Independent index · 246 agencies hand-verified · data as of panel run 2026-09-23
GEO Agency: What They Do, and Who Google Actually Shows
A GEO agency (generative engine optimisation agency) works to get a brand cited and recommended inside AI answers: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Gemini. Of the 246 agencies we verified by hand, all 246 name ChatGPT and 208 name AI Overviews (GEO Agency Directory, 2026-09-23).
- No paid or featured placement
- Every agency hand-verified to sell GEO
- Method published at /methodology/
What does a GEO agency actually do?
Agencies use three labels for roughly the same work. Of the 246 we verified, 154 list GEO by name, 120 say AI SEO and 90 say AEO (answer engine optimisation). 175 also sell classic SEO. The terms are used almost interchangeably, so read the service page rather than the label. Every count here comes from our own tags, explained on the methodology page.
Which AI platforms they say they target, out of 246:
Strip away the vocabulary and the work falls into five buckets. Not every agency sells all five.
Entity and brand mentions
Making sure the brand is described consistently across the web, so an AI answer has something solid to repeat.
Content built to be cited
Rewriting pages so a clear answer, a statistic or a quotation can be lifted straight into a generated response.
Technical and crawler access
Ordinary SEO basics: pages that can be crawled, indexed and shown as snippets. Nothing exotic.
Digital PR and third-party mentions
Getting the brand named on other sites, because AI answers lean on what others say about you.
Monitoring AI answers
Tracking whether, and how, the brand appears when buyers ask ChatGPT or Perplexity about the category.
What Google says. Google’s guide to generative AI features (updated 10 July 2026) states that optimising for generative AI search “is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO.” It also says you do not need new AI text files or markup (so no llms.txt), content split into tiny chunks, or structured data for these features. If a pitch treats those as essentials, ask why.
The term itself comes from a 2023 research paper (Aggarwal et al., arXiv 2311.09735), which reported visibility gains of “up to 40%” on its own test benchmark. That is a research ceiling, not something any agency has been shown to deliver.
GEO agency vs SEO agency: is it different?
Mostly, no. The typical GEO agency is an SEO agency that has added an AI answer practice. The field is contested, and Google itself calls the work SEO, so check that the fundamentals are covered before you pay for anything with a new name on it.
Sell GEO and classic SEO
Of 246 verified agencies, 175 also list classic SEO as a service. For most buyers this is the realistic shape of a GEO engagement.
GEO without classic SEO
The remaining 71 do not list classic SEO as a service. Ask them who handles crawlability, indexing and links, because the AI layer sits on top of those.
Top 10 GEO agencies by visibility
The score adds up (21 minus position) for every query in a fixed 61-query panel where the agency’s own domain appears in Google’s top 20, across the UK, US and Singapore. It is refreshed monthly. It measures observed search visibility, not the quality of client work. Panel run 2026-09-23; full method here.
| # | Agency | Services | Visibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thrive Internet Marketing Agency Arlington TX, United States | AI SEOGEOSEO | 405 UK 148 · US 201 · SG 56 |
| 2 | Optimist United States | AI SEOAEOSEO | 333 UK 151 · US 182 · SG 0 |
| 3 | Percepture New York NY, United States | GEOAI SEOSEO | 314 UK 134 · US 180 · SG 0 |
| 4 | Spicy Margarita SEO HQ not stated | AEOGEOAI SEO | 276 UK 103 · US 135 · SG 38 |
| 5 | Minuttia Athens, Greece | GEOSEOContent | 256 UK 89 · US 111 · SG 56 |
| 6 | Coalition Technologies Los Angeles CA, United States | AI SEOGEOSEO | 225 UK 88 · US 132 · SG 5 |
| 7 | Level Agency Pittsburgh PA, United States | AI SEOSEOPPC | 211 UK 92 · US 114 · SG 5 |
| 8 | Digital Elevator United States | AI SEOGEOSEO | 189 UK 85 · US 104 · SG 0 |
| 9 | First Page Sage San Francisco CA, United States | AEOGEOSEO | 166 UK 58 · US 100 · SG 8 |
| 10 | W360 Group Singapore | AI SEOGEOSEO | 160 UK 0 · US 0 · SG 160 |
All 246 GEO agencies, ranked →
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Who ranks for “geo agency” in the UK, and who wrote the lists
We checked Google’s UK top 20 for the exact phrase “geo agency” (panel run 2026-09-23, Google UK). The result is a good reason to be careful with whatever list you read first.
Two of those lists, from thedigitalelevator.com and yesoptimist.com, rank their own publisher first. Optimist’s list says so itself: “Guilty.” We name the domains and leave the motives to you.
This is not just a Google pattern. In a separate vendor study, Peec AI (which sells AI visibility tracking) found that about 1 in 10 AI citations come from self-promotional listicles, across 232,000 citations from December 2025 to February 2026: 3.6% in ChatGPT, 10.3% in Google AI Mode and 10.4% in Perplexity. Source: Peec AI. Their study covers AI citations; ours covers Google’s UK top 20.
Visibility is also rarer than the marketing suggests. 115 of the 246 agencies (47%) did not appear in the top 20 for any of our 61 panel queries. Among the 45 UK-headquartered agencies it is 23: no top-20 appearance for any panel query in any market. Count Google UK alone and it is 24 of 45. A UK firm selling AI visibility is, more often than not, hard to find for the very searches its buyers run.
The narrower phrase tells a different story. For “geo agency uk” (Google UK, panel run 2026-09-23), six UK-headquartered agencies from our index sit in the top 10:
| Position | Agency | HQ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Found | United Kingdom |
| 3 | Varn | United Kingdom |
| 4 | Blue Array | United Kingdom |
| 6 | Catalyst Marketing Agency | United Kingdom |
| 7 | The SEO Works | United Kingdom |
| 9 | ClickSlice | United Kingdom |
So a UK buyer gets two very different first pages depending on one word. Search “geo agency” and no UK-headquartered agency appears in the top 20. Add “uk” and six of the top ten are UK firms. Positions move from run to run, so treat this as a snapshot dated 2026-09-23, not a league table. See every UK agency, with its current score, on the UK GEO agencies page. The directory also ranks agencies headquartered in the US and Singapore.
How to choose a GEO agency: four checks you can run
None of these needs us. You can run all four from the agency’s own website and a Google search.
Is there a GEO service page?
A real page describing the service, not a blog post or a line in a footer. It is our entry test for the directory.
Can you find them for their own terms?
An agency selling visibility should have some. Check its score here, or search its service terms yourself. This check alone matters: 115 of the 246 had no top-20 appearance for any of our 61 panel queries at the 2026-09-23 run.
Which AI platforms do they name?
All 246 name ChatGPT. Fewer than 1 in 10 name Claude. Make sure the engines your buyers use are on the list.
Is pricing published?
A published price lets you compare like with like before the first call. Many agencies do not publish one.
How much does a GEO agency cost?
Our cost guide collects 43 published prices from 37 agencies in the UK, US and Singapore, read 28 September 2026. At entry level, the UK GEO agencies that publish a price charge £399 to £2,500 a month (source: our GEO agency cost guide). The guide breaks the rest down by market and by what each price includes.
GEO agency questions
What is a GEO agency?
A GEO (generative engine optimisation) agency sells work aimed at getting a brand cited and recommended in AI answers such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Gemini. Of the 246 agencies we verified, 154 use the term GEO, 120 say AI SEO and 90 say AEO. The labels overlap heavily.
What is the best GEO agency?
By observed Google visibility the current number one is Thrive Internet Marketing Agency (panel run 2026-09-23). That score measures how findable an agency is, not the quality of its client work, so the best fit depends on your market and budget. All 246 are ranked on our best GEO agencies page.
What does GEO stand for?
Generative engine optimisation. Google’s own guide defines GEO as generative engine optimization and AEO as answer engine optimization. It adds that, from Search’s perspective, optimising for generative AI search is "still SEO" (updated 10 July 2026).
Is a GEO agency different from an SEO agency?
Often it is the same firm: 175 of 246 also sell classic SEO. Only 71 list GEO work without it. Check the SEO fundamentals are covered, because Google says there are no special files or markup required for its AI features.
Is a GEO agency worth it?
We hold no outcome data, so we won’t promise results. Use the four checks on this page: a GEO service page, findability for its own terms, named AI platforms and published pricing. Then compare proposals rather than one pitch.
How much does a GEO agency cost?
Our cost guide collects 43 published prices from 37 agencies. Read the full breakdown in that guide rather than relying on a single figure from a vendor’s own listicle.
Related: best GEO agencies · GEO agency cost guide · how we rank
Ranking method: each agency's visibility score is the sum of (21 − position) over every panel query where its own domain appears in Google's top 20 across the UK, US and Singapore. Inclusion is hand-verified: the agency must publicly sell GEO, AEO or AI SEO as a service. Last verified: 2026-09-23. Full methodology →
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