Ask three agencies "How much does GEO cost?" and you can get three very different answers. One quotes a fixed monthly fee, another a one-time analysis fee, the third a "per piece of content" price. Most of the time the gap isn't about being expensive or cheap; it's about which work the quote actually covers.
I'm not giving a fixed number in this post, because nobody can name the right figure without looking at your site, your industry and the questions you're targeting. Instead, I'm breaking down the six line items that make up a GEO quote. Once you split quotes into these items, it becomes clear what you're actually paying for.
The 6 line items in a quote
Analysis and question list
Working out which questions you want to show up for and where you stand today.
Technical fixes
Crawl access, indexing, site speed, structured data. Usually a one-time job.
Content creation and updates
Pages that actually answer the questions. The item that moves the price the most.
Getting mentioned on other sites
Lists, news, industry sites. It takes effort, and results can't be guaranteed.
Measuring visibility
Asking the same questions at regular intervals and keeping a record, with a paid tool if needed.
Reporting and meetings
What was done, what changed, what's next. How often affects the price.
Every GEO project starts with the same question: what is your customer asking AI, and who gets recommended for that question? To answer it, a list of target questions is drawn up, the current state is recorded in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews, and the sources competitors are being cited from are reviewed.
What prices this item is the number of questions and how many AI tools are checked. Checking 20 questions in two tools is not the same job as checking 100 questions in five. I explained the measurement method step by step in the post on how to measure visibility; if you want, you can do this item yourself.
For AI tools to cite a page, they first have to be able to read it. This item covers crawl permissions (robots.txt), getting pages indexed in the search engine, speed and structured data.
There's a misconception here that inflates prices. Google's documentation on AI features states plainly that there are no additional technical requirements to appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode beyond the normal search requirements, and no special file or markup is needed. It's enough for the page to be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet in search results.
On most sites, the technical item is done once and then only checked. If a monthly quote lists this item at the same amount every month, ask what's being done after the second month.
This is the item that moves the price the most. AI tools cite pages that give a clear, original answer to the question being asked. Google's May 2025 guide also says users ask longer, more detailed questions in these experiences, and that the path to success runs through unique, genuinely useful content.
The factors that determine the cost of this item:
| Factor | How it affects the price |
|---|---|
| How many new pages or posts per month | Directly; the biggest multiplier |
| Updating existing pages | Cheaper than a new post, but the scope should be clear |
| Whether the topic needs expertise | In fields like health, law and finance, it adds expert review |
| Images, tables, video | Each extra format adds production time |
| Number of languages | A second language is almost a second content budget |
Written vaguely
Written clearly
AI tools don't just look at your site; they also look at how other sources mention you. That's why appearing in industry lists, news sites, comparison articles and directories is part of GEO. In the GEO guide, I explained in detail what AI bases its brand recommendations on.
This item takes effort: finding the right publications, bringing them something genuinely newsworthy, completing the free listings. Nobody can guarantee the result, though, because whether a publication mentions you is that publication's decision.
To see GEO results, you need to ask the same questions at regular intervals and keep a record. You can do this by hand; some agencies use paid tracking tools and add the tool's cost to the quote.
Ask three things about the quote: how often is measurement done, with which tools, and is the tool fee billed separately? There's also a Search Console note: Google says traffic from AI Overviews is shown in the Performance report within the "Web" search type, not as a separate heading. So if someone says "we show the number of clicks from AI Overviews separately," ask them where they get that data.
There's a serious difference in effort between a monthly report and a weekly meeting. Report frequency, the number of meetings and the report's content all affect the price. A good report covers three things: what was done this period, what changed for the target questions, and what will be done next period.
01
How many questions are targeted?
As the question list grows, analysis, content and measurement all grow with it.
02
How much content is needed?
If your current site doesn't answer the questions, the content item gets heavier.
03
How tough is the competition?
If competitors have been mentioned for years, the external-source work takes longer.
Even within the same industry, two businesses can get very different quotes. If your site already answers the questions well, the work is mostly technical fixes and measurement. If your site is new or its content is weak, the content item dominates in the first few months.
You've received three quotes. Before choosing the cheapest, write each one into the table below:
| Item | Quote A | Quote B | Quote C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial analysis (how many questions, how many tools) | |||
| Technical fixes (one-time or monthly) | |||
| Content (how many new pieces and updates per month) | |||
| External sources (what kinds of publications) | |||
| Measurement (frequency, tools, who pays for the tools) | |||
| Reporting (frequency, meetings) |
Every empty cell is a question that quote doesn't answer. Ask the provider about them; only then does the true total cost become visible. You can also check how to evaluate the agency itself with the eight questions in the post on how to choose a GEO agency.
Is my GEO quote clear?
0/6Compare your quote against the six items; every empty item is a question to ask the provider.
In our GEO service, we write the quote using these six line items. First we draw up the target question list and the current state, then we look together at how much work each item involves. We don't guarantee rankings; we write down what we'll do and how we'll measure it.
Not inherently. Most of the line items are shared with SEO: technical fixes, content and external sources. The extra work specific to GEO is asking the target questions in AI tools regularly and recording the results. If you already have solid SEO in place, the additional cost of GEO is mostly this measurement and content adaptation.
It's enough to see where you stand today. But AI answers change over time, and visibility doesn't grow on its own without adding content. A one-time analysis gives you a roadmap; your team or an agency has to do the implementation.
No. ChatGPT and Google decide which sources they show. Instead of a guarantee, the quote should show you what will be done, for which questions, and how it will be measured.
Google says no such file is needed for AI Overviews. A file like that is a few minutes of work; it shouldn't be a big line item in a quote. The details are in the ChatGPT SEO guide.
Technical problems get fixed quickly; content and external-source work take months to show an effect. That's why the quote should state which indicator to watch in the first few months.
I explain in plain language what GEO is, what information AI tools look at when they recommend a brand, and what you need to change on your site. I've also flagged the parts that get overhyped.
According to Comscore's September 22, 2026 report, ChatGPT's share of prompts across AI assistants fell from 70% to 50% in six months. Being a source and being named in the answer now need to be measured separately.
Using Google's own guide to hiring an agency, we boiled down to eight questions how to spot an agency that promises guarantees, hides its method or sells "Google-approved" tools.
We use cookies to improve the site and measure advertising performance. Analytics and advertising cookies run only if you accept them. Details are in our Privacy Policy and Data Protection Notice.
