Why 90% of SEO Agencies Aren't Ready for AI Search
Most SEO agencies claim to offer AI search optimisation. Very few can actually deliver it. Here's the gap between what agencies say and what they can do.
Most SEO agencies only optimise for Google. They do not understand entity SEO. They have no AI citation monitoring. They still put backlinks above brand mentions. They skip AI-specific schema like Speakable. They have never tested clients across ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity. The gap between "we do AI SEO" on their website and what they can deliver is huge.
The "we do AI SEO" problem
Search any UK SEO agency's website. More and more now mention "AI SEO" in their services. But ask them these questions:
- Which search index does ChatGPT use? (Answer: Bing, not Google)
- What's the difference between GPTBot and OAI-SearchBot? (Answer: training vs real-time search)
- What schema types does Gemini use to verify claims? (Answer: Organisation, Person, sameAs)
- What's the crawl-to-referral ratio for Perplexity? (Answer: under 200:1)
- How do you monitor AI citations? (Answer: most have no tooling at all)
Most agencies cannot answer a single one of these questions. Yet they've already added "AI SEO" to their services page.
The six blind spots
1. Google-only optimisation
Most SEO agencies optimise for Google only. They ignore Bing. ChatGPT holds 78% of the AI search market and drives 87.4% of AI referral traffic. ChatGPT indexes from Bing. These agencies optimise for the wrong search engine.
ChatGPT uses Bing. Copilot uses Bing. If an agency does not submit sitemaps to Bing Webmaster Tools or check Bing rankings, they miss the largest AI search platform.
2. No understanding of entity SEO
AI platforms do not just read your content. They verify your entity. They cross-check your Organisation schema against your Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, Wikidata, and other sources. If these do not match, AI platforms trust your content less.
Most agencies have never:
- Implemented Organisation schema with @id and sameAs
- Ensured entity consistency across platforms
- Created or claimed a Wikidata entry
- Connected Person schema for authors to LinkedIn profiles
- Used the @graph pattern for compound entity signals
3. No AI citation monitoring
How do you know if ChatGPT mentions your client? How do you track whether Perplexity cites their content? Most agencies have no monitoring because the tools are new and they have not invested in them.
Without monitoring, agencies are:
- Unable to report on AI visibility to clients
- Unable to measure the impact of their work
- Flying blind on which platforms mention the brand
- Missing citation changes - positive or negative
4. Backlinks over brand mentions
Ahrefs studied 75,000 brands. Brand web mentions (0.664) and YouTube mentions (0.737) drive AI citations far more than backlinks (0.218). Most SEO agencies still put link building first because their whole method was built before AI search existed.
The data is clear. Brand mentions matter 3x more than backlinks for AI visibility. Yet most agencies still sell link building as their core offering.
5. No AI-specific schema implementation
Standard SEO agencies add basic schema like Organisation and Article. But AI-specific schema types are mostly unknown to them:
| Schema type | AI impact | Typical agency adoption |
|---|---|---|
| FAQPage | +350% citation increase | Sometimes |
| Speakable | +127% citation increase | Almost never |
| Organisation with sameAs | Entity verification | Rarely complete |
| Person for authors | 3x citation lift | Rarely |
| @graph compound pattern | Connected entity signal | Almost never |
Speakable schema has under 10% adoption but delivers a 127% lift in citations. Specialist agencies use this gap to win.
6. No cross-platform testing
When did your agency last test your visibility in Claude? Or Perplexity? Or Gemini? Most agencies only check Google rankings and call it done.
Each platform cites differently:
- ChatGPT - Bing index, brand mentions, YouTube
- Perplexity - Reddit (46.7%), real-time, anti-promotional
- Gemini - Google index, schema verification, entity consistency
- Claude - training data, depth, bullet formatting
A strategy that works for ChatGPT may fail completely for Perplexity. Each platform needs its own approach.
What genuine AI search capability looks like
An agency that genuinely delivers AI search optimisation should be able to demonstrate:
- Multi-index optimisation - Google AND Bing submission, monitoring, and reporting
- Entity SEO expertise - Organisation schema, sameAs, Wikidata, Knowledge Graph
- AI citation monitoring - tools that track mentions across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude
- Brand mention strategy - beyond backlinks, focused on web mentions and YouTube
- AI-specific schema - FAQPage, Speakable, @graph, Person with sameAs
- Cross-platform testing - regular audits across all AI platforms
- Technical AI architecture - website structure, robots.txt, llms.txt, IndexNow
This isn't about bashing agencies
AI search is new. The tools are still young. The data is still coming in. It makes sense that most agencies have not caught up.
But there is a difference between "we are learning about AI search" and "we already offer AI SEO services." If you hire an agency for AI search, ask the questions above. Their answers will tell you everything.
What to do next
Oliver Mackman
AI Search Analyst, SEOCompare
Oliver leads SEOCompare's editorial and comparison research. With over a decade in digital marketing, he oversees agency evaluation, tool testing, and AI search data analysis.
Last reviewed: 7 April 2026
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