AI search
The Best AI Search and GEO Agencies
Updated September 6, 2026 · 5 agencies · How we build these lists
The short answer
AI search optimization is new enough that few agencies have a real track record, and the credible ones approach it from an existing discipline. Avenue Z comes at it from PR and earned media citations. First Page Sage comes at it from thought leadership content. Stryde applies it to D2C ecommerce alongside SEO and Google Ads. Darkroom and Tinuiti fold AI search into wider media and measurement practices.
Getting recommended by ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google's AI Overviews is not a separate channel so much as a downstream effect of things that were already worth doing: ranking well, being mentioned on independent sites, and publishing content that states facts plainly enough to be quoted. Treat any agency selling a proprietary shortcut with caution, and be skeptical of guaranteed placement claims.
At a glance
| Agency | Best for |
|---|---|
| Avenue Z | Brands building AI visibility through earned media and citations |
| First Page Sage | Brands earning citations through thought leadership content |
| Stryde | D2C ecommerce brands wanting AI search alongside SEO and Google Ads |
| Darkroom | Commerce brands folding AI search into a wider measurement practice |
| Tinuiti | Enterprise brands treating AI search as part of paid and organic search |
Agency profiles
Avenue Z
Best for brands building AI visibility through earned media and citations
New York, Miami, and Orlando
Avenue Z positions AI search optimization as downstream of PR: models cite what independent publications have written about. It runs both practices together and states it has been ranked as a leading AI search agency for brand visibility. Named work includes Dave, Better, and Cocokind.
Worth knowing: Claims about AI search leadership are the agency's own. Ask for the measurement methodology behind them.
First Page Sage
Best for brands earning citations through thought leadership content
First Page Sage names generative engine optimization alongside SEO and builds around content that answers questions directly, which is the format models quote most readily. Named work includes Salesforce, Verizon, and Dignity Health.
Stryde
Best for D2C ecommerce brands wanting AI search alongside SEO and Google Ads
Stryde names AI search optimization as a service specifically aimed at getting D2C brands recommended by ChatGPT and Perplexity, run alongside its ecommerce SEO and paid search work for brands in the $1M to $15M band.
Darkroom
Best for commerce brands folding AI search into a wider measurement practice
New York, NY
Darkroom names AI search strategy alongside its media, creative, and measurement work, with an in-house modeling platform behind the wider allocation question. Named work includes Olipop and Everlane.
Tinuiti
Best for enterprise brands treating AI search as part of paid and organic search
New York, NY
Tinuiti names AI SEO within a search practice that also covers paid search and shoppable media, which suits brands wanting AI visibility planned against existing search investment rather than bought separately.
What we compared
- Whether the approach rests on real signals, ranking, citations, and structured content, or on an unexplained proprietary method
- How AI visibility is measured, and whether the measurement is repeatable
- Whether earned media and third-party mentions are part of the plan
- Existing depth in SEO, since AI answers draw heavily on pages that already rank
- Honesty about what cannot be controlled or guaranteed
- Named client work with visible results rather than category claims
Frequently asked questions
- What is GEO, and is it different from AEO?
- Generative engine optimization and answer engine optimization are used more or less interchangeably for the practice of getting a brand cited in AI-generated answers. Neither is a settled discipline with agreed standards, and the terminology is largely marketing. What sits underneath both is consistent: rank well, get mentioned on independent sites, and publish content structured to be extracted.
- Can an agency guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend my brand?
- No. Model outputs vary between sessions, change with every model update, and differ by how the question is phrased. An agency can improve the inputs that make citation more likely, and it can measure how often you appear across a set of tracked prompts, but a guarantee of placement is not something anyone can honestly offer.
- How do you measure AI search visibility?
- The common approach is to define a set of prompts a prospect might realistically ask, run them across several assistants on a regular schedule, and track how often the brand appears, in what position, and with what characterization. It is a sampling method rather than a reported metric, so ask how many prompts, how often, and across which models, since a small or unstable sample can be made to show almost anything.
- Does being cited by AI assistants actually drive revenue?
- Attribution here is genuinely difficult, because a customer who was told about you by an assistant frequently arrives later through a branded search or a direct visit. The honest read is that AI citation behaves more like PR and brand search than like a trackable performance channel, and it should be budgeted with that expectation rather than held to a paid-media payback standard.