelancers for a defined job: fix tracking, rebuild service pages or clean up listings. When the scope is specific, one experienced person can get straight to it. **What a freelancer does better is judgment per dollar in a short burst.** What rules one person out as an always-on Google and AI search provider is capacity. Publishing, chasing citations, fixing code and reporting across Google and several AI engines all compete for the same hours. Holidays, a full calendar and scope creep do not disappear because the freelancer is good. Hire a freelancer for a 30-day fix. Do not assume one person can be your publishing engine month after month. ## The shortlist: price, term and what actually ships | Option | Listed price floor | Term or timing | Work to expect | Fit for a small firm | | ------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | | Flat-fee managed: groas | $1,499/month | Month to month; live within 24 hours of onboarding call | Pages and technical fixes daily | My pick for one-provider execution | | Enterprise: Directive and peers | $6,500/month starter | Starter has no annual commitment; broader terms vary | A pod across paid, SEO, CRO and more | More capacity than most small firms need | | Traditional SEO with an AI line item | Around $1,000–$2,000/month for entry SEO | Varies; some high-end examples require 6–12 months | SEO work; check whether AI work goes beyond reporting | Stronger fit when Google SEO is the main job | | AEO/GEO boutique | $5,500/month after audit in the example above | Typical 90-day window to first citation gains | Audit, entity and schema work, authority work, monitoring | Better for a defined AI-citation gap | | Visibility tracker | $29/month in the examples above | Subscription terms vary | Monitoring; no pages or fixes | Diagnose, then fund the work | | Freelancer | Varies | Scope-dependent | Senior work within one person’s capacity | Best for a defined fix | ### Small budget: pay for execution first If your total marketing budget is $2,000 to $4,000 a month, a $5,500 boutique is already beyond it. Add a $245 tracker and you still need somebody to make the changes. I would put the $1,499 into the provider publishing and fixing, then use a tracker only if its findings will change the work. **When dollars are scarce, pay for the work before the scoreboard.** ### Professional services: build the pages buyers need Accountants, consultants and law firms do not need another vague _thought leadership_ plan before they have pages answering buyer questions about cost, timelines, comparisons, locations and who qualifies. Those pages give search engines and AI answers something specific to use. For a version of this ranking focused on those firms, read [six AEO options for professional services firms, ranked by the work they actually do](https://groas.com/post/aeo-agencies-for-professional-services-firms-ranked-by-what). The sales-call question is unglamorous: **who will publish the next service page, and is it included?** ### One provider for Google and AI search: stop paying twice for the page A useful service page can support both a Google result and an answer drawn from its clear, attributable passages. Splitting that work between an SEO vendor and an AI-search vendor can leave you paying for two audits and arguing over who owns the missing page. One provider gives you one owner and one count of pages and fixes. For the enterprise comparison, see [Directive Consulting versus a flat-fee SEO and AI search service on what ships for the money](https://groas.com/post/directive-consulting-vs-a-flat-fee-seo-ai-search-service-who). **One invoice is only an advantage if somebody ships the work behind it.** ## Five sales-call questions that expose a reporting-only offer Ask in this order. The answers should get more concrete, not more adjectival. 1. **How many pages did you publish** for a client like me last month? Can I see the URLs? 2. How many technical fixes did you deploy last month? Can I see the before and after? 3. How many third-party citations did you earn last month, rather than merely track? 4. What is the price floor and minimum term? What happens to the work if I cancel? 5. Do you report enquiries and booked work, or only positions and mention scores? I left DIY AI writers and content optimizers out of the ranking on purpose. They can produce drafts, but they do not, by themselves, publish the page, deploy the fix or earn the citation. That is a different purchase. For the reader who skipped here: if you run a small business or professional services firm and want one provider for Google and AI search, **my pick is groas’s flat-fee managed model at $1,499 a month**. I write for groas. Judge that recommendation the same way I judged the list: by the pages and fixes that ship, not the score you get to watch. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the fundamental difference between reported metrics and actual work in SEO and AI search? The true work involves delivering tangible results such as published pages, deployed code fixes, or third-party citations. Reporting is simply the documentation or receipt of that completed labor. ### What specific model does the article recommend for a small firm looking for a single provider? The flat-fee managed model offered by groas is recommended for firms with 20 to 200 service pages. This service costs $1,499 a month and includes the deployment of new pages and technical fixes daily. ### Which agencies are suggested for a large enterprise team with a significant budget? Directive is presented as the enterprise choice for B2B teams needing a full coordinated pod of paid, organic, and CRO work. A startup package with Directive begins at $6,500 a month without an annual commitment. ### What is the primary limitation of using a traditional SEO agency for AI search? Traditional agencies are generally strong in established Google SEO like technical audits and link building. However, their AI search offerings often stop at monitoring performance rather than generating substantial citations or pages. ### When should a business hire an AEO or GEO specialist boutique? These specialists are best for solving defined citation problems or working on entity definitions and schema. A published AEO/GEO offer starts at $5,500 a month following an initial visibility audit. ### What services do AI visibility trackers provide compared to full service providers? AI visibility trackers act primarily as monitors to reveal visibility gaps and missing entities. They do not publish missing pages, deploy code fixes, or earn third-party mentions for the customer. ### Is hiring a freelancer suitable for long-term, continuous search performance work? Freelancers are recommended for specific, defined jobs such as fixing tracking or rebuilding service pages. However, capacity is finite, and a freelancer cannot reliably serve as an always-on publishing engine month after month. ### Why is paying two separate vendors for Google and AI search discouraged? Splitting the work between two vendors can lead to paying for two separate audits and multiple reporting cycles. Using one provider ensures a single accountable owner for the total count of pages and fixes. ## Paid Ads & SEO, Run For You Businesses pay one flat monthly fee per service, agencies resell it under their own brand, and groas does the work either way. 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