How to Choose an AEO, GEO or AI Search Agency in India

Start with the audit, not the pitch. Ask the agency to show one AI visibility audit with a named sample size, the engines tested and the result on prompts that do not contain the brand name. Then ask who owns the tracking. An SEO agency that adds AEO to a retainer often works from a short fixed prompt list. A specialist tracks a prompt universe sized to your category. Pick the agency that shows you a number you can check.

An SEO agency doing AEO usually adds it to an existing retainer with a fixed, limited prompt count, if it tracks at all. A specialist builds the prompt universe for your category, tracks it across engines and pushes schema and content changes in bulk. Our side-by-side of the three models, including the in-house option, is on the AEO agency page.

Ask for four things: the number of prompts tested, the engines covered, the share of prompts that did not name the brand, and a result that is not flattering. Our JK Tyre audit reports a 17.8% unprompted mention rate across 53,535 generic scans and a rank of 7th among 9 tracked brands. An agency that publishes only wins has not shown you an audit.

Put the same four requests to every agency: sample size, engines, unprompted mention rate and a client reference. Specialisation shows in published method. Clients show in named work. Reputation shows in research other people can check. Our ranked list of AEO agencies in India shows how we compare agencies, and we are listed in it.

No neutral ranking exists, and an agency that names itself first on its own page is marketing. Use a test instead. The right agency for you has a stated method, a measured baseline on unprompted prompts, coverage of all six major engines and named clients in your sector. Our evidence is public: the JK Tyre audit, five brand scans and two published methods. Judge us and every other agency by the same checks.

No. Engines choose their sources and change them without notice. An agency can raise the odds with pages that state facts plainly and with sources that earn citations. It cannot buy a placement. Treat a guaranteed AI Overview placement as a reason to walk away.

A citation audit records the source URLs behind each AI answer and groups them by owner. We run buyer prompts across six engines, log every cited URL and sort the citations into the brand's own domain, retailers and review sites, competitors and neutral sources. The JK Tyre audit logged 472,440 citation records. The output is a list of the sources that decide your category and the pages you are missing.

Run generic buyer prompts that do not name your brand, then compare your mention rate with each competitor's on the same prompts. Read the gaps along two lines. By engine: in the JK Tyre audit Perplexity mentioned the brand on 3.6% of generic scans against 23.1% on Gemini. By source: in our Boost scan only 2 of 1,172 citations came from a Boost-owned site, while Horlicks.in alone supplied 29. The method is in our guide to checking your brand in ChatGPT.

A baseline unprompted mention rate for you and each named competitor. Coverage and owned-citation share, measured separately. Results by engine. The prompts where competitors appear and you do not. A ranked list of fixes. Scope and deliverables are on the AI citation gap audit page.

We cannot shortlist other agencies for you, and a list that ranks its own author deserves little trust. Ask each agency you shortlist four questions. How many prompts will you run? Which engines? Will competitor mention rates be in the deliverable? Will you report my owned-citation share? We run the audit to that standard.

Yes, and the work has two halves. Readable means crawlable pages with schema that matches what is on the page. Citable means a direct answer near the top, a named source for each claim and, where it earns trust, original research under your name. We build both and publish our own research as proof. See AI search visibility services.

Look for an agency that tracks Google AI Overview and Google AI Mode as separate engines, because they answer differently. Ask for the share of your prompts where each one names you. We track both, along with ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot, on every engagement. More on the AI search visibility agency page.

FMCG brands lose AI answers to retailers, review pages and sibling brands. In our Boost scan, 104 of its 111 mentions came alongside Horlicks and only 2 of 1,172 citations came from a Boost-owned site. Ask any FMCG agency to show owned-citation share as well as mentions. Our work is on the FMCG AEO page.

B2B buyers ask longer prompts and compare more suppliers. Ask the agency how it builds the prompt universe for your category and who signs off the facts that go on your pages. We size prompts from first-party product data and calibrate them to measured search demand. See AEO for B2B and industrial brands.

Our ongoing AEO work runs from ₹75,000 a month, scoped by the time we assign to the account. There is no prompt limit. A price with no stated scope is a warning sign. Ask what the fee covers and how the time is set.

A properly run audit shows your current position within weeks. Moving that position takes longer and depends on the category and how contested the prompts are. We do not promise a date.

Ask for a week-by-week plan, sample findings with screenshots and a roadmap ranked by effort and impact. A focused CX audit at ibs Fulcro takes three to four weeks and a full omnichannel engagement four to eight. A six-week plan fits between the two. Details are on our customer experience optimisation page.