GEO is a young discipline, and some agencies are overpromising on it. Before you sign with anyone — us included — watch for these warning signs.
"We guarantee #1 on ChatGPT"
ChatGPT's output is probabilistic. No agency can guarantee a fixed position. Anyone making this claim doesn't understand how LLMs work.
"Our SEO will cover AI too"
The overlap between Google rankings and AI citations is below 20%. Traditional SEO alone doesn't translate to AI visibility — a dedicated GEO strategy is what moves the needle.
"We optimise for ChatGPT only"
Your customers use multiple AI platforms. An agency that ignores Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and Copilot is leaving visibility gaps.
No AI-specific metrics
If an agency can't show you Citation Rate, Share of Voice, or prompt-level tracking, they're not measuring what actually matters.
Repackaged SEO tactics
If the deliverables look identical to a standard SEO engagement — keyword reports, backlink counts, traffic dashboards — it's likely not genuine GEO work.
No schema or structured data expertise
Schema markup is the technical backbone of AI visibility. An agency that doesn't implement JSON-LD, llms.txt, and Speakable schemas can't effectively optimise for AI platforms.
Every one of these is a signal we hold ourselves to — it's the same standard behind the LLMO services and monitoring inside every GEO retainer we run.