The best AI SEO agencies, and how to judge one

Which agencies do AI engines name when you ask for help?

We track "AI search visibility consultant" in our own workspace, the question a buyer asks when they want someone to do this work, on ChatGPT and Perplexity every day. Most answers define the job and offer to shortlist; in the week of 27 September to 3 October, 9 of 39 named any provider at all.

The answer at the top of this page is one passage of ChatGPT's second sample from 2 October. The whole answer named five small consultancies: Carder Creative, Devendra Saini, Monic AI Systems, Citevora and AI Search Consultancy. None of the agencies on this list was named in any answer across the month, and neither was Attensira. The chart above shows whose pages the engines read instead.

That is the market's real state. The engines name whoever has written a page that matches the question, often a single consultant's service page, not the agencies with the deepest practice. If you are choosing, use the names as a starting set and the criteria below to judge them.

What makes an AI SEO agency different from an SEO agency?

Less than the label suggests, and more than nothing. Most of the work is still SEO: pages that answer buyers' questions clearly, technical health, and authority from other sites. What changes is where the answer comes from. An AI answer to "best X for Y" is assembled from a handful of pages the engine trusts, often comparison articles, review sites and forum threads, and names the brands those pages name.

So an agency worth hiring for AI search does three things well: it writes and fixes the pages that answer the questions, it works the third-party pages and communities the answers draw on, and it measures the answers themselves, engine by engine, rather than only rankings and traffic.

How were the four criteria chosen?

Each is something you can check on a provider's own site before a call.

Off-site work stated. Because the deciding pages are mostly not yours. Siege Media wins: digital PR, Reddit marketing and affiliate partnerships are named services. iPullRank, Thrive, Relixir, Gushwork and Attensira also state off-site work.

Price or budget range published. Because agency pricing is usually a proposal. Attensira wins by publishing its plans outright. iPullRank publishes investment ranges by stage, and Thrive's proposal form shows budget bands, which are both more than most agencies show.

Contract terms stated. Because AI search takes months and a long minimum puts the risk on you. First Page Sage wins by stating it does not lock clients into long-term contracts. Relixir states cancel anytime.

Software does the work. Because people-led work is limited by hours. Relixir wins with an autonomous agent working around the clock. Gushwork and Attensira also state that software agents do the work. Relixir states its contrast plainly: hiring a GEO agency for $5k+/mo with a 3-month minimum.

Which kind of provider fits which company?

A large brand with budget and internal stakeholders. A people-led agency such as iPullRank or Siege Media brings senior judgement, relationships with publishers and the ability to work across teams. The published iPullRank ranges tell you the scale it works at.

A B2B company that wants a content-led partner without lock-in. First Page Sage states it does not use long-term contracts.

A business that wants AI SEO inside a broader marketing retainer. Thrive offers AI SEO alongside PPC, social, web and PR.

A team that wants software to run the work continuously. Relixir and Gushwork sell agents rather than people. Check how changes are reviewed before they go live; neither site describes the review step.

A team that wants software to do the work, and to approve each piece. Attensira. The crew works every day, files every piece in one inbox, and nothing leaves your workspace until you approve it.

How does Attensira do an agency's work?

On day one the crew reads your site, drafts your business profile and takes a first reading of every question you track, on each engine, with the pages cited. It ranks the answers you lose by what is deciding them. Then it works, and each role has a job. The Researcher reads the deciding sources. The Writer drafts new pages and rewrites of existing ones; a fix arrives as a draft pull request on GitHub, a draft in Webflow, WordPress or Notion, or a Shopify change held for your yes. Outreach drafts pitches to the authors of cited pages, sent from your own mailbox. Community drafts replies to the threads that decide answers, for you to post; Attensira never posts to a community itself. The Ads strategist drafts Google Ads campaigns, and nothing is spent until a person approves.

Every shipped change is read again at +7, +14 and +30 days and compared with the week before it, with the number of answers behind the verdict, including when nothing moved.

What does a retainer buy, and what does software change?

A people-led retainer buys hours and judgement: a strategist who learns your business, writers, someone who knows editors at the publications in your category, and a monthly report. The cost follows the hours, and so does the pace. In a month with a launch or a holiday, less happens.

Software changes the unit. An agent does not bill by the hour, so it can read the answers every day, notice the comparison page that started being cited on Tuesday, and draft the pitch the same day. The costs that remain are the model calls and data behind each piece of work. Attensira passes that on as credits spent as the work runs, up to a monthly budget you set, and work that is not delivered is not charged.

What software does not replace is your judgement about what the company will claim. That is why Attensira brings every piece to you, and why anything that states a price, a number or a competitor's name waits for your approval in every mode. The agency's job, done by software; the client's job, still yours.

What should you ask any provider before you sign?

• Which questions will you work on, and how will you choose them? A good answer starts from the

questions your buyers ask, not from keyword volume.

• Which pages decide those answers today? If they cannot tell you, they are guessing.
• What will you change on our site, and what off it? Get both lists.
• How will you measure it, and how many answers will each number rest on? Rates without a sample

size are noise.

• What happens if nothing moves in three months? The honest answer names a reporting method and

a way out.