The short answer: the AEO agencies with the most AI search presence in October 2026 are WebFX, First Page Sage, Victorious, Siege Media and Single Grain. Across 11 specialist agencies we measured, WebFX alone holds 56% of all AI citations. For a smaller retainer that joins AEO with SEO and PPC, Kadima Digital is our own pick, and we list it first because this is our list.
Key numbers from our data (SE Ranking AI Search database, US, snapshot 1 October 2026):
- 27,197 AI citations and 15,120 brand mentions across the 11 agencies below.
- 77.3% of those citations sit in Google AI Overviews. ChatGPT accounts for 5.4%, Perplexity 2.0% and Gemini 1.7%.
- WebFX holds 15,287 citations, 56% of the group total.
- Optimist is mentioned 1,282 times but linked only 184 times, a 7 to 1 ratio. Being talked about and being cited are different results.
AEO agency comparison table
Citations count answers that link to the agency’s website. Mentions count answers that name the agency. Both are summed across Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. Prices are the starting figures each agency publishes on its own website.
| Agency | Best for | Published starting price | AI citations | AI mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kadima Digital | SMB and mid-market brands wanting SEO, AEO and PPC together | $495 AEO audit | Own list, not scored | Own list, not scored |
| WebFX | SMBs to enterprise, all industries | $3,000/month | 15,287 | 5,468 |
| First Page Sage | Enterprise and mid-market B2B | Not published | 3,152 | 927 |
| Victorious | Enterprise, SaaS, legal, healthcare, finance | Not published | 2,225 | 3,132 |
| Siege Media | SaaS, fintech and ecommerce content programs | Not published | 1,710 | 919 |
| Single Grain | SaaS, ecommerce, education, B2B | Not published | 1,470 | 372 |
| Searchbloom | Enterprise and mid-market brands | Not published | 1,044 | 1,719 |
| Omniscient Digital | B2B software and SaaS | $10,000/month | 890 | 467 |
| NoGood | Startups to Fortune 100, SaaS, ecommerce | Not published | 761 | 586 |
| iPullRank | Startups to Fortune 500 | Not published | 370 | 212 |
| Optimist | Series A to IPO B2B tech | Not published | 184 | 1,282 |
| Minuttia | B2B SaaS with $10M+ ARR | $4,000 minimum project | 104 | 36 |
How we compared these AEO agencies
We used three checks, all dated, so you can repeat them.
- AI presence. We pulled each agency’s domain from the SE Ranking AI Search database (United States, snapshot dated 1 October 2026). It records how often AI answers link to a domain or name a brand, across a fixed set of tracked prompts. It is a sample of prompts, not every question ever asked, so treat the numbers as relative, not absolute.
- What they sell. Service scope, pricing and client focus come only from each agency’s own AEO or GEO service page, checked on 7 October 2026.
- Proof. We list one published result per agency from its own case studies. Where an agency publishes no figure, we say so.
We did not rank by AI citations alone. A large agency with thousands of pages will collect more citations than a 10-person specialist, so the best fit still depends on your budget and industry.
1. Kadima Digital: best for SEO, AEO and PPC under one retainer
Kadima Digital is an SEO, AEO and PPC agency based in Cape Town, working with clients in the US and globally. Our answer engine optimization services cover entity optimization, answer-first content structure, schema, llms.txt and AI crawler access, run as a monthly retainer on their own or alongside SEO and Google Ads.
- Starting point: a $495 AEO audit, credited to month one if an SEO or AEO retainer follows.
- Proof: an enterprise ecommerce crawl cleanup that produced $599.56K in organic revenue (case study).
- Best for: brands spending $1,500 or more a month on marketing that want rankings, AI citations and paid search handled by one team.
2. WebFX: best for the widest AI search footprint
WebFX is a full-service agency headquartered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Its AI search optimization service covers AI query research, a GEO and SEO audit, content optimization, citation building and tracking across 10+ AI platforms through its own OmniSEO platform.
- Pricing: tiers from $3,000/month to $68,250/month, with a 6-month commitment (source).
- Proof: +586% traffic from generative AI sources for an equipment dealer.
- AI presence: 15,287 citations and 5,468 mentions, the highest of any agency we measured. 78% of its citations are in Google AI Overviews.
3. First Page Sage: best for enterprise B2B thought leadership
First Page Sage is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its AEO service covers content-gap audits, authoritative positioning content, schema, ongoing monitoring and publicizing client credentials, coordinated with wider marketing.
- Pricing: not published.
- Proof: no figure published on its AEO page.
- AI presence: 3,152 citations, second only to WebFX, and 315 ChatGPT citations.
4. Victorious: best for regulated and enterprise industries
Victorious is headquartered in San Francisco. Its AEO service includes audit and strategy, customer-question research, answer-ready content, schema, AI-crawlable technical SEO and monitoring across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Copilot.
- Pricing: not published.
- Proof: +5,856 Google AI Overview citations and 10x organic traffic for a cybersecurity client.
- AI presence: 3,132 mentions, more than its 2,225 citations, and 460 ChatGPT mentions.
5. Siege Media: best for brands already investing in content
Siege Media is based in Austin, Texas, with teams in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Its GEO service covers proprietary research content, bottom-funnel assets that AI models cite, Reddit and community presence, content freshness and prompt-level citation mapping.
- Pricing: not published. The page states engagements of 6+ months.
- Proof: a $6.1M traffic value increase and 96% LLM visibility for Zapier.
- AI presence: 1,710 citations and 919 mentions.
6. Single Grain: best for growth-stage SaaS and ecommerce
Single Grain is a remote-first agency. Its AEO service covers question and intent mapping, structured answers with FAQ, HowTo and Speakable schema, E-E-A-T authority work, distribution and AI citation tracking.
- Pricing: not published.
- Proof: 400+ AI citations for a building products manufacturer.
- AI presence: 1,470 citations, 89% of them in Google AI Overviews.
7. Searchbloom: best for entity and Knowledge Graph work
Searchbloom is based in South Jordan, Utah. Its GEO service covers entity and Knowledge Graph optimization, AI crawler access, citable research content, earned mentions and AI share-of-voice tracking.
- Pricing: not published. Scoped per client.
- Proof: no figure published on its GEO page.
- AI presence: 807 ChatGPT mentions, the second highest in this group after WebFX (1,224).
8. Omniscient Digital: best for B2B SaaS content teams
Omniscient Digital is based in Austin, Texas. Its GEO service covers LLM opportunity and competitor citation analysis, a technical assessment, source-worthy content, entity optimization, PR-driven citations and ongoing mention monitoring.
- Pricing: full-service engagements from $10,000/month.
- Proof: +81% LLM visibility and +140% AI citations in 60 days for a SaaS client.
- AI presence: 890 citations and 467 mentions.
9. NoGood: best for consumer and ecommerce brands
NoGood is based in New York, with offices in Miami and Dubai. Its AEO service includes an LLM visibility audit, prompt research and monitoring, AEO content, digital PR, schema, a technical audit and agentic commerce optimization.
- Pricing: not published.
- Proof: 23x AI search traffic and 27x conversions from AI platforms for a gaming hardware brand.
- AI presence: 761 citations, with 91 Gemini citations, the second highest Gemini count in this group.
10. iPullRank: best for technical relevance engineering
iPullRank’s GEO service starts with an assessment of AI search visibility, then prioritises opportunities and activates them across content, technical SEO and measurement, using its Relevance Engineering method.
- Pricing: not published.
- Proof: $2.4B in incremental revenue for a major bank.
- AI presence: 370 citations and 212 mentions.
11. Optimist: best for Series A to IPO B2B tech
Optimist’s AEO service covers AI visibility audits across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews, answer-first content, entity optimization and pipeline attribution reporting.
- Pricing: not published. Its contact form starts at a $5K to $9K budget band.
- Proof: 49x LLM revenue and 26x LLM referral traffic for a B2B tech client.
- AI presence: 1,282 mentions against 184 citations, the widest gap in this group.
12. Minuttia: best for established B2B SaaS
Minuttia operates globally. Its GEO service combines Google and AI search strategy, content, digital PR, Reddit marketing, paid media and agent analytics.
- Pricing: minimum project of $4,000.
- Proof: +665% LLM traffic and +2,700% LLM conversions for a search software company.
- AI presence: 104 citations and 36 mentions.
What the AI citation data shows
- Google AI Overviews is where agencies get cited. 77.3% of the 27,197 citations sit there. If an agency reports ChatGPT wins only, ask for the AI Overviews numbers too.
- Size wins citations, focus wins mentions. WebFX has 15,287 citations. Optimist has 184, yet it is named 1,282 times, 445 of them in ChatGPT. Third-party coverage drives mentions even when your own pages are not linked.
- ChatGPT favours named brands over links. Across the group, ChatGPT produced 1,474 citations but 3,471 mentions. It names agencies more than it links to them.
How to choose an AEO agency: 5 questions to ask
- Which AI engines do you track, and can I see the prompt list?
- What is my current citation and mention count, and what number do you expect at 90 days?
- Does AEO sit on top of SEO in your plan, or replace it? (It should sit on top.)
- What is the published starting price and minimum term?
- Can you show one case study with a before and after AI citation number?
FAQ
What does an AEO agency do?
An AEO agency makes a brand easy for AI engines to find, trust and quote. The work covers entity and schema markup, answer-first content, AI crawler access and earning mentions on third-party sites, then tracking citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Google AI Overviews.
How much does an AEO agency cost?
Published AEO pricing in this list runs from a $495 audit (Kadima Digital) to $3,000/month (WebFX entry tier), $4,000 minimum projects (Minuttia) and $10,000/month (Omniscient Digital). Most agencies on this list do not publish a price.
Is AEO the same as SEO?
No. SEO earns rankings in search results. AEO earns citations and mentions inside AI answers. They overlap: Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT search both draw on pages that already rank, so AEO works best on top of SEO, not instead of it.
Which AI engine matters most for agencies?
By volume, Google AI Overviews. In our October 2026 data it carries 77.3% of agency citations, against 5.4% for ChatGPT. ChatGPT matters more for brand mentions, with 3,471 mentions across the group.
Can an agency guarantee a ChatGPT or AI Overview mention?
No. AI answers change by prompt, location, model and source set. A credible agency promises a process, a prompt list and a monthly citation report, not a fixed placement.
Check your own AI citations
See where your brand stands in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews before you talk to any agency. The check is free and needs no email.