Answer engine optimization (AEO) costs $950 to $2,000 a month at Good At Marketing, sold alongside an SEO plan of $1,000 to $1,600 a month. Both ranges are on the pricing page. Prices reviewed October 2026. No fee buys a guaranteed mention in ChatGPT or Google’s AI answers.
By Donnie Strompf. Updated October 2026.
Key takeaways
- Our published AEO range is $950 to $2,000 a month, and it is sold as an add-on to an SEO plan.
- Google’s guide of July 10, 2026 calls optimizing for generative AI search “still SEO,” which is why AEO is priced as an add-on to a working SEO plan.
- No public benchmark exists for AEO prices, so compare proposals by scope, line by line.
- Much of the work can be started for free, and the how-to guide shows how.
- A guarantee of a ChatGPT or AI Overview mention is a reason to walk away.
How much does AEO cost, and what moves the price?
The pricing page lists AEO at $950 to $2,000 a month, sold alongside SEO. The SEO plan it sits next to costs $1,000 to $1,600 a month, or up to about $3,500 in competitive markets, also on the pricing page. Adding the two baseline ranges on the pricing page gives $1,950 to $3,600 a month in fees.
Four things move the quote, whoever sends it:
- Questions and tools tested. More buyer questions, and more AI tools checked for each one, mean more monthly work.
- Competition in the answers. A market where many businesses get named takes more effort than one where few do.
- Content volume. Pages that need writing or rewriting cost more than a site whose pages already answer questions directly.
- Site condition. Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet to appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews and AI Mode, so indexing problems add work first.
The last point comes from Google’s AI features documentation (last updated December 10, 2025).
Is there a market price for AEO?
I’m Donnie Strompf, and I found no public benchmark for AEO prices that I could verify. eSEOspace, an agency, wrote on October 13, 2026 that “There is no standard price for GEO and AEO services, and no authoritative public benchmark for what agencies charge.” The same article says the only fair comparison is scope against scope.
This page therefore quotes no market average. Part of the reason is the naming. eMarketer wrote on April 2, 2026 that “No common taxonomy exists for this category” and that AEO and GEO describe the same underlying approach in practice. Two proposals with different names can describe the same work, and two with the same name can describe different work.
How can an AEO quote be structured?
An AEO quote can be an add-on to SEO, a stand-alone retainer, a one-time project, a software subscription or hourly consulting. Ask the question in the third column of each row before you sign.
| Structure | How it is billed | Ask before you sign | Fits when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add-on to an SEO plan | Monthly fee on top of SEO | Which tasks overlap with the SEO scope | Your site is indexed and you want ongoing work |
| Stand-alone AEO retainer | Monthly fee, no SEO | Who fixes indexing and site problems | Another team owns your site |
| One-time audit or project | Fixed fee | What you receive and who makes the fixes | You want a plan to run yourself |
| Tracking software | Monthly subscription from the tool’s maker | Which prompts and engines it covers | You will read the results yourself |
| Hourly consulting | Per hour | The hours estimate in writing | You have one specific question |
Good At Marketing sells the first structure, at the published $950 to $2,000 a month. Software prices change, so read the tool maker’s current price page before you budget for one.
Why is AEO sold alongside SEO and not instead of it?
Because Google treats them as one discipline. Its guide, “Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search” (updated July 10, 2026), says “optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO.” It adds that “Indexing and serving aren’t guaranteed.”
When someone asks ChatGPT who to call, the business it names is the one that gets searched next. We do AI visibility alongside SEO, never instead of it.
That overlap explains how the fee is built. The pages, the indexing and the site health that SEO covers also feed the AI answers, so the AEO line pays for the extra work and is not a second copy of the SEO work. If your important pages are not indexed, find out who will fix that before you pay for AEO work on top. Our AEO services page and the SEO fundamentals guide cover the two sides.
What work are you paying for?
AEO work falls into five areas: measurement, crawler access, content, structured data and listings, and mentions on other sites.
- Measurement. Counting AI referrals in GA4 and checking buyer-style questions in each AI tool. Google’s guide names the Generative AI performance report in Search Console for its own features. See how to track ChatGPT traffic in GA4.
- Crawler access. OpenAI’s publishers FAQ says to make sure you are not blocking OAI-SearchBot if you want to be included in ChatGPT search summaries. See which AI crawlers to allow.
- Content that answers questions. Google tells site owners to prioritize non-commodity content, meaning pages with expert or first-hand views beyond common knowledge.
- Structured data and listings. Google says structured data is not required for generative AI search and there is no special schema to add, but still recommends it for rich results. It also says Business Profiles can help services appear in AI responses. See schema markup for a small business and listings beyond Google.
- Mentions on other sites. Google’s guide says seeking inauthentic mentions across the web “isn’t as helpful as it might seem,” so judge any citation-building line item by how the mentions are earned.
The how-to guide walks through the steps. For the definition of the term, see what AEO is.
What can you do for free before paying anyone?
Most of the first steps cost only time. You can ask each AI tool the questions your buyers ask and save the answers with their links. You can check your robots.txt for OAI-SearchBot, complete your Business Profile and fix wrong listings. Google’s Search Console report shows traffic from its own AI features, and GA4 shows referrals from other tools.
If those steps cover what your business needs, you can skip a retainer. If you want a second opinion first, the free AI-visibility audit comes first, then a 15-minute call.
What does an AEO fee not include?
Ad spend sits outside the fee. The pricing page states that ad spend is paid to Google or the ad platform on top of management fees. Spend on ChatGPT ads is a separate question, and our page on paying to be recommended by ChatGPT covers what paid placement does and does not buy.
Business Profile management is a separate line at $450 to $650 a month, and a new website is quoted on its own. If a proposal bundles any of these into one number, ask for the split.
What should you ask before you buy AEO?
Google’s page on hiring an SEO (last updated June 5, 2026) says to ask what results the vendor expects and in what timeframe, and whether it will share all the changes it makes to your site. It also says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking, and it advises read-only Search Console access at the start. Use those questions, then add these:
- Which questions and which AI tools will be tested each month, and how are the answers and links saved?
- Which line items are one-time and which repeat monthly?
- Who owns the accounts, files and content if you leave? Our guide on who owns your website and marketing accounts covers it.
- What happens when a cited source disappears? eMarketer wrote on April 2, 2026 that between 40% and 60% of cited sources change month to month across Google AI Mode and ChatGPT.
- What is excluded? Ask for the list in writing.
Be cautious of a guaranteed mention or a promised date. Be cautious of a fee centered on an llms.txt file, because Google says its Search does not use AI text files. Be cautious of a proposal that cannot explain how it tests AI answers. For the file question, see the llms.txt section of our crawler guide, and for general vetting see how to choose an SEO company.
When should you wait on AEO?
Wait if your site has pages Google has not indexed, since that is the first problem. Wait if the budget is under the range, and use the free steps above instead. Wait if you need a fixed number of leads by a fixed date, because nothing in AEO can promise one. Paid search is the faster lever there, and SEO vs Google Ads compares the two.
Two guides cover how AI tools pick sources and what to do when they get your business wrong: How AI search engines choose their sources, compared and How to fix wrong information about your business in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews.
Good At Marketing is based in Boynton Beach and works with businesses across Palm Beach County.
FAQ
Is AEO included in an SEO retainer?
Only if the proposal lists it. Some SEO plans cover the site work that also helps AI answers, but the monthly measurement and answer-focused pages are separate work. Read the line items. Here, AEO is its own line at $950 to $2,000 beside the SEO fee on the pricing page.
Can I pay for a guaranteed spot in ChatGPT answers?
No. Which sources an AI tool picks is its own decision, and no fee changes that. Paid ads are a different product from an organic mention, as our page on paying to be recommended by ChatGPT explains. Any vendor offering a guaranteed placement is promising something outside its control.
Is a cheap AEO package worth buying?
It can be, when the scope is itemized. Compare what each package covers and what it leaves out before you compare totals. A low monthly fee that omits measurement, content or site fixes can cost more once you add them back, so request a written line-by-line scope from every vendor.
Do I need to buy an AI tracking tool?
Not to start. Free reports and manual checks cover the basics. A paid tracker mostly repeats the same questions on a schedule and stores the results, which saves time once you have many questions to watch. Look up the current price on the maker’s own page before you commit.
Should my SEO vendor and my AEO vendor be the same?
You can use two vendors, but the work touches the same pages. Two vendors editing one site can undo each other’s changes. If you split them, name one owner for site changes, and ask each to share every change it makes, as Google’s hiring page advises.
Does the free audit cost anything?
No, the audit is free. A 15-minute call follows it, and only after both do you decide whether paid work makes sense. If a quote arrives, set its line items beside the published ranges on the pricing page and ask what each line covers and omits.
Other cost guides
- How much does SEO cost for a small business in 2026?
- How much does Google Ads management cost?
- How much does Google Business Profile management cost?
- How much do Local Services Ads cost? Per-lead pricing and management fees
- How much does digital marketing cost for a small business?
Related reading
- Does AI Make Mistakes in Digital Marketing? A Channel-by-Channel Reality Check
- What AI recommends for local services in Palm Beach County: a 120-answer study
Next step
The free audit and a 15-minute call show whether AEO fits your market and budget.
Get your free AI-visibility audit
Marketing that works, in your inbox
AI search & SEO news, what’s working right now, and guides we actually use with clients. A couple of emails a month, no spam.
Unsubscribe anytime. We treat your inbox the way we treat our clients’ brands.