The short answer
An AI SEO agency should do the ordinary SEO work well: technical fixes, useful content, clear site structure and links, then use AI to speed up research, auditing and reporting. Google says the same SEO basics apply to its AI features such as AI Overviews, and there is no special markup for them. Be sceptical of anyone promising guaranteed placement in AI answers or secret formulas for it. Ask for what they will change on your site and how they will measure it.
- Good AI SEO is good SEO, with AI used to work faster.
- Google says there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews.
- Guaranteed rankings or guaranteed AI citations are a warning sign.
- Ask for a list of site changes and a plan for measuring results.
What an AI SEO agency should do
The core work has not changed: make sure your site can be crawled, pages load properly, content answers real questions, and your business is described clearly. AI helps with research, audits, content outlines and reporting. The agency’s value is in deciding what to do and checking that it is true. If their pitch is all tools and no site changes, push for specifics.
What Google says about AI Overviews
Google’s documentation on AI features states that the same foundational SEO best practices apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode, and that there are no additional technical requirements or special markup to appear in them. Pages must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. That is a useful test for any agency pitch: if they claim a secret method, ask where it is documented. Sources: Google Search Central: AI features and your website
What is realistic
You can improve the chance your content is understood and referenced: clear answers near the top of the page, accurate facts, good structure, real expertise and a site that works well. You cannot buy placement. AI answers vary between users and over time, so any agency that guarantees a position in them is guessing. Treat AI visibility as a side effect of being the clearest, most accurate source on your topic. That is a sound goal whether or not an AI answer ever mentions you, because the same work helps ordinary search.
What is hype
Watch for guaranteed rankings, fixed promises of AI citations, and dozens of auto-generated pages. Google’s spam policies cover scaled content abuse, where pages are produced in bulk mainly to manipulate rankings. Also be wary of reports that are mostly vanity measures such as impressions without any link to enquiries. If a proposal includes hundreds of near-identical location pages or auto-generated blog posts with no editing, ask who benefits. The pages might look busy, but they rarely win customers and can carry penalties. Sources: Google Search Central: spam policies
How to measure it
Agree the measures before work starts: organic enquiries, calls, form submissions, rankings for the terms that matter, and traffic to important pages. Search Console is free and shows how Google sees your site. Ask the agency to give you access to your own data rather than sending only PDFs. Review the numbers monthly with someone who can explain them. If a report is hard to follow or never mentions enquiries, ask for a simpler version tied to what your business actually earns.
The trade-offs
SEO takes time, and results vary by industry and competition. An agency that uses AI can lower the cost of audits and content planning, but you still pay for judgement. A smaller specialist may care more about your account than a large agency, and a larger agency may offer broader skills. Compare on the plan, not the label. Whichever route you take, ask for a sample audit before signing. A short document showing real findings on your site is a much better test than any sales deck or case study.
Questions people ask
Can an agency get me into Google AI Overviews?
Not by guarantee. Google says normal SEO best practices apply and there are no special requirements.
Is AI-written content bad for SEO?
Google says the problem is low-value content made at scale to manipulate rankings, whatever tool produced it.
How long does SEO take?
Usually months, not weeks. Ask the agency for expected stages instead of dates for ranking.
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