Most agencies that want to start with GEO get stuck on the order of things: first write a proposition, then set prices, then find a client. Flip it. Start by tracking clients you already have. The numbers write the proposition for you, and the first conversation runs itself.
Before you start: pick three clients
Pick three existing clients with a clear market and competitors you know: a local service business (HVAC contractor, dentist, law firm), an online store with a defined range, and a professional services or software company. Three is enough to see patterns and few enough to do on the side. You don't need to tell them anything yet; you're only tracking what AI says about them publicly.
Practically: create an agency account (the portal is free) and add the three clients. Per client, a name and website is enough: GeoReady pulls the business profile from the site, suggests 35 to 50 prompts and finds the competitors. That takes fifteen minutes per client. Pick the trial or a plan per client; for the first thirty days the trial is enough for the baseline.
Week 1: the baseline
Let tracking run for a week without changing anything. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday all prompts are asked to ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini; every answer is stored word for word and broken down. After a week you have three tracking days per client and a first picture that's reliable enough to talk about.
Look at five things, in this order:
- Visibility per AI model. In what share of the non-branded questions ('best HVAC contractor in Arlington', not 'what do you think of Northfield') is the client mentioned? The difference between models is often the first thing that stands out.
- Who does get mentioned. The competitor list with share of voice. Often there are names the client doesn't consider competitors, or doesn't know.
- Which sources AI cites. The six to ten domains that come back in almost every answer, and whether the client is listed there. This is usually the explanation for everything above.
- What AI literally says. Read ten answers. Is the description right? Are services mentioned the client no longer offers? Is there a negative remark that comes from a single source?
- The site check. Are GPTBot, PerplexityBot and ClaudeBot allowed to read the site? Is there a sitemap, an llms.txt, structured data?
Write three sentences per client: where they stand, who wins, and the most likely cause. That's your conversation opener.
Week 2: the conversation and the service
In week 2 the conversation with the client isn't a sales pitch but a presentation of facts. Open the live view or dashboard and show: 'On these fourteen questions your customers ask AI, you're mentioned in 18% of the answers. Summit Climate Co. in 46%. The difference sits on these four websites, where they're listed and you're not.' Then the question comes by itself: 'So what do we do about it?'
At that moment you need your service. Keep it simple. A monthly service with three parts: (1) tracking keeps running and the client gets their own login and a weekly report in your branding; (2) every month you execute a fixed number of actions from the action list (approaching sources, content, technical fixes); (3) every month a report that shows what changed. One fixed amount per month, cancel monthly. How to price it is in pricing GEO as a service; the conversation itself in the first conversation about GEO.
Tell your client honestly what you don't know yet. You can promise that you track, that you execute the actions and that you show the effect. You can't promise that ChatGPT will mention them in three months. Clients accept that, as long as the tracking is transparent.
Week 3: the first actions
Start with the action that pays off fastest, and that's almost always a source. If the client is missing from a comparison site or industry directory that's cited in 60% of answers, a listing there is the biggest lever you have. GeoReady shows per source how to get listed (free listing, paid profile, editorial) and provides a draft email. That's PR work you already know.
Also in week 3:
- Open up the technical side. If robots.txt blocks AI crawlers, every other effort stalls. Allow GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot and Google-Extended; add an llms.txt; add Organization schema with sameAs. The site check gives you the code.
- Fill one content gap. Pick the sub-question AI asks itself for which the client has no page (the 'AI search queries' in the dashboard). Write that page: concrete, with the question as title, with numbers and a clear author and date.
- Correct facts. If AI says something that isn't right (an old service, a wrong location), find the source it comes from and fix it there. That's the 'fix sentiment at the source' action.
Mark every action as done in the portal as soon as it's finished. Thirty days later GeoReady automatically measures the effect: in how many prompts the client has been mentioned since, compared with before.
Week 4: the first report
The first monthly report is the most important report you'll send, because it decides whether the client sees GEO as a real service. Keep it short and concrete: score and visibility per AI model (with the change versus the baseline), the competitors, the three actions you did and why, and the work list for next month. The weekly report goes out automatically; the monthly report comes as a PDF in your branding. Which KPIs to show and which not is in GEO reporting for clients.
Don't expect a big jump after four weeks. A listing on a new source only shows up in answers once the AI model reads that source again. What you do show: tracking is running, the causes are named, the first levers have been pulled, and next month has a plan. That's exactly what a client expects from an agency.
After thirty days: the rhythm
After the first month GEO is no longer a project but a rhythm. Monday: tracking and signals (who rose, who fell, new competitor, new source). Tuesday: prioritize, assign actions across the team. Wednesday to Friday: execute. Every month: report and prove. With the agency portal you keep that rhythm for dozens of clients, because the tracking, signals, action lists and reports come automatically and you only do the work that is actually work.
Add the fourth and fifth client once the first three are running. By then you know the sources in their industry, you have a report format that works, and you have a number you can show in a pitch: 'our clients' AI visibility rose by an average of X points in three months'. That number is the start of GEO as a standing service of your agency.
Week 1 baseline for three existing clients, week 2 the conversation and the service, week 3 the first actions, week 4 the first report. After that the rhythm runs itself.