How to Verify a GEO Agency Before You Pay: 8 Questions That Expose the Fakes

Most GEO and AEO agencies in Singapore did not exist twelve months ago. They repackaged an SEO deck, swapped “Google rankings” for “AI citations,” and started taking calls. Ask these eight questions before you sign anything, and you will know in under thirty minutes whether the person across the table has actually done this work — or just read the same blog posts you have.

What GEO and AEO agencies actually do: A legitimate Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) or Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) agency restructures your content so that large language models — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s AI Overviews, Gemini — retrieve and cite it when a user asks a relevant question. The work involves structured data, entity authority, answer-formatted content, and placement on sites the models trust. It improves your probability of citation; no reputable practitioner guarantees a specific ranking or volume of AI-driven traffic.

Why This Vetting Matters Right Now

AI search is real. GEO and AEO as disciplines have genuine, documented mechanics — schema markup, DR authority signals, answer-density, entity consistency. The problem is the category is six months old in Singapore and entirely unregulated. Any freelancer with a Canva deck can call themselves an AI search specialist.

Singapore SEO retainers for SMEs typically run SGD 1,500–4,000 per month. Productised AEO/GEO retainers globally run roughly USD 2,000–10,000 per month. That is real money. Spending it on an agency that cannot answer Question 3 below is a mistake you will notice on your P&L by Q3.

The eight questions below are ordered by how quickly they reveal competence. Work through them in sequence. By Question 4, you will usually have enough signal.

The 8 Questions — In Order

1. Show me a piece of content you structured specifically for AI retrieval — not for Google rankings.
   Any agency that has done real GEO work can pull up a URL within two minutes. The content will have a clear question-and-answer structure, a quotable definition paragraph, an FAQ block with schema markup, and factual claims with attribution. If they show you a standard blog post with a keyword-stuffed H1, that is your answer. Ask follow-up: “What specific schema types did you use and why?” Real practitioners name FAQPage, Article, HowTo without hesitation.
2. Which AI models does your work target, and how does your approach differ between them?
   ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Claude each retrieve sources differently. Perplexity, for instance, weights real-time web results heavily and favours sites with high domain authority and clean structured data. Google’s AI Overviews pull from indexed content Google already trusts. A practitioner who treats all four as identical has not studied the category. You want to hear specifics — even if partial — not a generic “we optimise for all AI engines.”
3. What is your entity-authority strategy for a new client?
   This is the question that most fakers fail. Entity authority means making sure your brand, your founders, and your key topics are consistently named and described across the web — Wikipedia-style disambiguation, even for small businesses. A real GEO practitioner will mention entity consistency, Knowledge Graph signals, and structured brand mentions on third-party sites. If they look blank, or pivot immediately to “we’ll build backlinks,” they are doing SEO and calling it GEO.
4. Show me a citation result — a real AI output that quoted your client’s content.
   This is the product. If they cannot show you a single screenshot or a reproducible prompt-and-response demonstrating that a client was cited in an AI answer, they have not delivered the service yet. That may be acceptable for a very new agency — but only if they are transparent about it and price accordingly. A fair answer is: “We are early, here is what we have, here is our methodology.” An unfair answer is a vague reference to “improved visibility” without evidence.
5. What is the role of editorial placements in your retainer, and what DR range do the sites have?
   AI models draw authority signals partly from which sites link to and mention your brand. Legitimate practitioners use sponsored editorial placements on established Singapore publications or niche authority sites. A sponsored editorial placement on a Singapore DR 30–55 site runs roughly SGD 145–1,175 one-off — that is a real, bounded cost you should see itemised in any retainer. If an agency bundles “authority building” without naming the sites or showing domain ratings, ask why.
6. How do you measure success, and what will you report monthly?
   Because AI citations do not always drive trackable clicks, measurement in GEO is genuinely harder than in SEO. A good answer involves: citation frequency (manual prompt testing across target queries), brand mention monitoring, share of voice in AI outputs over time, and — where relevant — organic traffic trends as a secondary signal. A bad answer is “we’ll track your Google rankings.” That is SEO. A worse answer is a guaranteed traffic number. Anyone guaranteeing specific AI-driven traffic volumes in 2026 is guessing.
7. What is your content production process and who writes the work?
   GEO content requires factual density, quotable definitions, and structured answers — not keyword-padded filler. Ask whether their writers understand the subject matter or are working from briefs. Ask whether they use AI generation without human editorial review (a real risk for citation-worthiness, since LLMs are less likely to cite content that reads like LLM output). Understand the revision process and turnaround. “Replies within four working days on content reviews” is a real SLA; “fast turnaround” is not.
8. Who should NOT hire you?
   This is the last question, and it is the most revealing. A confident, honest agency has a clear answer. They will say something like: “If you need traffic this quarter, we are not your lever — GEO compounds over six to twelve months.” Or: “If your industry has no search volume in AI queries yet, we will tell you and not take your money.” An agency that says everyone should hire them is telling you they have not thought about fit. Fit matters. A wrong-fit retainer wastes twelve months and SGD 30,000–50,000 you will not recover.

Red Flags That Override Good Answers

Even if an agency passes all eight questions, watch for these. A contract that guarantees a specific AI ranking position is not a confident promise — it is a contractual fiction, because no agency controls what ChatGPT retrieves. Walk away. Similarly, any agency that implies government grant funding covers their service without naming the exact grant scheme and their pre-approved status should be pressed for specifics. Kaizenaire is not a PSG pre-approved vendor; we say so plainly. Agencies that are vague about funding eligibility are often hoping you will not check.

Pressure to sign within 24 hours is a tactic, not a deadline. Real services in a 12-month retainer category do not evaporate overnight.

What Realistic Results Look Like

Set your expectations before the first meeting, not after the first invoice. GEO is a compounding, probabilistic discipline. Good work improves your probability of citation on relevant queries — it does not guarantee traffic, leads, or revenue on a fixed timeline. Most practitioners will tell you that meaningful citation frequency takes three to six months of consistent work to establish, and that the lift is most visible on informational and comparison queries, not transactional ones.

The businesses that get the most from GEO tend to have some existing content authority, a clear area of topical focus, and patience for a medium-term play. If you need pipeline this quarter, review the full scope of AEO, GEO and SEO options — sometimes a well-optimised Google Business Profile and a few targeted SEO pages move faster for immediate ROI.

How to Use These Questions Practically

Send the list in advance. Any agency that refuses to answer in writing before a call is signalling that they prefer the controlled environment of a sales pitch. Real practitioners are not threatened by direct questions — they have done the work and the answers come quickly.

Take notes on hesitation, not just answers. An agency that pauses, pivots, or qualifies heavily on Questions 1, 3, and 4 is telling you something. An agency that answers 1, 3, and 4 with specifics and admits uncertainty on 6 (measurement) is probably being honest about the state of the category.

Compare two or three agencies minimum. The market is new enough that pricing and methodology vary widely. You will learn more from the contrast than from any individual pitch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Before you commit budget to any agency, run a free AI-Visibility Check with Kaizenaire — it takes ten minutes and gives you a baseline of where your brand currently appears in AI search, so you are not walking into an agency conversation empty-handed.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much should a GEO or AEO retainer cost in Singapore?

Productised AEO/GEO retainers globally run roughly USD 2,000–10,000 per month, depending on content volume and authority-building activity. Singapore SEO retainers for SMEs typically run SGD 1,500–4,000 per month for comparison. Any Singapore-based GEO retainer priced significantly below SGD 1,500/month warrants close scrutiny of what is actually included — particularly whether editorial placements and structured content production are part of the scope.

Can an AEO or GEO agency guarantee my business appears in ChatGPT?

No legitimate agency can guarantee a specific position or frequency in any AI model’s output. The models retrieve content probabilistically, based on authority signals, content structure, and query context — none of which any agency fully controls. Good work improves your probability of citation. If an agency guarantees specific AI rankings in a contract, treat that clause as a red flag, not a reassurance.

How long does GEO take to show results?

Most practitioners estimate three to six months before citation frequency becomes measurable on target queries. This assumes consistent content production, structured markup, and active authority building throughout. GEO is a compounding discipline — the first two months typically involve foundational work with limited visible output. If you need results in under three months, discuss this explicitly before signing.

What is the difference between SEO, AEO, and GEO?

SEO optimises for traditional search engine rankings — Google’s blue links. AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) structures content so it is retrieved as a direct answer, typically in featured snippets or voice search. GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) goes further — it optimises for citation inside AI-generated responses from models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews. The three overlap but require different content strategies and authority signals.

Should a small Singapore business invest in GEO right now?

It depends on your query landscape. If your customers are already using AI tools to research your category — common in professional services, tech, finance, and education — early investment in GEO builds a compounding advantage. If your category has minimal AI search activity yet, the ROI case is weaker in the short term. A baseline audit of your current AI visibility, before any retainer commitment, is the most defensible first step.

What should a GEO agency deliverable actually look like?

Monthly deliverables from a credible GEO agency typically include: structured content pieces with schema markup, a citation-monitoring report (prompt testing across target queries), editorial placement activity with named sites and domain ratings, and a brief on entity-authority progress. If your monthly report is a keyword rankings table, you are receiving an SEO service regardless of what it says on the invoice.

How do I know if my business is even visible in AI search right now?

Run a set of prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews that a prospective customer would use — “best [your service] in Singapore,” “[your category] near [your area],” and comparison queries. Note whether your business is named, cited, or entirely absent. This manual check takes fifteen minutes and gives you a working baseline. A structured audit goes deeper — covering entity consistency, schema presence, and authority signals across your site and third-party mentions.