How to Choose an AEO Agency: 15 Questions to Ask First

 

TL;DR

• Many agencies now sell AEO. Not all of them do real work.
• These 15 questions help you compare agencies and spot the fakes fast.
• Each question comes with a good answer to listen for, and a red flag to watch for.
• Bring this list to every sales call before you sign anything.

Introduction

We are deep in the era of AI search now. People ask ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity real questions before they ever visit a website. If an AI platform never mentions your business, you lose that client before you even know they existed.

That is exactly why so many agencies now sell AEO. Some genuinely help your business get found, understood, and recommended by AI. Others simply rename their old SEO package and raise the price.

These 15 questions help you tell the difference. Ask them to any agency before you choose one.

The 15 Questions

1. What makes your AEO approach different from standard SEO services?

Why it matters: This reveals whether the agency has a real AI strategy, or just repackaged SEO work.

Good answer: They explain real differences, like earning ChatGPT mentions, building authority outside your website, and tracking more than your current search rankings.

Red flags: Their answer sounds like a normal SEO pitch with a few new words added.

2. Which AI search and answer platforms are part of your strategy?

Why it matters: Real visibility spans more than one tool.

Good answer: They name ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Google's AI search features clearly.

Red flags: They only talk about Google, or cannot name a single platform at all.

3. How do you determine which prompts are most valuable for my audience?

Why it matters: Prompts chosen for easy tracking rarely reflect what real buyers actually ask.

Good answer: They build their prompt list from real customer intent, not guesswork.

Red flags: They cannot explain where their prompt list came from.

4. Are there certain prompts you would advise us not to pursue?

Why it matters: This is a strong honesty test.

Good answer: They admit some prompts are too competitive, or already owned by larger, more established sources.

Red flags: They claim every prompt is winnable if you just spend more.

5. How do you assess whether a target prompt is realistically within reach?

Why it matters: Without this, your budget gets spent chasing prompts nobody can win soon.

Good answer: They look at competitor visibility, existing citations, source strength, and your brand's current authority.

Red flags: They choose prompts using guesswork alone.

6. How do you track AI visibility in a way that goes beyond isolated screenshots?

Why it matters: AI answers can change from one session to the next.

Good answer: They track results across repeated tests over time, not a single lucky result.

Red flags: Their whole proof is one screenshot from one day.

7. Do you run the same prompts more than once before drawing conclusions?

Why it matters: Repeat testing shows the difference between real visibility and a one off mention.

Good answer: They describe a clear retesting schedule, like weekly or monthly checks.

Red flags: They test once and treat it as final proof.

8. What information should I expect to see in your regular AEO reporting?

Why it matters: A vague report hides whether anything actually changed.

Good answer: Reports show the prompts tracked, brand appearances, cited sources, competitor activity, and real change over time.

Red flags: The report only shows generic activity or basic rankings.

9. Do you analyze the websites and sources AI systems reference in their answers?

Why it matters: Cited sources reveal what AI platforms currently trust in your space.

Good answer: They show you exactly which sources AI pulled from, yours and your competitors'.

Red flags: They only tell you whether you appeared, with no detail behind it.

10. What specific improvements will you make on my website as part of the AEO campaign?

Why it matters: AEO without real website work is just talk.

Good answer: They describe direct answers, FAQs, service content, internal links, schema, and clear entity information, specific to your site.

Red flags: They cannot describe one real change to an actual page.

11. What steps will you take beyond my own website to build authority?

Why it matters: This question exposes agencies that only publish blog content.

Good answer: They mention media coverage, a dedicated podcast guesting service, expert contributions, directories, and reviews.

Red flags: Everything they describe lives only on your own website.

12. How will you improve the authority and trust signals associated with my brand?

Why it matters: Trust signals decide whether AI recommends you at all.

Good answer: They connect content quality, consistent brand details, expert credentials, structured data, and outside validation into one plan.

Red flags: They only talk about one fix, like schema, as if it works alone.

13. How will your AEO work complement the SEO we are already doing?

Why it matters: Organic rankings and technical SEO still feed AI performance.

Good answer: They explain how AI search visibility compares with traditional SEO, and how the two support each other instead of competing.

Red flags: They claim SEO does not matter anymore at all.

14. Which outcomes can you reasonably work toward, and which ones are outside your control?

Why it matters: AI platforms, not agencies, control the final answer.

Good answer: They are upfront that no one can guarantee a specific citation or ranking inside an AI answer.

Red flags: They promise guaranteed rankings, citations, or recommendations.

15. How will you determine whether stronger AI visibility is contributing to actual business growth?

Why it matters: Visibility alone does not pay the bills.

Good answer: They track AI referral traffic, branded searches, qualified leads, and CRM data back to real conversions.

Red flags: They cannot connect any of their work to leads or revenue.

Ready to Compare Your Options With Confidence?

Start with a free AI Visibility Audit by Credancy before you talk to any agency. It shows you exactly where your business stands today across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, so you walk into every sales call already knowing the baseline.

The services of Credancy are built to answer every question on this list directly.

That includes AEO strategy, schema and structured content, a dedicated podcast guesting service, media features for AEO, and digital PR. If you want the fuller picture first, our Answer Engine Optimization Guide and our guide to Generative Engine Optimization both walk through how these pieces connect before you commit to anyone.

Use this quick AEO reality check to spot warning signs, ask smarter questions, and choose an agency with a clear, credible approach to AI visibility.

Key Takeaways

• AEO and SEO work together. They are not the same service wearing two names.
• Ask how an agency chooses prompts, tests them, and proves results over time.
• Real AEO work touches your website and your reputation across the wider web.
• No honest agency guarantees a specific ChatGPT ranking or citation.
• Visibility should always connect back to real leads, not just a good looking report.