Most agencies hide pricing behind a "book a call" button. We'd rather you walk in knowing the real ranges, what you should get for the money, and how to spot a bad deal, even if you never hire us.
In 2026, AI search optimization (also called GEO, generative engine optimization) for a single-location local business typically runs from the high hundreds to a few thousand dollars per month, depending on how competitive your market is and how much content and citation work it takes to become the answer. Some providers charge a separate one-time foundation fee for the technical setup. Multi-location and national brands scale up from there, roughly in proportion to the number of locations and the volume of content required.
What you're really buying is a system that makes AI engines, ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, able to verify you, trust you, and name you. Here's what that system contains at each level.
Schema markup for your business, services and FAQs; an llms.txt file describing your business to AI crawlers; a full audit and cleanup of your name, address and phone across every listing; Google Business Profile completion. This is the "make the machines able to read you" layer. If an agency's program doesn't include it, ask why.
Everything in Foundation, plus ongoing citation building on the directories AI reads for your category, a review-generation system with responses, one to four answer-ready pages or articles per month targeting real customer questions, weekly Google Business Profile activity, and a monthly report showing what each AI engine says about you. This is the level most local service businesses need to become, and stay, the recommendation.
The Local program multiplied across locations or service areas, with location-specific pages, a heavier content cadence, competitor monitoring, and often paired with classic SEO and paid search so every channel reinforces the others.
Competition in your category and city. Becoming the AI's answer for "roofer in a mid-size metro" takes more citations and content than "custom woodworker in a small town."
Your starting point. A business with 80 reviews and a clean web presence needs less foundational work than one with a decade of inconsistent listings.
Content volume. Answer-ready content is the compounding asset. More pages per month means faster authority. And more cost.
Number of locations or service areas. Each one needs its own entity signals and pages.
Be cautious of guarantees ("we'll get you into ChatGPT in 30 days"). No one controls AI answers. Be cautious of programs with no reporting on actual AI outputs; if they can't show you what the engines say, they can't show you progress. Be cautious of long lock-in contracts; good work should earn your renewal monthly. And be cautious of anyone who can't explain, in plain English, what they'll do this month.
Which AI engines do you monitor, and will I see the actual answers each month? What structured data will you add to my site? Which directories and platforms will you build citations on for my industry? How many pieces of content per month, and who writes them? What happens if I pause, do I keep everything you built? (The right answer is yes.)
Do the math with your own numbers. If one new customer is worth a few hundred dollars to you, or a few thousand, as it is for most contractors, medical practices and professional services, then a program that produces even a handful of AI-sourced leads per month pays for itself many times over. And unlike ads, the assets it builds (citations, reviews, content, authority) keep working after the invoice.
We run exactly the program described above, scoped to your market, with monthly AI-answer reporting and no long-term lock-in. We'll give you exact pricing after a free AI Visibility Check, because the right price depends on where you're starting from, and we'd rather show you that first.
For a single-location local business in 2026, ongoing programs commonly run from the high hundreds to a few thousand dollars per month depending on competitiveness and scope, with foundational one-time setup sometimes priced separately. Multi-location and national brands pay more in proportion to locations and content volume.
The foundation (schema, entity cleanup, llms.txt) is one-time. But AI answers change constantly as engines update and competitors act, so staying recommended is an ongoing program of citations, reviews, content and monitoring.
Absolutely, reviews and Google Business Profile activity are very owner-friendly. Most businesses hand off the technical foundation, citations and content because that's where time and expertise matter most.
Start with the free AI Visibility Check. You'll get your baseline, your gap, and a real number. No pressure.