GEO agency vs SEO agency: how to tell them apart
SEO agency against GEO agency
| SEO agency | GEO agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Reports | Rankings, traffic, backlinks | Prompt coverage, citation share, source map |
| Cadence | Monthly report | Weekly scan, monthly deep report |
| Deliverables | Content, links, technical fixes | Entity work, schema, source placement, answer content |
| Proof they can show | Ranking screenshots | Before and after AI answers for named prompts |
| Typical India pricing | Rs 30K to 1L per month | Rs 75K to 2L per month |
| Failure mode | Rankings up, revenue flat | Citations up on prompts nobody asks |
GEO agency vs SEO agency: what each costs
Most agencies in India now claim both. The way to test the claim takes one meeting: ask them to run five of your buying prompts live, in front of you, on four engines, and explain which source produced each answer. An agency doing this work has the process ready. An agency that renamed its SEO deck will improvise.
The second test is the prompt set. Ask who writes it, how many prompts, how often it runs, and how competitors are chosen. If the answer is vague, the reporting will be vague too, and you will be paying for activity rather than visibility.
The third test is the failure clause. Ask what happens if the agreed prompts do not move in ninety days. A defined answer means they have priced the risk. No answer means you are carrying it.
None of this means an SEO agency is the wrong choice. If your foundation is broken, fixing it is the highest return work available, and a good SEO agency will do that better than a GEO specialist will.
An SEO agency is accountable for rankings and organic sessions.
The honest version, including the case against us
Every comparison on this site ends with the argument for the option we do not sell.
Related comparisons and terms
Three tests for a GEO agency
- Ask them to run five of your buying prompts live across four engines and explain which source produced each answer.
- Ask who writes the prompt set, how many prompts, how often it runs, and how competitors are chosen.
- Ask what happens if the agreed prompts do not move in ninety days. A defined answer means they have priced the risk.
If you want the first step run for you, the free AI visibility scan covers twenty prompts across four engines in one working day.
We publish the case against ourselves
Every comparison on this site ends with the argument for the option we do not sell. If the honest answer is a classic SEO agency, or doing it in-house, that is what the page says.
It costs us some enquiries. It saves both sides the three meetings it takes to reach the same conclusion.
Primary sources
Published documentation from the organisations operating these surfaces.
Twenty buying prompts, four engines, you against three named competitors. Report in one working day. No call needed.
GEO agency vs SEO agency: common questions
Can one agency do both well?
Yes, if the same team owns technical, content, entity and PR. Split ownership across vendors is where the work usually stalls.
What should a GEO agency guarantee?
Something specific and testable. We guarantee citation on agreed money prompts within ninety days or the next month is free.
How do we compare quotes?
Force both to quote against the same prompt set and the same competitor list. Otherwise you are comparing two different jobs.
See what the engines say about you
Twenty buying prompts, four engines, your brand against three named competitors. Report in one working day.
- 20 buying prompts, your category
- ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews
- You against three named competitors
- Report in one working day, yours to keep