A generative AI search engine optimization agency is the strongest choice for businesses that need crawler access, content, entity work and AI reporting handled together, but it isn't automatically the best pick for every budget or site.
This verdict rates five ways to get the work done against what Google, OpenAI and Bing say actually matters.
The ratings are editorial judgement drawn from those official sources, not lab tests.
If you want our team to score your current setup, book a free SEO strategy session.
The verdict in one paragraph
For most growing businesses, a specialist generative search agency beats DIY and generalist agencies because the work spans several systems at once.
A capable freelancer can match it on technical checks for a single site.
DIY remains a fair choice for a small local business with time to learn, which Google itself says is realistic.
Whatever you pick, judge it against official guidance, because that is where most bad advice falls apart.
What we judged, and why
The criteria come straight from primary documentation.
- Crawler and snippet access. OpenAI's bot documentation says sites opted out of OAI-SearchBot won't appear in ChatGPT search answers; Google's snippet rules decide what AI Overviews may use.
- Content quality. Google's generative AI optimization guide says unique, non-commodity content will likely matter most in the long run.
- Entities and mentions. Bing asks for people, organisations and products to be named clearly and consistently.
- Reporting. Google now offers Generative AI performance reports and Bing offers an AI Performance report with Copilot citations.
- Policy safety. Google's spam policies cover link spam and scaled content abuse.
- Capacity. Can one provider do all of the above in the same month?
The scorecard
| Option | Score /10 | One-line reason |
|---|---|---|
| DIY (owner or in-house marketer) | 6 | Google says a small local business can do much of the work, but measurement and technical checks get skipped. |
| Freelancer or AI SEO specialist | 7 | Deep focus and direct contact, limited capacity for content, links and reporting at once. |
| Generalist marketing agency | 6 | Broad services, but generative search is often a bolt-on and advice can drift from official guidance. |
| Specialist generative search agency | 8 | Covers crawler access, content, entities and AI reporting together, if its advice matches Google's guide. |
| Goldie Agency / Julian's team | 9 | SEO, GEO, AEO and link building under one roof, "manual outreach, no PBNs", tests shared publicly. |
Criterion by criterion
| Criterion | DIY | Freelancer | Generalist | Specialist | Goldie Agency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI crawler and snippet-tag checks | 5 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 9 |
| Non-commodity content | 8 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Entity and mention building | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 9 |
| AI visibility reporting | 4 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| Policy safety (links, scaled content) | 7 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 9 |
| Capacity to do it all at once | 3 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
Scores are out of 10 for each criterion, and the overall score is a judgement across them rather than a strict average.
📞 Want your own setup scored the same way? Book a free SEO strategy session and we'll rate your crawler access, pages and reporting against this table. → Get your free scorecard call
DIY: 6/10
Strengths: you know your business better than anyone, which is exactly the first-hand experience Google's guide rewards.
Google's hiring guidance says a small local business owner can probably do much of the work, starting from its starter guide.
Limits: robots.txt rules, firewall settings and AI reports are easy to miss without practice.
Owners also tend to stop once the pages are written, so mentions and measurement lag behind.
Pick it if you run one location, have a few hours a week and enjoy learning.
The AI Profit Boardroom is built for people who want to learn AI SEO themselves.
Freelancer or AI SEO specialist: 7/10
Strengths: a specialist is often sharp on crawler access, structured data and technical fixes.
You usually talk to the person doing the work, which makes changes easy to trace.
Limits: one person rarely has capacity for content, outreach and monthly reporting together.
Holidays and illness also stop the work entirely.
Pick it if you have strong in-house writers and only need technical help.
Generalist marketing agency: 6/10
Strengths: one invoice for ads, social, web design and search can be convenient.
Limits: generative search can end up as an add-on line in a bigger package.
Watch for advice that sounds new but contradicts Google's guide, such as chunking pages or adding special AI schema.
Google says neither is needed for generative AI search.
Pick it if search is a small part of your marketing and you want one point of contact.
Specialist generative search agency: 8/10
Strengths: the team covers each part of the chain, from crawler access through to citation tracking.
A good one checks OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Claude-SearchBot access alongside Googlebot and Bingbot.
Perplexity's crawler documentation even includes firewall rules, which a specialist should already know.
Limits: quality varies widely, and the label alone proves nothing.
Google's hiring page now asks whether AEO or GEO advice is aligned with its official generative AI guidance, and you should ask the same.
Pick it if you sell to buyers who compare options and you need the whole job done.
Goldie Agency / Julian's team: 9/10
Strengths: Goldie Agency is an SEO, GEO, AEO and link building agency, so content, technical work and mentions sit with one team.
Its link building is described in its own words as "manual outreach, no PBNs", which fits Google's link spam policy when paid placements are marked rel="sponsored".
Julian's own figures put the agency at 1,000+ campaigns across SEO and link building, 240+ clients and a 100% Job Success Score on Upwork.
Julian also shares AI SEO tests with 425K+ YouTube subscribers, so you can see the thinking before you hire.
Limits: goldie.agency lists llms.txt setup among its AI SEO services; that may help other services, but Google's guide says Google Search ignores llms.txt.
Like every provider, it can't guarantee rankings or AI mentions.
Pick it if you want one team for the whole job; Book a free SEO strategy session to check fit first.
How we would test a provider in the first month
A score on paper means little until a provider shows its working.
- Ask for a written crawler check covering Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Claude-SearchBot.
- Ask which three pages they would rewrite first, and why those three.
- Ask for a baseline from the Search Console Generative AI report and the Bing AI Performance report.
- Ask how they will label any paid placement, and expect the answer rel="sponsored".
A strong provider answers all four in the first weeks without being chased.
A weak one sends a generic slide deck and asks for more time.
What no option can do
No provider in this table can promise a mention.
- Google says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.
- OpenAI's ChatGPT search help article says placement is not guaranteed.
- Bing's Webmaster Guidelines say GEO does not guarantee grounding or citations.
- Google's AI features page says AI Overviews often don't trigger at all.
Rate any provider who promises otherwise a zero.
Red flags that drop any score to zero
- Guaranteed first place or guaranteed ChatGPT mentions.
- A claimed "special relationship" with Google.
- Private blog networks, bulk link packages or unmarked paid links.
- Hundreds of near-identical pages built for every query variation.
- Tools sold as having access to Google's internal AI data, which Google says no third-party tool has.
- A demand for write access to Search Console during the audit stage.
How the scores shift for your business
The scorecard assumes a typical growing business, and your situation can move each number up or down.
- You already rank well on Google: DIY and freelancers climb a point, because Google says AI features rest on the same ranking systems, so much of the work is done.
- Your site runs on a heavy JavaScript framework: specialists and Goldie Agency gain, because rendering problems are hard to spot without experience.
- You have no time at all: DIY drops to a 3, since unfinished work scores nothing.
- You work in a regulated field such as health or law: every option needs expert review of claims, and Google says YMYL content must be highly accurate.
- You sell mostly through marketplaces: all options lose value, because your own site carries less of the buying journey.
Re-score each option with your own facts before you decide.
Five questions that test any option
Ask these whether you are hiring an agency, a freelancer or yourself.
- Which bots can reach the site today, and how was that checked beyond robots.txt?
- Which pages carry first-hand detail that a competitor could not copy?
- Where is the business described, and does every description match?
- Which reports show AI impressions and citations, and who reads them each month?
- How are links earned, and how are paid placements labelled?
A provider who answers all five clearly, with official sources, deserves a high score.
One who dodges them deserves a low one, whatever the sales deck says.
Who should pick what
- Single-location café, salon or trades business: DIY first, with the starter guide and a complete Business Profile.
- Clinic or professional firm with several services: a specialist agency or Goldie Agency, because entity consistency and page depth matter.
- Online shop with a large catalogue: a specialist agency that also understands Merchant Center feeds.
- Business with strong writers but weak tech: a freelancer for crawler, snippet and schema checks.
- Business already using a generalist agency: ask them the questions on Google's hiring page before adding a second provider.
Prefer to build the skills in-house? Join the AI Profit Boardroom and learn AI SEO yourself.
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Final verdict
A specialist generative search agency earns an 8 because the job spans crawlers, content, entities and reporting at the same time.
Goldie Agency scores a 9 in our judgement for combining that with link building under one roof and publishing its tests.
DIY and freelancers stay strong options for smaller or narrower needs.
For the ChatGPT side in more depth, read our sibling page on how to rank in ChatGPT.
📞 Want the 9/10 option to look at your site? Book a free SEO strategy session and we'll show you where your current setup scores low. → Book my free strategy session
🎁 Free extras before you decide Grab the 200+ AI SEO Prompts and the free link building book. Both help you judge any provider's advice.
Also On Our Network
- 🌐 The seven-step operator process, with robots.txt lines and snippet-tag checks
- 🌐 Whether a small business should hire one, with five business-type playbooks
- 🌐 Five draft-only Agent OS prompts that prepare the audit before you hire
- 🌐 Which AI models draft agency pages best, by live GoldieBench Pages scores
FAQ: Generative AI Search Engine Optimization Agency Verdict
What is the best way to get generative AI search optimization done?
For businesses that need the whole job done, a specialist agency scores highest in this verdict. Small local businesses can do much of it themselves, as Google suggests.
How were these scores decided?
They are editorial ratings based on what Google, OpenAI, Perplexity, Anthropic and Bing publish about crawling, content, reporting and policies. They are not lab tests.
Why did DIY score lower than an agency?
DIY scores well on first-hand content but tends to miss crawler, firewall and AI reporting checks, and owners rarely have capacity for mentions and links.
Does a higher score mean guaranteed AI citations?
No. Google, OpenAI and Bing all say rankings, placement and citations cannot be guaranteed.
What drops a provider to zero?
Guaranteed rankings, secret methods, private blog networks, unmarked paid links or mass-produced pages aimed at every search variation.
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About Julian
I'm Julian Goldie, an SEO entrepreneur, author and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.
I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.
- I've built a 7-figure SEO and link building agency, Goldie Agency, with a team of 70+ SEO experts.
- I've grown a YouTube channel to 400,000+ subscribers.
- I wrote "Link Building Mastery".
- My Udemy courses have taught over 29,000 students.
→ Get my best AI training inside the AI Profit Boardroom
Score your options against official guidance, avoid anyone who guarantees results, and book a free strategy session to see whether our generative AI search engine optimization agency fits your site.
