Why nobody publishes prices
Most agencies won't state numbers, which leaves buyers unable to judge whether a quote is reasonable. We think that's a bad trade for a discipline that's supposed to be about answering questions honestly, so here are real ranges — with the caveat that any specific engagement depends on scope.
The three commercial shapes
1. Audit and roadmap — ₹25,000 to ₹75,000
A one-off diagnostic. You should receive: a prompt-panel baseline across the major engines, a technical assessment of crawlability, rendering and structured data, an entity and off-site audit, a competitor comparison, and a prioritized plan. It should be useful whether or not you hire the agency to execute it.
Below about ₹25,000, you're likely getting an automated report rather than analysis. Above ₹75,000 for an audit alone, ask what's included that isn't on this list.
2. Ongoing retainer — ₹40,000 to ₹2,00,000+ per month
The main engagement model, because GEO compounds and one-off fixes decay. Typical bands:
| Band | Monthly | Typically includes |
|---|
| Local / single-market | ₹40,000 – ₹75,000 | 20–30 prompt panel, 2–4 content pieces, local entity work, monthly reporting |
| Growth | ₹75,000 – ₹1,50,000 | 50+ prompts across engines, 4–8 pieces, digital PR, technical iteration |
| Competitive / national | ₹1,50,000+ | Large panels, original research, sustained PR, multi-market entity work |
3. Project work — ₹75,000 to ₹4,00,000
A GEO-ready website build or rebuild, priced by site complexity. The distinction from an ordinary web project is that structure, schema and answer-first content architecture are designed in rather than retrofitted — which is substantially cheaper than building twice.
What actually drives the number
- Competitiveness. Displacing entrenched national players takes far more sustained work than establishing a local business as a canonical answer.
- Content volume. The largest variable cost. Genuinely good, sourced content is not cheap to produce and is the main engine of results.
- Engines and prompt count. Six engines × 50 prompts weekly is real labour, whether manual or tooled.
- Off-site work. Digital PR and authority building are the most expensive component — and, per the mention-vs-backlink data, the most correlated with outcomes.
- Starting position. A site with clean technical foundations costs less to move than one needing a rebuild first.
How to tell real GEO from relabelled SEO
The industry has a rebranding problem. Ask these five questions before signing anything:
- "How will you measure AI visibility?" A real answer describes a prompt panel with per-engine tracking. A vague answer about "AI-optimized content" is a red flag.
- "Show me a baseline report." If they can't show the format of a starting measurement, they aren't measuring.
- "Which engines, tracked separately?" Blended numbers hide the fact that engines overlap far less than assumed.
- "What's your off-site plan?" If everything happens on your own domain, they're skipping the part that correlates most with results.
- "What do you guarantee?" The correct answer is process and reporting — not rankings or citations. Anyone guaranteeing a ChatGPT recommendation is either misunderstanding the mechanism or misrepresenting it.
Our position. We publish these ranges because the question gets asked constantly and answered almost nowhere. Our own audit is free — you get the baseline, the gaps and the plan, and you keep the document whether or not you work with us.
Frequently asked
Is GEO cheaper than SEO? +
Comparable at similar scope, and often faster to show movement because engines weight freshness heavily. The cost structure differs: less spend on link acquisition, more on content quality, measurement and digital PR.
Can a small business afford GEO? +
Yes, particularly for local markets. The highest-impact local actions — a complete Google Business Profile, consistent details across platforms, a review process — cost nothing but time. Paid help becomes worthwhile once those are done and you're competing on content and authority.
Should I pay for a guaranteed ChatGPT recommendation? +
No. Nobody controls what an AI engine recommends, and there is no paid placement in organic AI answers. A guarantee is a sign the seller either doesn't understand the mechanism or is willing to misrepresent it.
How long before I should expect results? +
Early citation movement typically appears within weeks of shipping answer-ready content. Meaningful share-of-voice change against established competitors usually takes two to four months. Judge an agency on whether they're reporting a real baseline and honest movement, not on speed alone.
Keep reading
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