Two years ago almost nobody sold generative engine optimisation (GEO). Now most search agencies offer it, and the "best GEO agency" lists are mostly written by agencies ranking themselves first. That makes choosing hard.
This guide does three things: explains what a GEO agency should actually do, gives you the questions that separate real expertise from a rebadged SEO package, and lists agencies worth putting on a shortlist. We're one of them, and we've said so clearly below. Everyone else is described from their own published work, as of October 2026. We haven't worked with any of them, and you should check everything here yourself.
What a GEO agency should do
The goal of GEO is simple to state: when someone asks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews about your category, your brand is named, accurately. Getting there involves two kinds of work:
- Your own site. Clear facts, structured data, pages that answer the questions buyers ask, and a site AI tools can read easily.
- Everyone else's. The forums, communities, review platforms, press and reference pages that models quote. In most categories, this is where the answer is actually built.
Most agencies selling GEO started in SEO, so they're strongest on the first. Ask how much of their work is on the second.
Six things to look for
- A baseline before anything else. A fixed set of buyer questions, put to several models, with sources recorded. Without it, nobody can show progress.
- Source-level diagnosis. They should tell you which specific threads, reviews and articles shape your answer, not just give you a score.
- Work beyond your website. Reviews, communities, digital PR and reference pages, done in house or with named partners.
- Honest methods. Real, disclosed accounts. No paid or incentivised reviews, no review gating, no undisclosed Wikipedia editing. Shortcuts get brands banned and models learn to ignore them.
- Coverage for your markets. The right countries, languages and platforms. A clinic in Lyon and a software company selling across the EU need different sources.
- Reporting you can check. Monthly share of answer against named competitors, with the raw answers available. We wrote up the measures that matter.
Questions to ask in the first call
- What does AI say about us today, and how did you find out?
- Which sources will you work on first, and why those?
- How do you measure progress, and can we see the raw answers?
- What do you do on platforms that don't allow brand participation?
- What's your policy on reviews: do you ever incentivise or filter them?
- What will we have if we stop working with you after three months?
Red flags
- Guarantees. Nobody controls what a model says. "We'll get you to #1 in ChatGPT" is a guess dressed as a promise.
- Volume as the strategy. Hundreds of AI-written articles a month rarely move an answer, and can hurt your site.
- No sources in the reporting. A score with no explanation can't be acted on.
- Vague answers about reviews and Reddit. If they won't say plainly how they get reviews or post on Reddit, assume the worst.
- No baseline. If they start work before measuring where you are, they can't show what changed.
A shortlist
Plámenos (that's us)
We're including ourselves, so read this entry with that in mind. We're an AI visibility agency: most of our work is on the sources models quote rather than your own site. That means Reddit and other communities, local and niche forums, review platforms, Wikipedia, press and directories, plus websites and training when they're needed. Every engagement starts with a fixed-price audit. Good fit: brands that need the conversation about them to change, including local and multi-location businesses. Not the right fit: if what you mainly need is large-scale content production or a technical SEO overhaul of a very large site.
POLARIS (London)
An established search agency covering SEO, digital PR and link building, with sector work in areas such as financial services and ecommerce, and published guidance on AI search and answer engine optimisation. Worth a look if: you want GEO run alongside SEO and digital PR by one team.
Passion Digital (London)
A digital marketing agency covering SEO, local SEO and paid media, and now part of Pixis. It publishes guidance on generative engine optimisation. Worth a look if: you want GEO as part of a wider paid and organic programme.
Novos (London)
A search agency working with brands across the UK, Europe and the US. Worth a look if: your GEO work spans several countries.
Found and Blue Array (UK)
UK search agencies that appear on several 2026 GEO shortlists. We don't know enough about their GEO practice to say more, so ask them the questions above.
Often compared, based outside Europe
You'll see these in most lists, and they're worth knowing even if you want a European partner:
- iPullRank (US): a technical search agency known for in-depth guides, including a long-form manual on AI search, and for website migration work.
- Discovered Labs (US): focused on B2B software, publishing widely on AI citation tracking, answer engine optimisation and Reddit.
- RevenueZen (US): a B2B SEO and answer engine optimisation agency, with sector work in financial and professional services.
Tools rather than agencies
If you have a team that can do the work and you mainly need measurement, a tracking tool may be enough. Profound, Peec AI and Otterly.AI are the most common. We compared tracking tools and audits, including when you need each.
How to decide
Shortlist three. Ask each the six questions above. Ask to see a sample report with real answers and sources, with client names removed. Then choose the one whose plan you understand, whose methods you'd be comfortable seeing in a news story, and whose reporting you could check yourself.
If you want a baseline before talking to anyone, you can run one yourself in an afternoon. It'll make every agency conversation, including one with us, more useful.