You've decided you want help with AI-era search. Now you're on a call with an agency, or about to be. This is about what happens from that first call through the first ninety days, the process of actually hiring someone, not the earlier question of which agencies deserve a look in the first place. If you haven't done that groundwork yet, that's a separate decision worth making first.
What to ask on the first call
Most agencies will walk you through a polished version of their pitch deck. Your job is to steer the conversation toward specifics they haven't prepared slides for.
Ask them to describe, in plain terms, what they'd actually do in month one for a business like yours. If the answer stays abstract ("we conduct a comprehensive audit and build a customized strategy"), push for an example. A team that's actually done this work can tell you, roughly, what a first-month audit on a site like yours tends to surface, because they've seen the pattern before.
Ask how they currently track whether a client's content is getting cited in AI-generated answers, as opposed to just ranking in traditional search. This is one of the better filters for separating agencies that have genuinely adapted their process from ones that added "AI SEO" to their services page without changing what they do. If they describe watching AI-driven referral traffic in analytics, doing manual spot checks of how your brand shows up in model responses, or using one of the emerging AI-visibility tracking tools, that's a real answer. If they can't describe any method at all, that's worth noting.
Ask who will actually be doing the work: the person pitching you, a senior strategist, or a junior account manager who inherits twenty other clients the week after you sign. Agency sales calls are frequently run by the most experienced person on the team, and the account afterward is handed to whoever has bandwidth.
Ask what they need from you. A legitimate engagement requires your input, access to your analytics, your product knowledge, your customer language, your approval on content. If an agency pitches you on an entirely hands-off service where they need nothing from you beyond a signed contract, be skeptical. Good optimization work requires understanding your actual business, and that requires your involvement.
Red flags during the pitch
Guarantees of a number one ranking, a specific number of AI citations, or a fixed timeline to results. Nobody controls the algorithm or the model weights on the other end. An agency promising a guaranteed outcome is either naive about how these systems work or comfortable saying something they know isn't true to close the deal.
Pressure to sign quickly, paired with a "limited time" discount. Legitimate agencies are generally fine with you taking a week to think it over or talk to another firm. Compare options with our list of the best AI SEO agencies before committing. Urgency tactics are a sales technique, not a signal of quality.
Vague answers about reporting. If you ask what a monthly report actually looks like and they can't describe specific metrics, or they describe metrics that sound borrowed from a decade-old SEO retainer with no mention of AI visibility, that's worth flagging.
An inability to explain, in their own words, what's actually different about optimizing for AI-generated answers versus traditional search. If they fumble the technical basics on a sales call where they knew this question was coming, imagine how thin the actual execution will be.
Pricing and contract structures to understand
AI SEO work tends to get sold under a few common structures, and each comes with trade-offs worth asking about directly.
A flat monthly retainer is the most common structure. Ask exactly what's included at that price and what counts as a billable add-on. Scope creep on retainers is common; a vague retainer description tends to turn into "that's extra" the first time you ask for something not explicitly listed.
Project-based pricing for a defined scope, like a technical audit or a content overhaul, is often a lower-risk way to test an agency before committing to an ongoing retainer. If an agency refuses to offer any project-based option and insists on a long-term retainer from day one, ask why.
Performance-based pricing, where fees are tied to results, sounds appealing but is hard to structure fairly for AI search specifically, because there isn't yet a mature, agreed-upon metric for "AI visibility" the way there is for keyword rank. Be cautious of anyone offering performance pricing tied to a metric that doesn't actually exist in a verifiable, third-party-trackable form yet.
Contract length matters more than people expect going in. A long minimum term protects the agency more than it protects you. Ask what happens if you want to leave after three months and the work hasn't gone well. A reasonable agency will have a clear, not punitive, answer.
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Get My Free Audit →What a reasonable onboarding looks like
Expect an initial audit period, typically a few weeks, before any real changes happen. If an agency starts publishing content or making site changes in week one with no audit at all, they're either working from a template with no regard for your specifics, or skipping the step that would have told them what actually needs fixing.
Expect to be asked for access: analytics, your CMS, your existing content inventory, past campaign history if relevant. Be wary of an agency that wants to run the engagement without ever looking at your actual data.
Expect a written outline of what the first 90 days will cover, even if it's not binding. Not a vague roadmap slide, but an actual list of what gets done, roughly when, and what you'll see as a result. If they can't produce that after a sales process that supposedly diagnosed your needs, something was skipped.
Expect the relationship to involve some friction. Good agencies push back on ideas that won't work and ask you uncomfortable questions about your business. An agency that only ever agrees with you isn't adding much beyond what you already knew.
Hiring any agency is partly a bet on people you've known for a few phone calls. The questions above won't eliminate the risk, but they'll surface the agencies that are winging it before you've signed anything.
Frequently asked questions
Keep exploring
For the full vetting process, see how to choose the right AI SEO agency. If you want to compare options directly, we also cover top AI SEO agencies in the USA. Not ready to commit yet? Start with a free audit instead.