GEO vs an SEO agency: which one do you need?

What each one does in a month

	SEO agency	FirstPicked (done for you)
The goal	Rank higher in Google's results and Maps	Get named when shoppers ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews what to buy
What they change	Site speed, technical fixes, keywords, blog posts, links	Product details AI reads, buying guides, pitches to the sites AI quotes, honest Reddit replies
What they report	Rankings and Google traffic	Which buying questions name you, which sites AI quotes, and orders and sales from AI
Price in Australia	Quoted per store	GEO agencies: about A$2,000 to A$20,000+ a month. FirstPicked: A$1,000 a month

Agency GEO prices are from Optimising's Australian price guide. SEO prices vary too much to quote fairly, so ask for a fixed monthly price.

When an SEO agency is the better pick

Your site is slow, broken on phones, or Google can't read it properly.
You want one supplier for SEO, ads, email and your website.
Most of your sales come from Google searches for your product names, and those rankings are slipping.
You need a bigger team with designers and developers on hand.

When GEO is the better pick

Shoppers ask ChatGPT questions like "best beard oil for dry skin in Australia" and it names other brands.
You want to know which sites AI quotes for your products, and to get onto them.
You want to see the actual orders and sales that came from AI, not just mentions.
You'd rather pay one set monthly price with no lock-in.

Why the two overlap

Clear, honest pages help with both. Google AI Overviews are built on Google's own results, so good SEO helps there.

The big difference is that an AI answer names only a few brands and quotes only a few sites. Being on the roundups, retailers and threads it quotes matters more than ranking on page one. That is the part most SEO agencies don't track.

Questions to ask any agency before you sign

Which sites does ChatGPT quote for my top 10 buying questions, and are we on them?
How will you show me orders from AI, not only mentions?
Do you post on Reddit, and if so, as who? Fake customer posts break Reddit's rules and can get your brand banned.
Is there a lock-in contract, and what happens if nothing changes after the first month?
Will you promise me a top spot in ChatGPT? (If yes, walk away. Nobody can promise that.)

Where FirstPicked fits

FirstPicked is a done-for-you service for Shopify brands. It's A$1,000 a month, with no lock-in and a full refund if you're not happy after the first month. Our team and AI check 100 buying questions every day and fix your product pages. We write 12 buying guides a month, send up to 40 emails to websites, and show you the sales AI sends you.

We are not an SEO agency. We don't do site speed, ads or full technical SEO. If you need those, keep your SEO agency and use us alongside it.

Want us to do it for you?

FirstPicked is A$1,000 a month, done for you, for 5 Australian Shopify brands. No lock-in, and a full refund if you're not happy after the first month.

Join the waitlist

Questions people ask

Is GEO just SEO with a new name?

No, but they share groundwork. SEO aims at Google's ranked results. GEO aims to be one of the few brands an AI app names in its answer. That depends a lot on the other sites it quotes, like review lists, shops and Reddit.

Can my SEO agency do GEO?

Some can. Ask them which sites ChatGPT quotes for your buying questions and how they will show you orders from AI. If they can't answer both, they are probably still doing SEO only.

Do I need both?

Many stores do. If Google is your main source of sales, keep SEO going. Add GEO when shoppers in your category start asking AI what to buy.

How fast will AI start naming my store?

Nobody can promise a date. AI answers change from one run to the next, so we ask each question more than once and report the average. Product fixes can show up quickly; guides and mentions on other sites take longer.

Sources

Other companies' prices and features were checked on 23 October 2026 and can change. Tell us if something is out of date and we'll fix it. FirstPicked is not linked to any company named here.