What exactly does a GEO service cover?
A GEO service is a set of work that helps your brand and content appear accurately, consistently and with attribution in AI-powered answer engines such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. Classic SEO works for rankings; GEO aims to get you mentioned inside the answer itself. No agency can guarantee that you will appear in a specific answer; what can be done is to raise that likelihood in a systematic way.
You can find the basics of the concept in our earlier post on what GEO is. Here the focus is on what you actually buy as a service. Scope varies from agency to agency, but it generally consists of the items below.
- Baseline analysis: what answer engines say about your brand, which sources they rely on and which competitors they mention.
- Question map: identifying and prioritising the questions your customers might ask AI about your sector.
- Content restructuring: turning pages into clear, quotable formats that answer the question directly.
- Technical foundation: AI crawler access, robots.txt settings, schema (structured data) markup, page speed and a clean site structure.
- Brand consistency: company name, services, address and contact details being identical across your website, Google business profile and industry directories.
- Off-site work: appearing with correct information in trade publications, directories and reputable platforms.
- Measurement and reporting: regular tracking against defined sets of questions.
Where do SEO and GEO overlap, and where do they differ?
They do not replace each other; one builds on the other. Many answer engines use web search and indexed pages when producing answers. So a crawlable, fast, trustworthy site and quality content are the shared foundation of both. GEO often struggles on a site with weak SEO.
The differences lie in goals and metrics. In SEO the aim is to rank high for certain keywords and earn clicks. In GEO the aim is to be named in the answer to long, conversational questions; users often get the information without ever clicking through.
- Overlap: technical health, content quality, trust signals, structured data, local business information.
- Difference (goal): SEO targets rankings and traffic; GEO targets mentions and accurate representation.
- Difference (content): SEO produces keyword-focused pages; GEO emphasises short, clear, evidence-backed sections that answer a question.
- Difference (measurement): SEO rankings and clicks are tracked with tools; in GEO, answers are tested regularly with fixed questions, manually or with tools.
- Difference (external influence): in GEO, how your brand is mentioned outside your own site can matter even more.
How is visibility in answer engines measured?
There is no standard, universally accepted ranking report in GEO. Answers can vary by person, time and model. So measurement should rely on a regular, repeatable method rather than a single number.
A sound measurement usually starts with roughly 20-50 questions your customers would genuinely ask. The same questions are put to different answer engines each month and the results are recorded, which makes change over time comparable.
- Mention rate: in how many of the questions does your brand name appear?
- Citation: does the answer link to your site?
- Accuracy: are your services, location and contact details described correctly?
- Competitor comparison: which competitors stand out for the same questions?
- Referral traffic: AI-sourced visits in your analytics (source data is not always clearly visible).
- Business outcome: forms, calls and quotes that mention 'AI recommended you' or similar.
What does the cost of a GEO service depend on?
Giving a fixed price list would not be accurate; prices vary widely by agency and scope. The cost drivers, however, are well known, and checking them is enough when comparing proposals.
Most agencies work on a monthly fee. Some price the initial analysis and technical fixes as a one-off and the rest monthly. Seeing in writing what is included matters as much as the fee.
- Current state of the site: many technical problems raise the initial cost.
- Page and content volume: how many pages are rewritten and how much new content is produced.
- Sector competition: crowded sectors need longer and more intensive work.
- Number of languages: multilingual work widens the scope.
- Off-site work: appearing in third-party publications takes effort and budget.
- Measurement intensity: number of tracked questions, engines and reporting frequency.
- Existing SEO foundation: a solid base lets work move faster.
8 questions to ask when choosing an agency
Because GEO is a new field, some agencies may sell an old SEO service under a new name. The questions below help you tell whether a real method exists. Concrete, honest answers matter more than big promises.
- What is the scope, and which items differ from SEO?
- Do you guarantee appearing in answer engines? (Be cautious of any agency that does.)
- With which questions and in which engines will you run the baseline measurement?
- Which metrics will you report, and how often?
- What technical changes are needed on our site, and who is responsible for them?
- Who writes the content, and how are expertise and fact-checking ensured?
- Have you run similar work in our sector, and can you describe the process?
- When the contract ends, who owns the content, access rights and reports?
What to expect in the first 90 days
Expecting quick results in GEO is unrealistic. It generally takes months, not weeks, for answer engines to mention you more often. Still, concrete, verifiable deliverables should arrive within the first 90 days; they show the seriousness of the work regardless of outcomes.
- Month 1: baseline measurement, question map, technical and content audit, priority list.
- Month 2: technical fixes, brand information consistency, restructuring the most critical pages to answer questions.
- Month 3: publishing new content, starting off-site work, first comparative measurement report.
- Every month: a short report on what was done, what changed and next steps.
GEO work with fountr
Before starting GEO, the best first step is to learn how your brand currently appears in answer engines. fountr treats SEO and GEO together: it begins with a baseline measurement and a site audit, then arranges the technical foundation and content by priority. We are based in Sakarya and work with local and national businesses. If you would like to review your current situation together, you can write to [email protected].
Frequently asked questions
- Does a GEO service replace SEO? No. GEO relies on the technical and content foundation SEO provides; running them together gives more consistent results.
- Can GEO guarantee first place in AI answers? No. Answers vary by person and time; what can be done is to raise the likelihood of being mentioned in a measurable way.
- How long until results appear? Generally a few months. Expect technical fixes, content improvements and measurement outputs in the first 90 days; a rise in mentions may begin after that.
- Does a small business need GEO? If your customers ask AI assistants when looking for services, yes. A solid website and accurate business information first, then a small-scope engagement, is often enough for most SMEs.
- Can our own team do GEO? An in-house team can handle the basics (clear content, consistent information, technical checks). For a measurement routine and off-site work, expert support usually saves time.
