Choosing an SEO and GEO agency: 15 questions to ask

You choose an SEO and GEO agency by the answers it gives about the work itself. A good agency can explain who does the work, what it delivers each month, how it measures results in Google and in AI answers, how it uses AI and who owns the content and accounts. An agency that guarantees a number one ranking or a mention in ChatGPT is one to skip.

Google has its own page for business owners considering a specialist: Do you need an SEO?. It lists questions you can ask and signs to watch for. The fifteen questions below build on that page and add GEO (visibility in AI answers).

The people and the work

1. Who works on my website, and can I speak to that person? Ask about the people who do the analysis, write the copy and make the technical changes. An account manager who passes everything on is not the same as a specialist who answers your questions directly.

2. What do you already know about my market and my customers? Google recommends checking whether a specialist shows interest in your business, your competitors and your customers. An agency that asks nothing about your offer in the first meeting will later be writing without that knowledge.

3. What previous work is similar to my situation? Ask for examples of previous work and for references. Also ask what exactly the agency did and how the result was established.

The deliverables

4. What do you deliver each month? Ask for numbers and types of work: new pages, reworked pages, technical tasks, measurements. “We work on your visibility” is not a deliverable.

5. What counts as a page? A new explanation with its own purpose is more work than an edited title. Have the agency explain what it counts.

6. Who writes the content and who reviews it? Ask whether a second person reads along and whether you can give feedback on the content before publication.

7. Do you explain what you change and why? Google lists this as a question to ask. An agency that makes changes without explanation makes you dependent and is hard to check.

Measurement and guarantees

8. How do you measure results, and which results do you expect within what timeframe? Google recommends asking this. An honest answer names the source (for example Google Search Console), the period and what lies outside the agency’s influence. Google writes in its SEO Starter Guide that some changes only take effect after months.

9. How do you measure visibility in AI answers? Ask which questions are researched, in which AI assistants, how often, and whether that happens automatically or by hand. An AI answer can differ by question, moment and context, so a single screenshot tells you little. More on this in measuring AI visibility.

10. Do you guarantee rankings or mentions? The right answer is no. Google writes that no one can guarantee a number one ranking on Google. AI assistants also decide for themselves which sources they mention.

11. Do you follow Google’s guidelines? Ask whether the agency works according to Google Search Essentials, Google’s basic guidelines. Also ask how it handles link building, because Google lists link schemes as a warning sign.

Use of AI

12. Do you use AI, and what for? Using AI is not wrong. But do ask what for: research, first drafts, checks? And who checks the facts before anything goes live? See also what Google says about AI content.

Contract and ownership

13. What is the term, and how do I cancel? Ask about the minimum term, the notice period and whether the contract renews automatically. You want to know this before you agree.

14. Who owns the content and the accounts? Agree that written content, your Google Search Console, your analytics account and your Google Business Profile belong to you and are in your company’s name. For research, read access to Search Console is enough, according to Google. Google also points out that you remain responsible for what a hired company does on your website.

15. What happens if we stop? Ask what you take with you: the content, the reports, an overview of the changes made. And what disappears, such as tools or pages that only run on the agency’s systems.

How do you recognise a good answer?

With most questions you can quickly tell whether an answer says anything. A few examples:

Red flags

In Do you need an SEO?, Google lists warning signs including these:

• guarantees on rankings or a number one position;
• unsolicited emails offering SEO;
• secrecy or vague explanations of the approach;
• misleading content created on your behalf;
• a request to link to the agency;
• link schemes, or submitting your website to thousands of search engines;
• tools that claim to be approved by Google.

For GEO you can add a sign of your own: an agency that promises you will appear in every AI answer, or that measures “all AI platforms” automatically without explaining how.

What you should get for your money and how to compare proposals is covered in how much do SEO and GEO cost per month? If you are unsure whether you need an agency at all, read doing SEO and GEO yourself or outsourcing it.

How Outseen answers these questions

At Outseen, a writer creates the content from a briefing and sources, a reviewer checks it, and you give feedback before publication. We use AI as a working aid; AI output is never measurement evidence for us, and specialists are responsible for the advice. We currently check AI answers by hand, for agreed questions, in an agreed environment and at an agreed measurement moment. We do not guarantee rankings or mentions. What each plan delivers is on the plans page; feel free to ask your questions through contact.

What does this mean for your business?

You do not need to be a specialist to assess an agency. The questions that make the work concrete are enough: who does it, what do I get, how do I know it works, and what is mine. An agency that answers those questions clearly is also one you can hold to what it said later.

Before the first meeting, have a few things ready yourself: