Last updated: September 30, 2026
Many AEO strategies are simply ways to try and trick AI into citing you. They can create a noticeable and positive change for a short period of time, but once the platforms realize, and they always do, these strategies suffer from deep declines in traffic or even blacklisting. Every client should always ask if there will ever be any AI-generated content published in the process.
There are many great and honest marketing agencies out there. But AEO is new, and a lot of what's being sold under that name doesn't hold up. Here's what to watch for.
Red flag: a "sophisticated system" that's really just Claude and old SEO
I have spoken with many agencies that claim to have a very sophisticated AEO system, when in all actuality they are using Claude and other tools to write and publish content, using unreliable third-party tracking softwares, and implementing archaic SEO strategies that have not worked for over three years. Because agencies rely solely on humans and are often understaffed and overworked, even if they do well for one client, the results may not carry over to the next client. I have also spoken with software company owners whose products are essentially just wrappers of Claude while advertising themselves as a premium product.
Red flag: strategies built to trick AI
Spamming Reddit and LinkedIn worked for people briefly, but because Reddit's API was always so easy for AI bots to post through, we saw this as a very shaky strategy and have never prioritized it. In August of 2026, Reddit's share of ChatGPT citations collapsed by 86%, to almost zero, in a single week.
While all of these strategies can create a noticeable and positive change for a short period of time, they are all simply ways to try and trick AI into citing you. No search engine or AI search platform wants to be fed false information or be tricked into thinking that something is more trustworthy than it actually is. Once they realize, and they always do, these strategies suffer from deep declines in traffic or even blacklisting. Our strategy has always been to create the highest value for LLMs, so that our clients' results not only arrive quickly, but last the test of time.
Red flag: "that's an industry secret"
AEO packages offered by agencies are oftentimes purposefully vague, and when asked about their actual strategies, they are explained as industry secrets that they cannot share. We do not have this issue, and are happy to share all of the different strategies that we take with your content, because it would be impossible to replicate by a human doing all of these tasks for this cost at this high level of a result. Our software optimizes with such a large sum of citation history data that no human team could extrapolate the same findings and implement them as quickly or accurately as our system.
Red flag: AI-generated content anywhere in the process
Every client should always ask if there will ever be any AI-generated content published in this process. Even if the content is published on third-party sites, it may not blacklist you, but it will cease to be useful to you at one time or another, at which point your results will dry up.
Questions to ask before you sign
If I was hiring an AEO agency, or going to be paying for an AEO software, here's what I would ask:
- Is there any AI-generated content being utilized or published?
- Which tasks are actually being handled by AI versus by a real human?
- Do you have a proven, data-backed strategy for videos being cited by AI?
- Can I see case studies from the past six months? If it hasn't been within the past six months, then everything has changed already.
- Can I speak with any of your clients directly? This is the way to vet their customer experience.
- How are you tracking and reporting? Make sure that they are using reliable tools.
- What does your attribution model look like, and what do you view as success? We ask every single company what their goal is, so that our system is calibrated to create success not only in a generic fashion, but for their actual goals.
How we report
While agencies spend time trying to make reports look pretty and then explain them to you on a call, explaining away why certain metrics are down and how other things need to take time, we let the numbers speak for themselves. You can always see the results in your dashboard, and if you are ever unhappy with anything, you can reach out directly to your CSM.
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Sources
- Promptwatch: Reddit citations are dropping in ChatGPT
- Glenn Gabe, GSQi: When "Mt. AI" crumbles, ChatGPT can follow (case study)