The Real Difference Between SEO and GEO Agencies (And Why It Matters Now)

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-15

Hiring an SEO agency used to feel pretty straightforward. You'd check the case studies, look at ranking history, agree on a reporting cadence, and sign the contract. That decision has gotten a lot more complicated. AI-generated answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews now sit alongside — and increasingly in front of — the traditional results page. The skill set that earns a spot in one doesn't automatically earn a spot in the other. A brand can hire a perfectly competent SEO team and still be completely invisible in the answer an AI assistant gives a buyer researching the same category. That's why more procurement conversations now name generative engine optimization agency capability as a separate line item. They're not assuming any SEO vendor can bolt AI-visibility work onto an existing retainer. ### Why SEO and GEO Aren't the Same Thing The two disciplines share a foundation — a crawlable, well-structured, credible website. But they're measured differently, reported differently, and often require different specialists to execute well. Treating them as identical is one of the more common ways brands end up disappointed six months into a contract. Traditional SEO is still mostly about earning a ranking position and a click. Backlinks, on-page relevance, and technical health decide who shows up in the ten blue links. GEO is about earning a citation inside an answer the user never has to click through. That's decided by entity authority, structured data, and independent mentions the AI system trusts. The overlap in the middle is where most of the actual budget should go. Content that's genuinely well-sourced and clearly structured tends to perform in both systems at once. That's exactly what a competent combined agency should be optimizing for, rather than treating as two separate deliverables. ### What to Evaluate Before You Sign A few questions tend to separate agencies with real GEO capability from ones that have simply relabeled an existing service: - **Documented proof in both channels.** Ask for actual ranking data alongside specific, verifiable examples of the agency's content being cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or AI Overviews. Not just a claim of "AI SEO" on the services page. A screenshot of a single citation isn't a track record. Ask how many clients, and over what period. - **A technical foundation, not just content tricks.** The strongest GEO work is usually built on the same technical rigor as strong SEO — crawlability, site architecture, structured data. If an agency can't speak to your site's technical health, its GEO plan is likely just content rewrites. - **A real measurement method.** Standard rank trackers don't capture whether a brand was cited inside an AI answer. Ask exactly how the agency tracks citation frequency and "share of voice" across AI platforms, how often that gets reported, and what a baseline audit looks like before work starts. - **Transparent, scoped pricing.** Mid-market GEO retainers typically run anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000 per month, so ask what's actually included at each tier — audits, content production, digital PR, ongoing monitoring — rather than accepting a vague monthly number. - **Fit with your industry.** Some agencies specialize by vertical, client size, or number of markets served. A firm built for enterprise technical SEO audits isn't necessarily the right fit for a regional service business, and vice versa. > "The biggest mistake brands make is assuming their SEO agency will naturally figure out GEO. It's a different muscle, and most agencies are still learning how to flex it." ### A Quick Look at Agency Options Here's how a few agencies in this space split their work between traditional SEO and GEO, based on what they publish about their own services. **Panem Agency** offers technical, on-page, off-page, and local SEO alongside AI citation audits, schema/E-E-A-T content builds, and monthly AI-visibility scorecards across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. They tend to serve mid-market brands that want one team handling both channels. Other agencies may lean more heavily toward one side. Some are pure SEO shops that have added a GEO line item. Others are GEO-first and treat traditional SEO as a supporting function. Neither approach is automatically wrong — it just depends on where your current gaps are and how quickly you need to close them. The key is to ask the right questions upfront. Don't assume. Don't accept vague answers. And don't sign a retainer until you've seen proof that the agency can actually deliver in both worlds.