Which AEO agencies does AI recommend in Australia?
Across 138 answers from ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity to 18 questions about hiring an AEO or AI search agency in Australia, the engines named 161 different agencies. No agency appeared in more than 11% of answers, and 90 agencies were named only once. The pages the engines cited most were agencies’ own dedicated AEO service pages and “best agencies” lists.
Why we ran this study
Business owners increasingly ask AI tools who to hire. If you are choosing an AEO, GEO or AI SEO agency, the obvious question is: which agencies do the AI engines themselves recommend, and why? Rather than publish another opinion-based “top 10” list, we recorded what the engines actually said, with the dates, prompts and engines attached.
Method at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Engines tested | ChatGPT (2 model versions), Google Gemini (2 model versions), Perplexity (Sonar) |
| Prompts | 18 fixed prompts: 10 national “which agency” questions, 3 local, 1 cost, 1 industry, 2 how-to and 1 problem question (full list below) |
| Answers analysed | 138 (46 per engine). Each prompt was run 6–9 times. |
| Dates | 5–6 October 2026 (UTC) |
| Location setting | Australia |
| Collection | Prompts were run through HubSpot’s AI visibility (AEO) tracking tool. We exported each answer’s text and cited URLs. |
| What counted as a mention | An agency counted as named when the answer recommended or listed it as an option. Names that appeared only inside a source link were not counted. |
| Quality control | Seven Perplexity runs returned unrelated answers and are kept in the totals as zero-mention runs. |
| How cited URLs were counted | Each answer’s unique cited URLs were pooled: 833 URLs in total, 368 unique pages on 276 domains. 519 of the 833 (62%) were on .au domains. |
| How “best of” list citations were counted | A cited URL was classed as a list article or directory if its address contained “best”, “top-[number]”, “/list/” or “directory”. 60 of the 138 answers (43%) cited at least one such URL. This rule is simple and may miss some lists. |
| Agencies per answer | 106 of the 138 answers named at least one agency; those answers named 3.7 agencies on average (Gemini 5.2, ChatGPT 3.6, Perplexity 1.9). |
Finding 1: the market is wide open
The engines named 161 different agencies across 138 answers, an average of 3.7 agencies per answer whenever any agency was named. The most-named agency appeared in 15 answers (about 11%). More than half of the agencies (90 of 161) were named only once.
For anyone choosing an agency, that means an AI recommendation in this category is not yet a settled verdict: ask the same question twice and you will often get a different shortlist. For agencies, it means no one “owns” the answer yet.
Finding 2: AI matches agencies to the buyer in the question
The engines did not give the same shortlist to everyone. Questions about professional services firms, ecommerce brands and mid-sized companies each produced different agencies, and agencies that state a clear specialisation on their own site tended to be named for that specialisation. A clearly stated focus appears to matter more than a long list of services.
Finding 3: what the engines read before answering
The 138 answers cited 833 URLs (368 unique pages on 276 domains). About 62% of cited URLs were on .au domains. The most-cited pages fell into two groups: agencies’ own dedicated AEO or AI search service pages, and third-party “best agencies in Australia” list articles. 60 of the 138 answers (43%) cited at least one list article.
Two practical conclusions follow. First, a dedicated service page that explains what the agency does, for whom and how it is measured is the page most likely to be read. Second, the list articles act as shortcuts for the engines, so whether an agency appears on them matters, regardless of how those lists are compiled.
Finding 4: the same question, different answers by engine
ChatGPT tended to give a ranked shortlist with reasons and caveats, and sometimes advised the user to ask agencies for before-and-after evidence. Gemini named the most agencies per answer (5.2 on average when it named any, against 3.6 for ChatGPT and 1.9 for Perplexity) and sometimes surfaced local map listings. Perplexity named the fewest agencies but cited the most sources (447 URLs, against 214 for Gemini and 172 for ChatGPT) and leaned heavily on list articles. A brand that is visible in one engine can be absent from another, which is why we never report a single blended score on its own.
What this means if you are hiring an agency
- Do not treat a single AI answer as a ranking. Run the same question several times and in more than one engine.
- Ask each agency for a baseline: which prompts, which engines, how often it is named today. Then ask for the same measurement after the work.
- Ask how they will get you onto the sources the engines actually read: your own service pages, directories, list articles and industry publications.
- Be wary of guarantees. In our data, even the most-named agency appeared in roughly one answer in nine.
Our guide to choosing an AI search agency in Australia turns these findings into a checklist.
Limitations
- Two days of data. AI answers change over time; this is a snapshot, not a trend.
- Prompt selection. The prompts were written to reflect questions our own prospects ask, and four of them mention locations or industries we serve. A different prompt set would produce different counts.
- Three engines. Claude, Microsoft Copilot and Google AI Overviews were not included in this run.
- Tool-based collection. Answers were collected through a tracking tool, not logged-in consumer accounts, so personalised results may differ.
- Counting mentions is not the same as measuring quality. An agency being named does not mean it is the best choice for a given business.
All 18 prompts
| Prompt | Type | Runs |
|---|---|---|
| How much does answer engine optimisation cost in Australia? | Cost | 6 |
| Which agency helps Australian dentists and health clinics appear in AI search results? | Industry | 6 |
| Which agency helps Brisbane businesses get recommended by ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews? | Local | 6 |
| How can a mortgage broker in Australia get recommended by AI search? | How-to | 6 |
| How can a builder in Australia get recommended by ChatGPT? | How-to | 6 |
| Why isn't ChatGPT recommending my business and who can fix it in Australia? | Problem | 6 |
| Who can help my business show up in ChatGPT in the Northern Rivers NSW? | Local | 6 |
| Who is the best AEO agency on the Gold Coast? | Local | 6 |
| Which answer engine optimisation agency helps Australian brands increase AI search visibility? | National | 9 |
| Which answer engine optimisation agency specialises in Australian professional services firms? | National | 9 |
| What is the best answer engine optimisation agency for Australian hospitality businesses? | National | 9 |
| How should Australian CMOs choose an answer engine optimisation agency? | National | 9 |
| Which answer engine optimisation agency should Australian businesses work with? | National | 9 |
| Which answer engine optimisation agency supports Australian SEO and content teams? | National | 9 |
| Which answer engine optimisation agency offers ongoing AI visibility reporting in Australia? | National | 9 |
| What is the best answer engine optimisation agency for Australian mid-sized companies? | National | 9 |
| Which answer engine optimisation agency should Australian growth-focused startups compare? | National | 9 |
| What answer engine optimisation agency suits Australian ecommerce brands wanting more AI recommendations? | National | 9 |
Cite this study
Cited AI (2026). Which AEO agencies does AI recommend in Australia? 138 AI answers analysed. Published 7 October 2026. https://citedai.com.au/which-agencies-does-ai-recommend-australia
Journalists and researchers can request the underlying counts at hello@citedai.com.au.
Related
Frequently asked questions
Which AEO agency does ChatGPT recommend in Australia?
In our October 2026 sample, no single agency dominated. ChatGPT named a different shortlist depending on the question; across all three engines the most-named agency appeared in about 11% of 138 answers.
Do AI engines recommend the same agencies every time?
No. In our data 90 of the 161 agencies named appeared only once, and repeated runs of the same prompt often produced different shortlists.
What pages do AI engines read when recommending an agency?
Mostly agencies’ own dedicated AEO or AI search service pages and third-party “best agencies in Australia” list articles. 43% of answers cited at least one list article.
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