ELITEAEO
State of the AEO Agency Market 2026 An EliteAEO report on the AEO, GEO and AI SEO providers serving US businesses Dataset snapshot October 7, 2026 · Methodology 2.0
EliteAEO is an independent ranking and research publisher covering AEO, GEO and AI SEO agencies and consultants, founded in 2026 and based in West Palm Beach, Florida. It does not sell AEO or SEO services. https://eliteaeo.ai/
EliteAEO · eliteaeo.ai/research/state-of-the-aeo-agency-market-2026
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State of the AEO Agency Market 2026 The State of the AEO Agency Market 2026 shows what 398 providers of answer engine optimization, generative engine optimization and AI SEO publish about their own work: evidence, pricing, AI measurement, specialization and location. Every figure below shows how many providers it covers, and the data is as of October 7, 2026. The full dataset is free to download as a CSV. Research: Bike Hawley, publisher Metro rankings 79
Editor and head of research: David Quaid
Data as of October 7, 2026
Profiled 398
Eligible 355
Verified 342
How the data is collected
106 / 355
199 / 355
100 / 355
137 / 355
eligible providers publish proof of
eligible providers state that they
disclose a starting price
publish a case study with results
AI search results for a client
report AI visibility
in a ranked vertical
Key findings on the AEO agency market The key findings on the AEO agency market are below, each with the number of providers it covers. A minority of providers publish proof that they get clients into AI answers. 106 of 355 eligible providers publish proof of AI search results for a client: 38 an AI outcome case study with a baseline and method, 35 tracked AI visibility gains and 33 an AI answer or a measured AI result for a named client. Another 232 say they get clients named in AI answers but publish no example or numbers, and 17 show nothing about AI results for clients.
About half of providers say they report AI visibility. 199 of 355 eligible providers state on their own site that they report AI visibility, citations or share of voice to clients. 33 say they do not, and 123 do not say. Among verified providers the share is 194 of 342.
Public pricing is the exception. 100 of 355 eligible providers publish a starting price. 88 of them publish a monthly fee, with a median of $1,500 a month, and the middle half of monthly prices runs from $800 to $2,600. The other 12 publish a minimum project size (8), a one-time or program fee (3) or a price that does not say how it is billed (1), which count as published prices but are kept out of the monthly median.
Case studies are still rare. 137 of 355 eligible providers publish at least one case study with results in a vertical they are ranked for. 95 name clients without results, and 54 have only a vertical service page.
Most providers are ranked in more than one vertical. 160 of 355 eligible providers are ranked in exactly one vertical, and 112 are ranked in three or more.
Most providers sell full-service AEO. 341 of 355 sell full-service AEO, 5 work on an advisory basis and 9 sell content.
Offices are spread across many metros. 167 of 355 eligible providers have a confirmed office in one of the 45 metros we track, led by New York (19), San Diego (12) and Austin (11). 32 are headquartered outside the United States.
Third-party profiles are common, but detail is not. 368 of 398 profiled providers have an independent third-party profile. Among the 355 eligible providers, only 169 state a team size and 230 say how long they have operated (median 14 years).
Coverage is selective, by design. 79 of 270 possible vertical-by-metro combinations meet the publication criteria, across 21 metros. Healthcare has the deepest metro coverage with 18 pages; SaaS the thinnest with 5.
EliteAEO · eliteaeo.ai/research/state-of-the-aeo-agency-market-2026
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Who reports AI visibility Who reports AI visibility is taken from what each provider says on its own site about reporting AI visibility, citations or share of voice to clients. It is a statement of practice, not a measurement of the provider's own visibility. We show three groups because the share changes with the group. BASE
REPORT AI VISIBILITY
SAY NO, OR DO NOT STATE
All profiled providers
205 of 398 (52%)
33 say no; 160 do not say
Eligible for a ranking
199 of 355 (56%)
33 say no; 123 do not say
Verified
194 of 342 (57%)
31 say no; 117 do not say
Proof of AI search results Proof of AI search results is the strongest item each eligible provider publishes showing a client named, cited or recommended in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews or another AI engine, checked page by page. Only client results count; a provider's own AI visibility does not. The evidence was checked on October 7, 2026. STRONGEST PROOF OF AI RESULTS
ELIGIBLE PROVIDERS
SHARE
AI outcome case study with a baseline and method
38
11%
Tracked AI visibility gains for a client
35
10%
An AI answer or a measured AI result for a named client
33
9%
AI results claimed, no example or numbers
232
65%
Nothing about AI results for clients
17
5%
272 of 355 eligible providers publish at least one case study with measured search results of any kind. By vertical, the share with proof of AI results ranges from 31 of 130 in Local Business to 41 of 76 in SaaS.
AEO agency pricing by vertical AEO agency pricing by vertical uses starting prices the providers publish themselves: US dollar figures on their own sites or directory profiles, not hourly rates or project sizes reported in client reviews. 100 of 355 eligible providers publish one, and the rest quote prices on request. Medians use monthly fees only: 88 of the 100 published prices are monthly, and minimum project sizes, one-time fees and program fees count as published prices but are kept out of the medians. Medians use the eligible providers in each vertical, so a provider ranked in two verticals counts in both.
EliteAEO · eliteaeo.ai/research/state-of-the-aeo-agency-market-2026
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PROOF OF AI
REPORT AI
DISCLOSE A
RESULTS
VISIBILITY
PRICE
CASE
METRO
STUDIES
PAGES
92
28 of 99
56 of 99
30 of 99
$1,500 (26 prices)
21 of 99
11
143
138
37 of 143
81 of 143
38 of 143
$1,500 (34 prices)
36 of 143
17
Healthcare
157
151
42 of 157
90 of 157
51 of 157
$1,500 (43 prices)
44 of 157
18
SaaS
76
76
41 of 76
59 of 76
25 of 76
$2,250 (22 prices)
38 of 76
5
Home
148
143
39 of 148
79 of 148
58 of 148
$1,500 (55 prices)
48 of 148
14
130
125
31 of 130
73 of 130
43 of 130
$1,325 (42 prices)
42 of 130
14
VERTICAL
ELIGIBLE
VERIFIED
Dental
99
Legal
MEDIAN MONTHLY PRICE
Services Local Business
Evidence strength For each eligible provider, the strongest evidence type found across the verticals it is ranked in. A service page that links to case studies is recorded as a service page; the case study itself has to document a client in that vertical with results. STRONGEST EVIDENCE FOUND
ELIGIBLE PROVIDERS
SHARE
Case study with results in a ranked vertical
137
39%
Works only with that vertical
61
17%
Named clients, no results write-up
95
27%
A vertical service page only
54
15%
Blog posts only
8
2%
No evidence in any ranked vertical
0
0%
AEO agency specialization and offering AEO agency specialization and offering are shown two ways: how many verticals each eligible provider is ranked in, and what it sells. Provider types: 347 agencies, 8 consultants. VERTICALS RANKED IN
ELIGIBLE PROVIDERS
SHARE
AEO OFFERING
ELIGIBLE PROVIDERS
SHARE
One vertical
160
45%
Full service
341
96%
Two verticals
83
23%
Advisory
5
1%
Three or more
112
32%
Content
9
3%
Tools
0
0%
Unclear from public pages
0
0%
EliteAEO · eliteaeo.ai/research/state-of-the-aeo-agency-market-2026
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Where AEO providers are based Where AEO providers are based: 167 of 355 eligible providers have a confirmed office in one of the 45 metros we track. 156 are elsewhere in the United States and 32 are headquartered outside the United States. Office and served market are recorded separately, so a remote provider is never shown as local. HEADQUARTERS METRO
ELIGIBLE PROVIDERS
METRO PAGES
New York, NY
19
6
San Diego, CA
12
4
Austin, TX
11
4
Denver, CO
10
6
Dallas, TX
9
5
Atlanta, GA
8
5
Chicago, IL
8
5
Tampa, FL
8
4
San Francisco, CA
7
2
Houston, TX
6
5
Verification and evidence checks Verification and evidence checks cover every eligible provider: 342 of 398 profiled providers are verified, meaning we checked the live website, an independent third-party profile and vertical evidence for each, and every eligible provider's proof of AI results was checked on October 7, 2026. Evidence for 157 of 342 was checked in the last 30 days and for 342 of 342 in the last 90. The oldest check on file is dated September 12, 2026 and the newest October 7, 2026.
EliteAEO · eliteaeo.ai/research/state-of-the-aeo-agency-market-2026
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Method and data notes Bases: 398 profiled, 355 eligible for at least one ranking, 342 verified. Eligibility and verification are defined on the methodology page, linked at the top of this report.
How to cite EliteAEO Rankings, State of the AEO Agency Market 2026, https://eliteaeo.ai/research/state-of-the-aeo-agency-market2026, data as of October 7, 2026.
Every data point comes from a public page: the provider's own site or an independent profile. We do not use private
Quote any figure with the number of providers it covers.
submissions from providers, and every check is dated.
Journalists and researchers can request breakdowns of the
Prices are the lowest US dollar starting figure a provider
dataset at hello@eliteaeo.ai.
publishes itself, usually on its pricing page and sometimes on its directory profile. Medians use monthly fees only. Minimum project sizes, usually from a Clutch or DesignRush profile, one-time fees and program fees count as published prices but are kept out of the medians. No data from paid placements, subscriptions or profile claims is used in this report, so paid placement never changes a number here. The dataset download linked at the top of this report (CSV, one row per profiled provider) carries every field behind these tables. It is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with credit to EliteAEO.
EliteAEO · eliteaeo.ai/research/state-of-the-aeo-agency-market-2026
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About EliteAEO EliteAEO is an independent ranking and research publisher covering AEO, GEO and AI SEO agencies and consultants, founded in 2026 and based in West Palm Beach, Florida. It does not sell AEO or SEO services.
Website
https://eliteaeo.ai/
This report, updated
https://eliteaeo.ai/research/state-of-the-aeo-agency-market-2026
Methodology
https://eliteaeo.ai/methodology
AI Visibility Index
https://eliteaeo.ai/research/ai-visibility-index-september-2026
Dataset (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23249511
https://www.linkedin.com/company/eliteaeo
X
https://x.com/eliteaeo
Contact
hello@eliteaeo.ai
Report © 2026 EliteAEO. The provider dataset is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with credit to EliteAEO.
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