GEO Agency vs. SEO Agency: Which One to Choose in 2026
SEO agencies often dismiss GEO, while GEO agencies warn about the end of Google. Here's how it really is, when you need which — and why the two sides keep arguing.
If you've been dealing with your company's visibility lately, you may have noticed a curious argument: SEO agencies call GEO a buzzword and repackaged SEO, while GEO providers talk about the end of Google. Both sides hold a piece of the truth, and both benefit from you believing them. This article is an attempt at a fair answer.
The quick answer
You need an SEO agency when your traffic is built on classic Google (and, in the Czech market, Seznam) and it works — you're protecting and growing an existing channel.
You need a GEO agency when (a) your data shows a drop in organic traffic since AI Overviews arrived, (b) your customers ask ChatGPT or Perplexity for recommendations, or (c) AI search engines don't mention you while they do mention your competitors.
You need both if organic search is your main acquisition channel — the disciplines overlap by roughly half, but each optimizes for a different decision mechanism.
Why SEO agencies look down on GEO
It's worth understanding the motivations on both sides:
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A threatened business model. SEO agencies sell monthly management built on Google's algorithm. When 25 % of Google queries end in an AI answer with no click-through and zero-click search keeps growing, the value of the classic SEO report declines. Admitting that means admitting part of your own service is becoming obsolete.
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Legitimate criticism of the hype. Part of the criticism is fair: GEO has attracted a wave of sellers who repackaged basic on-page SEO under a new name and sell fear. The SEO community's skepticism is a healthy correction.
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A real methodological difference. But GEO is not just renamed SEO. AI models decide on citations differently than Google ranks pages: brand mentions across the web correlate with AI citation probability 3× more strongly than backlinks (Ahrefs, December 2025, 75,000 brands). SEO optimizes your position in a list of links; GEO optimizes whether the language model knows you at all and mentions you in its answer.
A factual comparison
| SEO agency | GEO agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | position in Google/Seznam results | mention and citation in AI answers (ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews) |
| Main levers | keywords, backlinks, technical SEO | entity signals, brand mentions, citable content, schema, llms.txt |
| Measurement | Search Console, rankings, CTR | share of AI answers mentioning the brand, AI traffic in GA4 |
| Time to results | 3–12 months | first changes in 4–8 weeks |
| Where it fails | on queries where AI answers without a click | on transactional queries where Google still rules |
Three situations from Czech practice
An e-shop with declining organic traffic. After AI Overviews launched in Czech, some Czech e-shops reported organic traffic drops of 30–40 %. If that's your case, SEO alone won't solve the problem — traffic isn't disappearing because of worse rankings, but because the user got their answer without clicking. The solution is to be the source the AI answer cites (cited websites see 35 % higher CTR).
A B2B company with a long buying cycle. 51 % of software buyers now start their research in AI chatbots (G2, 2026). If ChatGPT doesn't know you, you drop off the shortlist before it even forms. Here GEO takes priority over SEO.
A local service (plumber, café). The Google Business profile and reviews win — classic local SEO work. A GEO agency should tell you honestly that you don't need GEO yet.
Decision table: which agency to choose
| Your situation | Who you need |
|---|---|
| Organic Google traffic works, no decline, I want to keep growing | an SEO agency |
| GA4/Search Console shows an organic decline, but rankings haven't dropped | a GEO agency (traffic is disappearing into zero-click AI answers) |
| I sell B2B/SaaS with a longer buying cycle | GEO first (51 % of buyers start research in AI) |
| Competitors show up in ChatGPT/Perplexity, I don't | a GEO agency |
| A local service dependent on maps and reviews | SEO/local optimization, not GEO yet |
| Organic search is my main acquisition channel | both — SEO protects the present, GEO the future |
How to tell an agency (either kind) is lying to you
- An SEO agency claiming "GEO changes nothing" is ignoring public data on the zero-click trend.
- A GEO provider claiming "SEO is dead" is ignoring that Google still mediates most purchase queries.
- Anyone selling you results without a measurement framework is selling a story, not a service.
Frequently asked questions
Can one agency do both SEO and GEO? Yes, but ask about their specific GEO methodology (entities, citability, AI visibility measurement). If the answer is "we do quality content and technical SEO, that covers AI too," it's an add-on, not a discipline.
Do I have to cancel SEO when I start with GEO? No. For a detailed breakdown of how the two disciplines overlap, see GEO vs. SEO: the key differences.
Which GEO agencies exist in the Czech Republic? A complete overview with pricing: The Best GEO Agencies in the Czech Republic 2026.
Updated: July 3, 2026.
About the author: Marek Nocar is the founder of NocarStudio, a specialized GEO agency (founded in 2025 as the first GEO studio in the Czech Republic). He helps B2B companies and e-shops become visible in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. → More about Marek
Founder of the first GEO studio in the Czech Republic. He helps companies become an authority for ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.
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