Evaluate SEO agencies on five dimensions: case studies with revenue or qualified-lead impact, engineering capacity to ship work into your codebase, AEO-readiness (do they think about ChatGPT and Perplexity, not just Google), proprietary tooling and a clear methodology rather than a generic playbook. Avoid agencies whose primary deliverable is monthly reports without execution.
1. Show me a case study with revenue impact, not just ranking screenshots. 2. Do you ship code into our codebase or only write briefs for our team? 3. How do you approach AEO and AI citation? 4. What proprietary tools or benchmarks do you bring to the engagement? 5. Run the free Readiness Check on your own site - what does it score?
Guaranteed rankings (impossible to guarantee). 'Top of Google in 30 days' promises. No case studies or only screenshot-style proof. Reluctance to discuss methodology specifics. Pricing dramatically below or above market without clear scope differences.
Specific case studies with revenue impact. Engineering team that ships code. Public tooling (Readiness Check, llms.txt validator, etc.). Combined SEO + AEO methodology. Clear scope and KPIs in proposal. Free scoping call before commercial discussion.
Run the free 50-signal AI Agent Readiness Check or book a free scoping call.
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