AI SEO Pricing: What Agencies Charge for AI SEO and GEO

Most agencies charge $2,000 to $12,000 a month for AI SEO, which is also sold as GEO (generative engine optimization) or AEO (answer engine optimization). Smaller agencies and productized plans start at around $500 a month, one-off AI SEO audits usually cost $500 to $5,000, and tools to track your AI visibility yourself cost $29 to $489 a month.

There is no independent survey of AI SEO prices yet. Every number you'll find online, including the ranges in this guide, comes from agencies' own price lists and pricing guides.

In this guide, you will learn:

• AI SEO Costs at a Glance
• How AI SEO Is Priced
• How Much Do AI SEO Agencies Charge?
• Is AI SEO More Expensive Than Regular SEO?
• What You Should Get at Each Price
• What AI Visibility Tools Cost (If You Do It Yourself)
• Red Flags When You Buy AI SEO
• Is AI SEO Worth Paying For?
• What I Charge for AI SEO

AI SEO Costs at a Glance

Here's what each option typically costs per month and who it suits:

Who does the work	Typical monthly cost	Best for
You, with a tracking tool	$29 to $489 for the tool, plus your time	Businesses with time and some SEO knowledge
Small agency or productized plan	$500 to $5,000	Small and local businesses
Freelancer or consultant	$1,000 to $6,000, or $100 to $300 an hour	Businesses that want one expert and a clear scope
Mid-size agency	$3,000 to $12,000	Growing companies that need content and reporting at volume
Enterprise agency	$15,000 to $68,000+	Large brands, many markets or many product lines

How AI SEO Is Priced

AI SEO is sold in five ways. Most agencies use the first two.

1. Monthly Retainer

You pay a fixed fee every month for ongoing work: technical fixes, content, tracking and reports. This is the most common model, and the price depends on how much content is produced, how many AI platforms and questions are tracked, and how much reporting you get.

Some large agencies require a six-month minimum. Many smaller ones work month to month.

2. One-Off Audit or Project

You pay once for a defined piece of work, usually an audit with an action plan, or a project such as restructuring your most important pages. Typical prices:

• Quick snapshot reports: under $500. Often automated, so check what's actually reviewed by a person.
• Full AI SEO audit: $500 to $5,000, depending on the size of the site and how many AI platforms are checked.
• Larger projects (restructuring dozens of pages, original research): $5,000 to $25,000 or more.

An audit is the cheapest way to test a provider before you commit to a monthly plan.

3. Hourly Consulting

AI SEO consultants charge $100 to $300 an hour for advice, training or reviewing your team's work. For comparison, Backlinko's survey of more than 300 SEO professionals found that hourly SEO work averages $50 to $100.

4. Add-On to Your SEO Plan

Some agencies sell AI SEO as an extra on top of an existing SEO retainer, usually 20% to 30% more than the SEO fee. Before you accept this, ask what the add-on includes that your SEO plan doesn't already cover. Much of AI SEO is good SEO.

5. Pay Per Placement or Mention

A newer offer: you pay per article, "best of" list or forum post that mentions your brand. Prices start at a few hundred dollars per placement.

Be careful. Paid mentions designed to look natural can break the rules of the sites they appear on, and Google treats inauthentic mentions as spam. A few honest reviews from real customers are worth more than a pile of bought ones.

How Much Do AI SEO Agencies Charge?

Prices depend mostly on the size of the agency and the size of your business.

Small Agencies and Productized Plans

$500 to $5,000 a month. Productized plans are fixed packages with a set list of deliverables, such as an audit, a few pages optimized per month and a monthly report. They suit small and local businesses. The cheapest plans start just under $500 a month.

Mid-Size Agencies

$3,000 to $12,000 a month. This is where most published agency price lists sit. You typically get a few new pieces of content per month, tracking of 50 to 250 questions across several AI platforms, competitor analysis and a dedicated strategist. Entry plans at mid-size agencies start at $2,000 to $3,000.

Enterprise Agencies

$15,000 to $68,000+ a month. For large brands working in many countries or with large product catalogs. The fee covers content at scale, digital PR, original research and tracking of thousands of questions.

Freelancers and Consultants

$1,000 to $6,000 a month, or $100 to $300 an hour. You get one experienced person instead of a team. That works well when the scope is clear and you want to deal directly with the person doing the work. Backlinko's survey found that agencies charge about 30% more than freelancers for SEO in general.

Hiring In-House

A full-time SEO specialist who also handles AI search costs a salary plus $100 to $1,000 a month in tools. It only makes sense if you have enough work to keep them busy and someone who can manage them.

Is AI SEO More Expensive Than Regular SEO?

It depends on who you ask. Some agency guides say AI SEO costs 30% to three times more than traditional SEO. Others say the same campaign should do both, and that you shouldn't pay extra for the label.

For context, Backlinko's survey puts the average monthly cost of SEO at $1,000 to $2,500.

My view: AI answers are built from pages that search engines can find and trust, so most AI SEO work is SEO work. Clear pages, a fast website, consistent business information and real reviews help you in Google and in ChatGPT at the same time.

Paying more makes sense when you get more: extra content, tracking across several AI platforms, or work on how AI tools describe your brand. It doesn't make sense when the only difference is the word "GEO" on the invoice.

What You Should Get at Each Price

Use this as a checklist when you compare proposals.

Level	What should be included
AI SEO audit ($500 to $5,000)	A test of the questions your customers ask in ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews and other AI tools, with what they say about you and your competitors · technical and indexing issues · a check that AI search crawlers can reach your site · content gaps · a prioritized action plan you can follow yourself
Entry retainer ($500 to $3,000/month)	Fixes from the audit · a few key pages improved per month · business information made consistent · monthly tracking of a set list of questions · a plain-language report
Mid-level retainer ($3,000 to $12,000/month)	All of the above · new content every month · competitor analysis · tracking across several AI platforms · conversion improvements · a named strategist
Enterprise ($15,000+/month)	All of the above at scale · multiple markets and languages · original research and digital PR · reporting tied to revenue

Whatever you pay, ask for three things in writing: the list of deliverables per month, who does the work, and how results will be reported.

What AI Visibility Tools Cost (If You Do It Yourself)

If you'd rather do the work yourself, you'll want a way to track whether AI tools mention you. Start with the free options:

• Google Search Console shows how often your pages appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode.
• Bing Webmaster Tools has an AI Performance report for Copilot citations.
• Google Analytics 4 shows visits from ChatGPT, Perplexity and other AI tools.

I explain how to set these up in the AI visibility tracking section of my AI SEO tutorial.

When you want to track many questions across several AI platforms automatically, paid tools start at under $30 a month:

Tool	Starting price	What you get
Otterly.AI	$29/month	15 tracked questions across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot. Higher plans: $189 for 100 questions, $489 for 400.
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit	$99/month	25 tracked questions for one domain.
Profound	Free 7-day trial, then custom pricing	Built for larger brands and agencies. The agency plan costs $399 a month per client workspace (100 questions).

One thing to keep in mind: tracked questions are a sample. AI answers change with the person's location, wording and chat history, so use these tools to spot trends over months, not to judge a single answer.

Red Flags When You Buy AI SEO

AI SEO is new, which makes it easy to oversell. Walk away if you see any of these:

• Guaranteed citations or rankings. Nobody controls what ChatGPT or Google's AI says. A guarantee means the provider is either guessing or planning to game the system.
• Paying per mention, or seeding Reddit and forums. Fake or paid mentions break the rules of the sites involved and can backfire on your brand.
• llms.txt files or "AI schema" sold as the fix. Google says its search doesn't use llms.txt files and that there is no special markup for its AI features.
• No list of deliverables. If a proposal can't tell you what gets done each month, you're paying for a label.
• A proprietary "AI score" as the main report. Ask how it's calculated. Leads, sales and visits from AI tools matter more than any score.
• A long contract before you've seen any work. Start with an audit or a short first term.

Is AI SEO Worth Paying For?

It's worth paying for when:

• Search already brings you customers, and you want to protect that as more people ask AI tools instead
• ChatGPT or Google's AI recommends your competitors when people ask about your services
• You don't have the time or the skills to do it yourself

It's probably not worth it yet when:

• Your website basics are missing: no clear service pages, no prices, no reviews
• Your whole marketing budget is a few hundred dollars a month
• You have time to learn and a tracking tool is enough for now

If you want to try it yourself first, follow my guide on how to get ChatGPT to recommend your business. Most of the steps are free.

What I Charge for AI SEO

Here's how I price my own service, so you can compare it with the ranges above:

• AI SEO audit: $500, one-time. A full review of your website for Google and AI search, with a clear action plan you can follow yourself or hand to me.
• Monthly AI SEO: from $500 a month. Fixes, new and improved content, conversion improvements, website changes, tracking and a monthly report. The exact fee depends on the size of your website and how much content you need.

There is no setup fee and no contract. I work on every website myself and keep my client list small, so there are no account managers or sales team built into the price.

See the full details on my AI SEO services page.

FAQ

How Much Does an AI SEO Audit Cost?

Usually $500 to $5,000. Automated snapshot reports cost less, but a useful audit is reviewed by a person and ends with a prioritized action plan. My AI SEO audit costs $500.

Do I Need a Separate GEO Agency If I Already Pay for SEO?

Usually not. Ask your SEO provider what they do for AI search: tracking AI visibility, checking that AI crawlers can reach your site, and structuring pages so AI tools can quote them. If they already cover these, a second agency would mostly duplicate the work.

How Long Before AI SEO Pays Off?

Technical fixes can show results within weeks. Content improvements and reviews usually take a few months to change what AI tools say about you. Judge results over three to six months, not one.

Are Cheap AI SEO Services Worth It?

Some guides say anything under $2,500 a month is rebranded SEO. Price alone doesn't tell you that. A $500 plan with a clear list of deliverables, done by an experienced person, can be better value than a $5,000 plan full of reports. Look at what gets done each month.

Can I Do AI SEO Myself?

Yes. Most of it is clear writing, accurate business information and real reviews, and the main tracking tools are free. My AI SEO tutorial walks through the full process. Hiring help makes sense when you don't have the time or want results faster.