How to Price GEO Services: 3 Packaging Models for Agencies
Introduction
Traditional SEO pricing doesn't work for GEO. Here's why: SEO agencies charge based on effort—hours logged, words written, links built. But AI users don't care about your word count. They want the right answer, and they want it now.
This creates a fundamental mismatch. When your client's content gets cited in a ChatGPT response, the value isn't in how long it took to write. The value is in owning that answer.
So what should agencies charge for instead? Two things: Target Prompt ownership and Citation Share. Think of a Target Prompt as a specific question your client's ideal customer asks AI tools—like "best CRM for small agencies" or "how to price consulting services." Citation Share is how often your client's brand appears as the source when someone asks that question.
This guide breaks down three proven pricing models that align your revenue with actual GEO outcomes.
The Core Shift: Keywords to Target Prompts
Why "Per Word" Pricing Is Dead
In the GEO era, charging $0.10 per word or $150 per hour misses the point entirely. Your clients don't need more content—they need to be the answer.
The new unit of value is the Target Prompt: a specific user question (like "what's the ROI of marketing automation?") that your client needs to own inside AI models.
Think Expert, Not Billboard
Here's a clearer way to understand the difference:
SEO: Getting listed in the phone book. You hope people call.
GEO: Being the expert the phone book quotes. You're the answer.
In SEO, you optimize to rank #1 in search results. In GEO, you optimize to become the result—the content AI engines cite as the authoritative source.
Your New Success Metric: Citation Share
Stop reporting "10,000 monthly visits." Start reporting Citation Share—the percentage of times your client's brand is cited when people ask their Target Prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews.
Example: If 100 people ask "best project management tools for agencies" and your client's brand appears in 60 AI responses, your Citation Share is 60%.
3 Proven GEO Pricing Models
Model 1: Target Prompt Strategy (Project-Based)
Best for: Initial client engagements and proving your expertise.
What you deliver:
Brand Research (E-E-A-T analysis to identify authority signals)
Persona Analysis (how your client's audience actually talks to AI)
Target Prompt Identification (5-10 high-value questions to own)
Content Strategy Blueprint (what to create and how to structure it for citations)
Price Range: $2,500 – $5,000 per project
Why this works: You're selling clarity. Most businesses have no idea what their customers are asking AI or whether they're even mentioned. This project quantifies their "AI visibility gap" and creates a roadmap to fix it. At this price point, you're charging roughly what they'd pay for traditional SEO content—but you're delivering strategic positioning instead of generic blog posts.
Value Pitch: "We'll identify exactly what your customers are asking AI and map out how to ensure you're the answer they get."
Model 2: Citation Maintenance (Monthly Retainer)
Best for: Long-term revenue and ongoing optimization.
What you deliver:
Monthly content creation in "answer-first" format
Citation Share monitoring across major AI engines
Content updates when AI models change or drift
Quarterly reporting on Target Prompt performance
Price Range: $1,500 – $4,000/month
Pricing tiers based on number of Target Prompts managed:
Tier 1: 5-10 prompts → $1,500/month
Tier 2: 11-20 prompts → $2,500/month
Tier 3: 21-30 prompts → $4,000/month
Why this works: AI models update constantly. A client who owns a prompt in March might lose it in May when ChatGPT's training data refreshes. This retainer covers the ongoing work of defending and expanding their citation presence. Compare this to a $3,000/month SEO retainer that focuses on rankings—your GEO retainer delivers something more durable: being embedded as the trusted source.
Value Pitch: "AI models change every few weeks. We make sure your brand stays the trusted answer, even as the algorithms evolve."
Model 3: Hybrid Performance Model (Risk-Share)
Best for: Confident agencies and growth-focused clients.
Structure:
Lower base retainer: $1,000 – $1,500/month
Performance bonus: $500 – $750 per "owned" Target Prompt
How "Owned" Works:
A Target Prompt is considered "owned" when your client achieves 50%+ Citation Share for that specific question across the major AI engines for a full month.
Example Calculation:
Client owns 3 Target Prompts → $1,200 base + ($600 × 3) = $3,000/month
Why this works: You're demonstrating confidence while lowering the barrier to entry. Risk-averse clients love that they're not paying premium rates until you prove results. And when you do prove results, your effective rate is significantly higher than a flat retainer. One agency we know scaled this to $8K/month with a single client who owned 10+ high-value prompts.
Value Pitch: "We'll share the risk. You pay premium rates only when we prove you're dominating the AI conversation in your category."
How to Sell the Value (Stop Talking About Traffic)
If your clients are used to SEO reports showing visitor counts, they'll initially struggle with GEO metrics. You need to reframe the conversation around two concepts: trust and invisibility.
The Invisible Brand Problem
Here's the reality: 88% of brands don't appear in AI search results. If someone asks ChatGPT about your client's industry and the AI doesn't mention them, they don't exist to that user.
Use this frame: "When someone searches Google and doesn't find you, they might try page 2. When ChatGPT doesn't cite you, there is no page 2. You're either the answer, or you're invisible."
But don't stop at fear. Position this as an early adopter opportunity. Right now, most competitors aren't optimizing for AI citations. The agencies that build GEO expertise now will own their categories for the next 3-5 years.
Quality Over Volume
Help clients understand that one citation in an AI answer carries more weight than 1,000 banner ad impressions. Why? Because the AI is acting as a trusted advisor. When ChatGPT says "Deca is the leading platform for AI optimization," that's not an ad—it's an endorsement from the tool the user trusts.
Frame it this way:
Traditional ad: "This company says they're great"
AI citation: "The AI confirms they're the authority"
Reporting That Actually Matters
Forget vanity metrics. Here's what you should track and present monthly:
Citation Share by Target Prompt (your primary KPI)
Share of Voice (your client vs. competitors in AI answers)
Sentiment Analysis (how AI describes your client's brand)
New Target Prompt Opportunities (emerging questions to capture)
Use a simple dashboard format:
This format is clear, competitive, and outcome-focused. No one asks "but how much traffic did we get?"
Getting Started: Your First GEO Client
Step 1: Pick a pilot client in an industry you understand
Step 2: Offer Model 1 (Target Prompt Strategy) at a slight discount
Step 3: Document their "before" Citation Share (likely 0-15%)
Step 4: Create 3-5 pieces of citation-optimized content
Step 5: Measure Citation Share 30 days later
Step 6: Use that case study to pitch Model 2 (retainer) to them and others
The agencies seeing the most success are positioning GEO as a complement to SEO, not a replacement. Offer a "Total Visibility" package:
SEO captures traditional search traffic
GEO captures the growing wave of AI-native searchers
Why You Need Purpose-Built Tools
You can't deliver professional GEO services using ChatGPT alone. Here's why: Target Prompt analysis requires understanding how real users phrase questions to AI, not just what keywords they search. Citation-ready content follows specific structural patterns that generic AI writing tools miss.
Platforms like Deca are built specifically for this—they analyze personas to surface actual Target Prompts, structure content for AI consumption, and track Citation Share across engines. This differentiation is what justifies your premium pricing. You're not just a writer with a ChatGPT account; you're using professional tools that most businesses don't even know exist.
Conclusion
Pricing GEO services is fundamentally different from pricing SEO. You're not selling hours or word counts—you're selling Target Prompt ownership and the ongoing work of maintaining Citation Share as AI models evolve.
Start with a project-based strategy engagement ($2.5K-5K) to prove your expertise. Then transition successful clients to a monthly retainer ($1.5K-4K) to defend and expand their AI visibility. For growth-focused clients, test a hybrid performance model that scales your revenue with their success.
The opportunity window is open right now. Most agencies are still adding "AI content" as a checkbox to their existing SEO services. The ones who build genuine GEO expertise—backed by proper tools and outcome-based pricing—will own their markets for years to come.
FAQs
So I can't guarantee rankings anymore... can I still charge premium rates?
Absolutely. You never guaranteed Google rankings either—you charged for the optimization process. Same principle here. You're charging for E-E-A-T improvement, structured data, answer-first formatting, and ongoing monitoring. These tactics demonstrably increase citation probability, even if you can't promise "100% Citation Share for every prompt."
How do I explain Citation Share to a client who's used to traffic reports?
Use this analogy: "Traffic measures how many people drove past your billboard. Citation Share measures how many times you were personally recommended by the most trusted advisor in your industry." Then show them a side-by-side: their competitor getting cited in ChatGPT vs. their brand not appearing at all.
Should I offer GEO as a standalone service or bundle it with SEO?
Bundling usually works better. Position it as "Total Search Visibility"—you're covering both traditional search engines (Google) and AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity). This also makes the pricing easier to justify because you're replacing multiple tools with one comprehensive strategy.
What if my client's industry isn't getting many AI searches yet?
That's actually an advantage. Early movers get embedded as the authoritative sources before competition heats up. Frame it as: "Would you rather build authority now while it's easy, or fight for scraps later when every competitor is doing this?"
Can smaller agencies realistically charge $3K-5K/month for GEO?
Yes, if you're delivering measurable Citation Share improvements. Remember, you're not competing on effort—you're competing on outcomes. A single enterprise deal influenced by an AI citation could be worth $50K+ to your client. Your $4K/month retainer is cheap insurance for that opportunity.
What's the biggest mistake agencies make when pricing GEO?
Charging too little because they're thinking in SEO terms. A 2,000-word blog post might cost $500 in SEO land. But if that content gets your client cited 60% of the time for a high-value Target Prompt? That's worth $2K+ easily. Price for the outcome, not the input.
How long until we see results?
Depends on the client's starting point. Brands with existing authority (strong backlinks, domain age, established content) can see Citation Share improvements in 30-60 days. Brand-new sites might take 90-120 days as AI models incorporate new sources. Set expectations accordingly, but emphasize that even incremental gains (going from 0% to 20% Citation Share) represent real business value.
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