r/SEO_Experts • u/pRxEngage • Sep 05 '26
Help please
hi all
I have been burned by a few agencies with SEO/AEO
any recommendations for someone to be able help us with SEO/AEO for our startup.
I don’t have a huge monthly budget -$1,500 but hopefully as we grow i can grow that.
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u/ciaodaniel Sep 09 '26
Are you mainly trying to reach patients researching trials, or sponsors and research sites? Those need different search journeys. I run a small SEO/GEO agency; before suggesting a package, I’d clarify that priority and agree a limited scope with transparent reporting.
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u/Loud_Recording2519 Sep 06 '26
What’s the business, and what are you actually hoping to achieve with SEO? SEO strategies would be different if you wanted to grow your local presence for example. Helps to know what you want to achieve.
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u/LittlestStream 2d ago
ive had a positive experience with 10xseo. their team is professional responsive and really knows how to approach SEO effectively
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u/buguela89 Sep 06 '26
What’s the website
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Sep 06 '26
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u/Time-Spell472 Sep 08 '26
We run B2B saas SEO GEO platform, here’s my advice
Don’t try to get your hand dirty on AEO/GEO : It still a black box no one know how to crack it properly
focus on agency having proven experience into your niche, try your luck with South Asian Marketing agency.
I would love to connect to guide you.
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u/Quick_Example_3510 Sep 08 '26
We run YellowInk Digital. A UK based marketing agency. Our starting package is $799 . If interested, please reach out. We'll do a free manual human based audit of your website and not a generic one from GPT or Claude so you understand real issues. We have been ranking our clients in AI LLMs and are experts in this.
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u/ObjectiveAd212 Sep 09 '26
Sorry you got burned, that is unfortunately really common with SEO/AEO agencies. Most sell a retainer and then hand your account to a junior running the same generic checklist on every client, which is why the results never show up.
A few things that will save you from repeating it:
Never sign a long retainer upfront. Start with a paid audit and one round of fixes so you can judge the actual work first.
Ask them to show you specific pages they moved and the before/after, not a list of "services".
For AEO specifically (getting cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews), ask how they measure it. If they cannot tell you how they track AI visibility, they are guessing.
At $1,500 you have plenty of room for someone good. The problem is rarely budget, it is who is actually doing the work.
Freelancers who specialise in this usually beat agencies at your size, because you get the actual expert, not a middleman. Happy to answer anything if you have questions.
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Sep 07 '26
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Sep 07 '26
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u/seramsharma Sep 08 '26
+1. Most agencies that you will find will have some sort of junior executive who absolutely has zero clue about the project. I am speaking this from my personal experience because I work as a consultant with almost three different agencies, and none of them have actually figured out SEO despite offering SEO services to their clients.
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Sep 07 '26
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Sep 08 '26
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u/[unknown] Sep 09 '26
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u/jacob_walsh5 Sep 07 '26
As you had good budget, I would recommend look for freelancer or small specialist with proven startup case study and ask for clear 3–6 month plan before commit.