What does AEO cost for a small or mid-sized UK business?

This FAQ covers what AEO (answer engine optimisation) typically costs a small or mid-sized UK business, what each price point buys, and how to judge whether the money is working. The figures below are our own current pricing, so you can see exactly where a budget goes.

Pricing and what you get

AEO pricing splits into a one-off audit, a one-off build, and a monthly retainer. We take each in turn, starting with the entry point.

How much does an AEO audit cost?

Our AI Visibility Audit costs £495 one-off, delivered in five working days. It is credited in full against your first month if you start within 30 days, and you keep it whether or not you hire us. That makes it the lowest-risk way to see where your business stands in AI answers before committing to a retainer.

How much does an ongoing AEO retainer cost?

Our retainers run from £1,250 to £3,495 a month, with no VAT. The three levels are Visibility at £1,250, Recommendation at £1,995 and Dominate at £3,495. All have a three-month minimum, then roll monthly with 30 days' notice. Moving between these levels is largely a question of how many services, locations and prompts you need covered, which the next questions break down.

What does the £1,250 Visibility level include?

Visibility is built for single-site businesses and covers 8 knowledge assets a month, 30 to 40 tracked prompts, and coverage of ChatGPT, Google AI and Perplexity. Coverage is one service in one location, with foundation-level third-party citation building, monthly reporting and a monthly review call with Simon. It is designed to make sure the machines know you exist.

What does the £1,995 Recommendation level include?

Recommendation suits multi-site or multi-discipline businesses and covers 15 knowledge assets a month and 100 to 120 tracked prompts. It adds Gemini, Claude and Copilot to the engines tracked, covers up to 3 services across 3 locations, and includes an active third-party citation programme. Reporting is fortnightly, with a fortnightly working session with Simon. The aim is to put you on the shortlist when someone asks an AI tool for options.

What does the £3,495 Dominate level include?

Dominate is for specialists taking or defending a category and covers 30 knowledge assets a month and 250+ tracked prompts across all engines, monitored weekly. It includes unlimited coverage within the agreed scope, citation building with editorial placement, an annual regional original data report, and area exclusivity. Reporting is weekly with a live dashboard, plus weekly time with Simon and a quarterly on-site visit.

Are there setup costs on top of the monthly fee?

Yes, there is a £995 one-off onboarding and build fee. It covers entity architecture, schema build, baseline measurement and question-bank construction. It is waived if you commit to twelve months, and a twelve-month commitment also takes 10% off the monthly price.

Is there a cheaper option for a local business?

Local businesses can start with a free on-site opportunity session of 60 to 90 minutes. An optional full on-site audit with a written plan costs £299, and full implementation is scoped after the session. This applies to our local AI implementation service, which is separate from the AEO retainers.

Judging value for money

Cost only means something against results, so the remaining questions cover timelines and what to ask any supplier.

How long before I see results?

At Visibility level, first movement in citation rates comes at 30 to 60 days as models refresh. Meaningful shortlist presence for your flagship service in your town typically follows by month four to six. Recommendation clients should expect consistent shortlist presence for their primary service by month four to six, and measurable displacement of at least one incumbent by month six to nine. Dominate aims for category ownership in a defined service and catchment within six to nine months.

What affects how quickly it works?

The client's own time for review and comment is the biggest factor. AEO relies on your genuine expertise, so slow sign-off of drafts slows everything down. We set these timelines as honest expectations, not guarantees.

Why pay for AEO when my SEO rankings are holding steady?

Rankings can hold while the clicks disappear. Google's AI Overviews now appear on roughly half of all queries, and around six in ten searches end without anyone visiting a website. AI referral traffic is still only around 1% of total web traffic, so waiting to pick up AI traffic instead is not a plan. The plan is to be named inside the answer itself.

Is AEO worth it if AI traffic is still small?

Yes, because the quality of that traffic is high. People now do their research inside answer engines, so those who land on your site arrive pre-qualified. In our experience they convert four or five times more efficiently than visitors who searched and compared several websites.

How do I make sure I'm paying for measured change, not activity?

Ask any supplier for screenshot evidence of multi-LLM citation tracking against a defined prompt set. Our own tracking covers claim, entity, shortlist, education and clinical prompt categories, with screenshot evidence and first-answer counts. If a supplier cannot show you a baseline and a repeatable way of measuring change in AI answers, you are paying for activity.

What other questions should I ask an AEO supplier?

Ask five things before you sign:

• Can they explain the difference between AEO and GEO?
• Can they produce screenshot evidence of multi-LLM citation tracking against a defined prompt set?
• Do they treat schema as a one-off setup? That is the wrong answer.
• Do they say third-party authority doesn't matter? Usually that is because they can't build it.
• In regulated sectors, will they publish claims with no named clinician or adviser, no review date and no regard for the regulator's advertising rules?

Is an AEO retainer just my SEO retainer with a new label?

It should not be. We are blunt about this: the wrong place to spend right now is a traditional SEO retainer sold with a new sticker on it. AEO is the marketing built for the answer inside the chat window, and GEO is the mechanics that get you into that space. Pay for work aimed at being named and cited in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and the other answer engines, and hold your supplier to measured change in those answers.

Where should I start?

Start with the £495 AI Visibility Audit. It gives you a baseline, it is credited against your first month if you proceed within 30 days, and you keep it either way. Email ask@question.marketing to book it.