We sell AEO work, and some of you should not buy it. Here are six situations where paying an agency is the wrong move, and the free path to take instead.
Most content about hiring help exists to convince you to hire help. This is the opposite: a filter you can run before you spend anything.
You should not hire us, or anyone, if...
1. You have not run the test yourself yet
Ask ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity five buyer questions. It takes about 30 minutes and costs nothing. If you are named and described correctly, you may not have a problem worth paying to fix. The steps are in Five questions to test your brand in ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.
2. Your site cannot be crawled
If the AI crawlers cannot reach your pages, no amount of content work helps. Checking robots.txt, your firewall and your raw HTML is free, and it is often an afternoon of work. Start with Can AI crawlers read your site?
3. You want a guaranteed placement
Nobody controls what an AI engine says. Answers can differ from one run to the next, and the engines change. Anyone who promises you a position is selling something they cannot deliver.
4. You want a dashboard, not a fix
Tracking tools show whether you are mentioned. They do not change what is said. If a chart is all you need, buy the chart. Paying for fixes you will not use is the expensive version of the same mistake.
5. Nobody inside owns the outcome
Someone has to approve your real prices, services and claims, and answer questions fast. An agency cannot be the source of truth about your own business.
6. You have a small site and a small budget
One hour a week is enough to start. The routine is in A 60-minute weekly AEO routine for small teams. Run it for a month before you decide you need more.
When hiring is worth it
- You have many locations, products or pages, and the facts on them change often.
- Your claims are regulated or technical and need careful wording.
- The wrong information is spread across many places you do not control: listings, review sites, old articles.
- You have no one with time to test every week and act on what the tests show.
- You need one person coordinating fixes across your site, your listings and your press.
What to ask any agency, including us
- How do you test, and can I see the raw answers, not just a score?
- What exactly will you change, and where?
- What can you not control, and how do you say so in the contract?
- What would make you tell me not to buy?
If an agency cannot answer the fourth question, that tells you something.
Not sure which side of the line you are on? The free AI Visibility Score gives you a scored starting point before you spend a dollar.