AEO for agencies
Answer engine optimization for agencies.
Agency selection is the purest recommendation question there is: a client describes their situation and asks who should do the work. There is no product to trial and no free tier — the shortlist is the entire funnel. Agencies also compete against directories and listicles that already own the query.
Free scan. $99 one-time if you continue — refunded in full if you aren't mentioned on 2+ engines in 45 days.
The questions that decide it
What your buyers actually ask.
These are the shapes of question that put a agency on a shortlist. Your tracked prompt set is built from the versions your buyers use.
“best Shopify agency for fashion brands”
“who should I hire to redesign my website”
“top B2B marketing agencies for SaaS”
“best web development agency in [city]”
“agency vs freelancer for [project type]”
“how much does a branding agency cost”
“best agencies for [platform] migration”
“which agency specialises in [niche]”
Where it matters most
Not every engine matters equally here.
This vertical is unusually spread. ChatGPT and Claude answer the open "who should I hire" questions, while Gemini and AI Overviews pull in when the query carries a location. Because agencies are frequently asked about with a city attached, local signals matter more here than in other service businesses.
What we find
Why agencies stay invisible.
These are the patterns that come up again and again in this vertical — not a generic checklist.
Specialisation stated once, never demonstrated
A single portfolio tag saying 'fashion' reads as a project category. Depth is what reads as expertise: a service page, a guide, several case studies and an FAQ all pointing at the same niche.
Case studies with no outcomes
Process narratives — discovery, wireframes, launch — give a model nothing to justify a recommendation with. A number and a timeframe turns a story into evidence an engine can quote.
Slogan homepage
"We build beautiful things" contains no category noun, no service, no client type and no geography. It is the single most common reason a competent agency is invisible.
Losing to directories by default
Clutch, DesignRush and 'top 10 agencies' listicles are structured exactly the way engines want. If you are absent from them, the engine answers entirely from sources that rank your competitors.
The structured data that matters here
Choosing the most specific applicable type is what turns a generic business into a recognisable agency.
ProfessionalServiceOrganizationServiceReview
What corroboration looks like
Engines weigh what other sources say about you. In this vertical, these are the sources that carry weight.
- Clutch, DesignRush or platform-partner directory listings
- Named client logos with linkable case studies
- Platform partner badges (Shopify, HubSpot, Webflow)
- Speaking, podcasts and press that name the agency
FAQ
Questions from agencies.
Should we narrow our positioning to get recommended?
Narrowing helps considerably, because engines match specific need to specific provider. An agency that credibly owns one niche gets named for that niche; a generalist competes against every agency on earth for a query nobody asks in that shape.
Do directory listings still matter?
For agencies, more than almost any other signal. Directories are structured, frequently updated and heavily cited, so a listing often reaches an engine faster than anything on your own domain.
We do great work but never write about it. Is that fatal?
It is the whole problem. Engines cannot recommend work they cannot read. Turning existing projects into outcome-led case studies is usually the highest-return work available to an agency.
How is this measured?
Your prompts are asked on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude and the answers recorded — whether you were named, in what position, and which pages were cited. The record is what the 45-day guarantee is judged on, so there is no interpretation involved.
What does it cost?
$99 once for a 45-day sprint. If your business isn't mentioned on at least 2 of the four engines by the end of it, you are refunded in full.
AEO for other industries
Ready to become the answer?
Free scan in ten seconds. $99 to fix it — refunded in full if we don't.