How to choose the best AEO or local SEO agency for contractors

1. How to tell a useful agency from a good sales pitch
2. Why AEO and SEO agencies are hard to compare
3. What our recorded answers show about agency proof
4. How to choose an AEO or local SEO agency, step by step
5. Questions owners ask
6. How we got these numbers
7. Sources
8. See it on your own website

How to tell a useful agency from a good sales pitch

Maybe you searched for the best AEO agency, or a company called offering to get you "recommended by ChatGPT." AEO means answer engine optimization: helping AI assistants find and trust your business. GEO and AI SEO are other names for the same idea. This guide shows how to judge a proposal.

Start with the lists. Before you trust a page of the "best AEO agencies," check who published it. A company that sells the service may rank itself or its partners near the top. The FTC's rule on reviews bars a business from pretending that a site it controls gives independent reviews of its own kind of product ¹.

So set the label and the ranking aside and judge the proposal itself. A useful one connects four things you can check:

1. A real question your customers ask, such as "who can fix a leaking water heater in Largo today?"
2. What the assistants answered, which pages they relied on, and what they couldn't confirm about you, with the sources.
3. The specific changes the agency will make, and who makes each one: the agency or you.
4. How the result will be measured, over how many answers, on which dates, and what the agency can't control.

Google's advice on hiring an SEO asks for the same evidence: examples of past work, the results to expect and in what time, and how success is measured ². It also suggests asking whether the provider will share every change it makes, with its reasoning ². And it says a small local business can probably do much of the work itself ².

Merchant Context, which publishes this guide, sells one kind of service described here: a managed website with ongoing checks of ChatGPT, Claude and Google. Its own page says it doesn't guarantee rankings or AI recommendations ³. Hold us to every question below, too.

Why AEO and SEO agencies are hard to compare

The label tells you little about the work

One agency sells AEO, another GEO, a third local SEO with AI. Google says optimizing for generative AI search is still SEO ⁴, and its hiring advice asks whether a provider's AEO or GEO advice matches Google's guidance ². Google speaks only for its own search, not for ChatGPT or Claude. Either way, ask what the work actually is.

Some "AI hacks" are things Google says to ignore

Google lists AI search ideas you can ignore for its search. You don't need special AI text files such as LLMS.txt, extra markup or Markdown copies of your pages ⁴. You don't need to chop pages into small pieces or rewrite them for AI, and chasing fake "mentions" isn't as helpful as it might seem ⁴.

None of these is harmful, and Google says an LLMS.txt file neither helps nor hurts in its search ⁴. The problem is a proposal built mainly on them. You would be paying for things Google's search doesn't use.

More pages is not more work done

A proposal may promise hundreds of new pages, one for every way a customer might phrase a search. Google warns that making separate pages for every variation, mainly to sway rankings or AI answers, breaks its policy against mass-produced content ⁴. Its spam policies give examples: using AI tools to generate many pages that add nothing for users ⁵, and pages aimed at specific cities that all funnel people to one page ⁵.

A page for each job you do and each town you serve can be useful, if each carries real, specific facts. Ask to see a sample page before agreeing to a page count. If the agency writes with AI tools, ask who checks the facts, as Google says every AI-written page needs ⁶.

Badges and tools don't prove search skill

A "Google Partner" badge is about Google Ads. To earn it, the ad accounts an agency manages must spend at least $10,000 over 90 days, and at least half of its ad staff must hold Google Ads certifications ⁷. Google says advertising has no effect on a site's place in its unpaid results ². The badge says nothing about AI answers.

Tools have a similar limit. Google says outside SEO tools have no access to its internal ranking data and can't guarantee performance ⁸. Its test for any advice: good advice labels a claim as opinion based on data or experience, or cites Google's official guidance ⁸.

A success story may not be a typical result

Every agency has a best client. The FTC says ads showing specific results are usually read as what other customers can expect, and adding "results not typical" doesn't change that ⁹. So ask for the typical result for clients like you. As the next section shows, one before-and-after picture proves little.

Recommendations and managed work leave you different jobs

Some agencies send a report of what to fix and leave the fixing to you. Others make the changes themselves. Both can be fine, but a proposal should say plainly which parts you will still do.

Managed work needs access to your accounts, which is where owners most often get stuck. Google's rules for agencies that manage Business Profiles are clear. The business must always keep ownership or co-ownership of its profile ¹⁰. It must be told about every change, and be able to take back sole control within seven business days of asking ¹⁰. An agency that charges a management fee must say in writing that the Business Profile itself costs nothing extra ¹⁰.

In Google Search Console, a verified owner proves ownership with a code placed on your site, and is removed only when that code is removed ¹¹. In Google Analytics, the Administrator role has full control, including adding and removing users ¹². Those top roles should be yours, with the agency added as a user.

What our recorded answers show about agency proof

Between September 2 and October 14, 2026, we asked ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Mode to recommend a local contractor 47,209 times: ChatGPT 19,577, Claude 16,358 and Google AI Mode 11,274. The questions covered HVAC, plumbing, electrical and roofing jobs in towns around Tampa Bay, Florida, each in a fresh conversation with web search on. These are observations of answers, not experiments. They can't compare agencies, but they show what kind of proof means something.

A before-and-after picture can happen with no work at all

Say an agency shows you two screenshots: one from before the work, with its client missing, and one from after, with the client named. We asked many identical questions of the same assistant again, typically 14 days later. We made no changes to any business in between. Here is how often the later answer looked like a success story anyway:

• In 84% of ChatGPT's repeats, the later answer named at least one business the earlier answer had left out. For Claude it was 95%.
• In ChatGPT's later answers, 55% of the businesses named hadn't been named the first time. In Claude's, 75% hadn't. Across all the repeats, a business went from missing to named 9,055 times in ChatGPT and 11,583 times in Claude.
• Most of those gains didn't last. Where the question was asked a third time, 73% of the newly named businesses were missing again in ChatGPT's next answer, and 85% in Claude's.

Some of these businesses may have changed their own sites or listings, and the assistants were updated during these weeks. We counted close spellings of a name as one business, which makes these figures lower, not higher. Google AI Mode's answers in our records don't mark business names, so we couldn't measure it this way.

What this means for you: one "before" and one "after" can be pure chance. Useful proof shows how often the client was named across many runs of the same questions, before and after the work, with the number of answers behind each figure. SparkToro's researchers also judged that share a reasonable measure ¹³.

The work has to reach your website and your Google listing

Of the 31,742 ChatGPT and Claude answers about a specific job, 98% linked to at least one contractor's own website. 53% linked to a directory or review site, and 6.9% to an official license lookup. Google AI Mode worked differently. In 74% of its 9,819 job answers, the links opened Google's own listing for a business, and 42% linked a contractor's website.

So a proposal that covers only your website leaves your Google Business Profile to you, and that is what AI Mode mostly showed. One that covers only the profile leaves the pages ChatGPT and Claude read. Ask which one the price covers, and who handles the other.

A useful audit names what assistants couldn't confirm

Claude usually tells the customer what it couldn't check. In 6,144 of its 14,467 job answers (42%), it said it couldn't find or confirm something about a company. ChatGPT said so in 1.4% of its job answers and Google AI Mode in 0.2%, so these counts describe Claude, not every assistant. What Claude most often couldn't confirm:

• A phone number or other way to reach the company: 3,820 answers.
• Reviews it could check: 1,559 answers.
• Whether the company serves the customer's town or ZIP code: 754 answers.
• A license or insurance it could check: 647 answers.

In at least 283 of Claude's answers, it said it couldn't find a company whose pages mentioned the exact job asked about:

I couldn't confirm that any of them do boilers.

Most listings didn't confirm sealing as a service, so ask about it when you call.

These are the gaps a good audit of your business should find, each with the page or listing where the fact was missing. An audit that lists only generic tasks, with no source for any of them, hasn't looked at your business yet.

What a provider can and can't change

Before this research, we read assistant conversations from late July to August 2026 across eight trades, and recorded each reason a business was named or left out. Below, the first number is the conversations where a reason came up; the second is how many times it cost a business its place. The counts overlap, so don't add them. Some reasons depend on facts being published and easy to check, which an agency can work on:

• Whether the business serves the area asked about: 554 and 350.
• Whether it clearly does the specific job: 440 and 184.
• A direct local phone number that a person answers: 290 and 147.

Others depend on how the business runs, so no agency can supply them:

• How fast the business can come out: 657 and 185.
• How close it is to the customer: 456 and 92.
• How many reviews it has: 569 and 139.

These show what assistants said they weighed, not a formula. An honest proposal works on the first kind and doesn't promise you the second.

How to choose an AEO or local SEO agency, step by step

Work through these steps before you sign anything. They turn a sales call into a list of work, proof and terms you can compare side by side.

1. Write down what you have and what you want

List the jobs you want more of, the towns you serve and the pages that already bring you calls. Note who controls your domain, website, Google Business Profile, Search Console and Google Analytics. Then decide which work you will do yourself and which you want to pay for.

2. Find candidates through people, not rankings

Ask other contractors and suppliers whom they have used. Google suggests checking an SEO's references with past clients ², and being wary of agencies that email you out of the blue ².

3. Ask for one worked example in your trade

Ask each agency to walk you through one past client like you, from start to finish:

• The customer question it checked, and on which assistants.
• What the answers said and linked to before the work, and what they couldn't confirm.
• The change it made, where, and on which date.
• How often the client was named before and after, out of how many answers.
• What it doesn't know, or couldn't control.

Then ask which of its claims were measured and which are its own belief. Google's test for good advice applies here: it labels opinion as opinion, or cites official guidance ⁸.

4. Ask what it would check first on your business

A good agency starts with basics it can show you. Can assistants read your site? OpenAI says sites that block its search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, are not shown in ChatGPT search answers ¹⁴. Anthropic says blocking Claude-SearchBot may reduce a site's visibility in Claude's search results ¹⁵. Then: do your pages name each job, your towns and a working phone number, and do your listings agree?

5. Get the scope in writing

Ask every agency to answer the same questions, so the proposals line up:

• Which pages will you write or change, and can I see a sample first?
• Will you change my Google Business Profile, or recommend changes for me to make?
• Will you fix my name, phone and address on other listings?
• Who checks the facts, and who approves changes before they go live?
• Which questions will you check, on which assistants, and how often?
• Will you share every change you make, with your reasons ²?

6. Check access and ownership before you sign

• Your domain stays registered in your name, in a registrar account you control.
• You stay the primary owner of your Google Business Profile, with the agency as a manager ¹⁰.
• You stay a verified owner in Search Console, and give read access only for an audit ².
• You keep the Administrator role in Google Analytics ¹².

7. Ask what happens when you leave

Ask how long the contract runs, how you cancel, what is refunded, and whether and how the price can change. If the agency builds or hosts your website, ask who owns the design, code and copy, and what happens to the site if you cancel. Get every answer in writing.

8. Walk away from these

• A guaranteed top spot in Google or an AI answer. Google says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking ², and bars Business Profile agencies from guaranteeing top placement ¹⁰.
• A claimed "special relationship" with Google ², or an inside track with OpenAI or Anthropic.
• Offers to buy reviews or write fake ones, which the FTC's rule bans ¹.
• Paid links or link schemes, which Google's spam policies count as spam ⁵.
• Hundreds of near-identical town or service pages ⁵.
• Secrecy about what the agency will change, which Google also flags ².

9. Compare on one sheet, then keep your own record

Put each agency's answers side by side: work included, proof offered, access asked for, terms and price. Pick the one whose work you can check. After you sign, note the date each change goes live. Every few weeks, ask the same customer questions on several days and count how often you're named ¹³. Watch your calls and form requests too.

Questions owners ask

How do I choose a local SEO company for my small business?

Judge the proposal, not the label. Ask for one worked example in your trade that links a customer question, what assistants or Google showed, the change made and a result measured over many answers. Get the scope in writing, including who makes each change. Keep your domain, Google Business Profile, Search Console and Analytics in your own name.

What is the best AEO agency?

No independent body ranks AEO agencies, and a "best agency" list may be published by a company that sells the service. The best choice for you is the one that shows its work: what assistants say about you today, what it will change, how it will measure across many answers, and what it can't control. Walk away from any guaranteed AI ranking.

What questions should I ask an SEO or AEO agency before hiring?

Ask for examples of past work in your trade and references from past clients. Ask what results to expect, in what time, and how they will be measured. Ask which pages and listings they will change, who approves changes, whether they will share every change with reasons, who owns your accounts, and what happens if you cancel.

Should an agency own my Google Business Profile or website accounts?

No. Google requires agencies that manage Business Profiles to let the business keep ownership or co-ownership, and to hand back sole control within seven business days of asking. Add the agency as a manager or user instead. Keep your domain in your own name, and stay an owner of Search Console and an Administrator in Google Analytics.

What are the red flags when hiring an AI SEO agency?

A guaranteed top spot in Google or an AI answer, a claimed special relationship with Google or an AI company, offers to buy or write reviews, paid links, and promises of hundreds of near-identical pages. Also be wary of unsolicited emails, and of any agency that won't explain exactly what it will change on your site.

Does a Google Partner badge mean an agency is good at SEO?

Not by itself. The Google Partner badge is about Google Ads: it requires a level of ad spend across the agency's clients, and Google Ads certifications for its staff. Google says advertising doesn't affect a site's place in its unpaid results. The badge says nothing about how well an agency handles SEO or AI answers.

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Source: Merchant Context: the current website offer · checked 2026-10-14.

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