Guides · Updated Oct 2, 2026 · By Rajan Chavada, founder of Soarce
We asked AI assistants for the best SEO agency 1,119 times
We asked ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Gemini and Perplexity for the best SEO agency 1,119 times. 5 small agencies that sell GEO were recommended in 14 of 1,119.
What we found
We asked ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Gemini and Perplexity for the best SEO agency 1,119 times, on behalf of 5 small SEO agencies that sell AI search work (often called GEO). The 5 agencies were recommended in 14 of 1,119 answers (1.3%). When a question named the agency, it was recommended in 114 of 130 answers (88%).
So the assistants know these agencies and say good things when asked about them by name. They almost never suggest them to a buyer who doesn't already know the name.
Method
- Who: 5 small SEO agencies that sell GEO. We don't name them. They're Agency A to E below.
- Questions: 25 buyer questions per agency, the kind a buyer asks when looking for an agency to hire.
- Assistants: ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Gemini and Perplexity.
- Runs: each question was asked more than once, because answers change from run to run. ChatGPT got more runs than the others, which is why it has 448 answers and the others about 224.
- Dates: scans ran Sep 30 to Oct 1, 2026.
- What counts as a recommendation: the answer suggests the agency as an option to hire. Being cited as a source, or named only in passing, doesn't count. Claude read each answer and marked who it recommended.
- Total: 1,119 answers. Separately, we counted 130 answers to questions that named the agency.
Results by assistant
| Assistant | Recommended | Share |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 2 of 448 | 0.4% |
| Google AI Mode | 0 of 224 | 0% |
| Gemini | 0 of 223 | 0% |
| Perplexity | 12 of 224 | 5.4% |
| All | 14 of 1,119 | 1.3% |
Perplexity gave 12 of the 14 recommendations. Google AI Mode and Gemini recommended none of them.
Results by agency
| Agency | Recommended |
|---|---|
| Agency A | 4 of 230 |
| Agency B | 4 of 230 |
| Agency C | 0 of 230 |
| Agency D | 2 of 209 |
| Agency E | 4 of 220 |
No agency did well. The best had 4 recommendations. One had none.
Who won instead
Large agencies took the spots. The most recommended across the 1,119 answers:
| Agency | Answers that recommended it |
|---|---|
| Online Marketing Gurus | 52 |
| Impression | 40 |
| Siege Media | 40 |
| King Kong | 37 |
| WebFX | 37 |
| Single Grain | 36 |
What it means for small agencies
- Testing your own name hides the gap. 114 of 130 by name looks fine. 14 of 1,119 on category questions is the real number.
- The lists decide. Assistants recommend the agencies that appear on the "best agency" roundups they read. Search Engine Land found the share of category listicles a brand appears in correlates r=0.64 with ChatGPT naming it (Apr 2026).
- Start with Perplexity. It's where small agencies showed up at all. Search Engine Land also found Perplexity picks up new pages within 1 to 3 days on uncontested queries (Mar 2026).
- Practice what you sell. If you sell GEO, your own result is your best proof. We're in the same spot: Soarce was recommended in 0 of 224 answers about our own category on Oct 2, 2026.
For the steps, see how to get recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. To show clients this kind of data each month, see how to report AI visibility to clients and our agency plans.
Cite this
Soarce, "We asked AI assistants for the best SEO agency 1,119 times", https://soarce.app/research/chatgpt-best-seo-agency-study, published Oct 2, 2026.