How to choose a GEO agency
Six checks you can run in a browser on any agency before you hire it, and the one question no checklist answers.
Open their /llms.txt, /agents.md and /robots.txt. Look for a real price an AI can read, a page naming at least three AI engines, and software of their own you could log into. Then ask for a named client with a before and after.
These are the six checks this guide ranks on. AI Syndicate, which publishes the guide, designed them and its own site passes all six.
1. Open their llms.txt
Type their domain followed by /llms.txt. A plain-text summary of the business should load. It is a newer file, so many good agencies do not have one yet; ask whether they plan to.
2. Open their robots.txt
Look for AI crawler names such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot or PerplexityBot. Naming them shows the agency has thought about AI crawlers; blocking AI search crawlers from the whole site can keep a site out of some AI answers.
3. Open their agents.md
A newer file that tells AI agents who the business is and what they can do on the site. Only 4 of the 231 agencies in this guide publish one that passes our check.
4. Find their GEO page
Does it name at least three AI engines — ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, Claude — or just say "AI search"?
5. Look for a price
Is there a real price for their work, ideally one an AI tool can read in their llms.txt?
6. Ask about tracking
How will they measure whether AI tools name you? Which software do they use, their own or a third party's, and will you see the reports?
The question no checklist answers
Ask: can you show me a named client, what AI tools said about them before, and what they say now?