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AI search services are easy to sell badly.
Take ordinary SEO, rename it GEO, add a prompt-tracking dashboard and promise the client will appear in ChatGPT. The language sounds new enough that buyers struggle to compare scope.
ERP companies should be harder to fool. They sell complex systems where responsibilities, dependencies and acceptance criteria matter. Apply the same standard when buying AI search work.
Our Semrush review found strong commercial demand for AI search optimization services, AI search engine optimization services, generative engine optimization services and answer engine optimization services. Low keyword difficulty does not mean the service is simple. It means the market content is still immature.
What Should AI Search Optimization Services Include?
A complete AI search service should include a technical access and index audit, commercial-page review, keyword and prompt research, content and proof planning, entity and source consistency, relevant authority building, platform-aware measurement and a clear conversion path. The provider should separate deliverables from outcomes and state the limits of its control.
SEO, AEO and GEO Responsibility Map
| Workstream | Core SEO responsibility | AEO or GEO addition | ERP client input |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical access | Crawl, index, canonical, sitemap, performance and internal links | OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and WAF checks | Hosting, CDN, security and analytics access |
| Research | Keywords, intent, competitors and content gaps | Buyer prompts, platform answers, citations and entity errors | Sales questions, target ecosystems and priority services |
| Commercial pages | Relevance, structure, proof and conversion | Direct answers, retrievable facts and citation-ready sections | Scope, process, pricing logic and approved claims |
| Content | Useful topic coverage and internal linking | Original source material, answer structure and prompt coverage | Subject-matter interviews and technical review |
| Authority | Relevant backlinks and brand signals | Third-party corroboration in sources AI answers use | Partner, customer and ecosystem relationships |
| Measurement | Rankings, impressions, clicks and conversions | Mentions, citations, accuracy and AI referrals | CRM outcomes and sales feedback |
If a proposal contains only prompt tracking and blog production, it is not a full service.
1. Technical Search and Crawler Audit
The provider should test the important URLs and document the evidence.
- Google and Bing crawl and index status
- Status codes, redirects, canonicals and noindex directives
- Robots.txt and sitemap quality
- Internal linking and orphan pages
- Rendered HTML and hidden content
- OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot access
- CDN, WAF and bot-management behavior
- Server-log evidence where available
- Analytics and referral tracking
A screenshot from a crawler is not enough when the issue sits in a response header or firewall. The team should explain who owns the fix and how it will be verified.
Source check: OpenAI separates search crawling from training controls and publishes current crawler information. See OpenAI’s official crawler documentation.
2. Keyword, Prompt and Buyer-Journey Research
The research should connect conventional search terms with the questions buyers ask AI tools.
For an ERP seller, that may include:
- Direct commercial terms for the ERP ecosystem, service and sector
- Questions about implementation, migration, support and partner selection
- Comparisons between suppliers or delivery models
- Questions about proof, cost, timeline and risk
- Seller-side marketing, website, sales-enablement and AI visibility needs
Ask the provider to show how prompts become pages and how pages lead to a service. A spreadsheet with hundreds of questions is not a strategy.
3. Commercial-Page Improvement
A good service starts with pages that can create revenue.
- Homepage and core positioning
- ERP industry page
- Platform and service pages
- Pricing or plan explanation
- Team and author profiles
- Success stories and proof
- Contact and assessment journeys
The provider should identify what is missing, what can be improved and which page should own each intent. Creating a new article when an existing service page should be repaired causes cannibalization and weakens the conversion path.
4. Content With First-Party Evidence
Ask what the agency needs from your team. If the answer is “nothing,” expect generic output.
Useful AI-search content may require:
- Founder and subject-matter interviews
- Approved process documentation
- Anonymized sales questions
- Original audits or benchmarks
- Screenshots and diagrams
- Customer evidence
- Technical review
- Clear limitations and exclusions
Google’s guidance emphasizes useful, unique, non-commodity content and rejects common AEO and GEO myths for Google Search.
Source check: Use the guide to test whether an agency recommendation is based on current official information or a sales claim. See Google Search Central’s AI optimization guide.
5. Entity Consistency and Third-Party Sources
The service should check how the business is described across its own website and major external sources.
- Company name, domain and locations
- Seller type and service category
- ERP ecosystems and verified relationships
- Founders and senior specialists
- Sectors and markets served
- Customer evidence and reviews
Then prioritize relevant sources where gaps exist: platform directories, customer pages, associations, publications, events, podcasts and credible review sites.
Do not accept a package of bulk citations from unrelated directories. That is link spam wearing AI terminology.
6. Measurement That Admits Uncertainty
A reporting framework should include both traditional search and AI answer visibility.
| Report area | Minimum evidence | Commercial question |
|---|---|---|
| Search | Rankings, impressions, clicks and relevant landing pages | Are qualified buyers finding the company? |
| AI prompts | Fixed prompts, platform, date, mention, citation and description | Is the company present and described accurately? |
| Referrals | AI and search traffic with landing-page behavior | Are visits reaching useful commercial pages? |
| Conversion | Assessments, calls, plan views and qualified enquiries | Does the visibility create a sensible next step? |
| Pipeline | CRM influence and sales feedback | Is the work supporting real opportunities? |
Ask whether the provider stores the prompt set and raw answers. A score without the underlying evidence is hard to audit.
What the Agency Cannot Guarantee
- A permanent number-one position in ChatGPT
- Inclusion in every Google AI Overview
- A fixed number of citations
- A model using the company’s preferred description
- A specific volume of qualified ERP leads
- Immediate authority from publishing new pages
An agency can control research quality, technical work, content, proof, page structure, tracking and outreach effort. It cannot control an external model or buyer decision.
Access the Provider May Need
| Access | Why it may be required | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Webflow or CMS | Review and update pages, fields and internal links | Use least-privilege access and change records |
| Search Console and Bing | Inspect indexation and performance | Grant the minimum role needed |
| Analytics and tag manager | Track referrals and conversions | Document events before changing them |
| Cloudflare, CDN or hosting | Diagnose crawler and WAF issues | Technical owner should approve security changes |
| CRM | Connect content to qualified outcomes | Limit personal data and define reporting rules |
| Brand and proof files | Use accurate claims and assets | Create an approval source of truth |
A responsible provider explains why access is needed and does not ask for full administrator rights by default.
AI Search Agency Red Flags
- Guaranteed ChatGPT rankings
- An llms.txt file sold as the main deliverable
- A promise that schema alone creates AI citations
- Hundreds of templated question pages
- No technical crawler or index review
- No access to raw prompt results
- No ERP-specific interviews or reviewer process
- Backlinks or brand mentions from irrelevant sites
- No explanation of conversion or pipeline measurement
- A scope that changes names but not work
When Not to Buy AI Search Services
Do not buy a separate AI search program when the company cannot explain its offer, the website has no credible commercial pages, subject-matter experts will not participate or the team expects immediate guaranteed leads.
Fix the foundation first. In many cases, the correct first project is positioning, a website repair or proof creation. AI visibility work can then build on something worth retrieving.
How to Compare Proposals
- Ask each provider to separate audit, implementation, content, authority and reporting.
- Request a sample deliverable and raw measurement evidence.
- Check whether the scope covers commercial pages or only blogs.
- Ask which recommendations come from official platform guidance.
- Confirm client inputs, approvals and technical responsibilities.
- Review exclusions, minimum term, capacity and ownership of working files.
- Reject guarantees the provider cannot control.
Compare the scope with the current NexaFlow plans rather than assuming every company needs the largest engagement.
What NexaFlow’s Dominate-Type Scope Is Designed to Do
NexaFlow’s strength is connecting the parts that are often split between suppliers: Webflow, technical SEO, AEO and GEO content structure, brand, sales assets and ongoing creative production.
That fit is useful for an ERP seller whose website, content and commercial assets need to move together. It is not the right fit for a company looking only for digital PR at scale, a pure enterprise technical SEO consultancy or guaranteed appointment setting.
The correct starting point is a scoped audit that identifies which parts of the system actually need work.
A Sensible Delivery Sequence
| Phase | Deliverables | Decision before moving on |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Baseline | Technical findings, commercial-page review, keyword map, prompt set and source audit | Are the target audience, problems and success measures agreed? |
| 2. Foundation | Crawler and index fixes, entity fact sheet, analytics and priority page repairs | Can relevant systems access and understand useful commercial pages? |
| 3. Content | Pillar, cluster pages, original assets, author and reviewer evidence | Does each page add information worth using and lead to a service? |
| 4. Authority | Partner, customer, publication and ecosystem outreach | Are target sources relevant, accurate and realistically obtainable? |
| 5. Optimization | Prompt trends, search data, conversion evidence and content refreshes | Which existing pages deserve more work before new pages are created? |
A provider that starts publishing before the baseline may create pages the site cannot index or pages that target the wrong commercial intent.
Team Roles to Expect
- SEO lead: technical, architecture, intent and search measurement
- Content strategist: buyer journey, prompts, briefs and internal links
- Writer or interviewer: converts first-party knowledge into usable content
- Webflow or development owner: implements pages and technical fixes
- Digital PR or authority owner: earns relevant external references
- Subject reviewer: checks technical and ERP accuracy
- Commercial owner: connects the work to services, plans and pipeline
One person may cover several roles in a smaller engagement. The proposal should still show who is accountable for each output.
Compare Pricing Models by Risk
| Model | Best use | Buyer risk |
|---|---|---|
| One-time audit | A company needs diagnosis and priorities | The report may not be implemented |
| Project scope | Defined technical repair or content cluster | New findings may fall outside the agreed work |
| Monthly retainer | Ongoing content, implementation and measurement | Vague retainers can hide low output |
| Fixed subscription | Recurring mixed SEO and creative needs | Capacity and exclusions must be explicit |
| Performance pricing | A narrow measurable outcome with clean attribution | AI visibility and long ERP sales are difficult to attribute fairly |
Do not choose a model because it sounds lower risk. Read the deliverables, dependencies and exit terms.
Use an AI Search RFP Scorecard
Score each provider from one to five on:
- Technical search depth
- Commercial-page work
- ERP and B2B relevance
- First-party research process
- Author and reviewer standard
- Web implementation capability
- Authority and source quality
- Measurement transparency
- Access and security discipline
- Scope, exclusions and guarantee language
Ask for evidence beside every score. A polished pitch should not outweigh an unclear delivery model.
What a Monthly Report Should Say
- What changed on the site.
- What was published and which source material was used.
- What search and prompt evidence moved.
- What did not move and the likely reasons.
- Which commercial actions occurred.
- What will be strengthened next month.
- What the client must provide or approve.
A report full of visibility graphs but no explanation of the work is not accountability.
Related ERP AI Search Guides
- Read the ERP SEO, AEO and GEO playbook
- Understand ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI visibility
- Connect search visibility to qualified ERP pipeline
- Compare ongoing delivery models
Need an Honest AI Search Scope for Your ERP Company?
NexaFlow can map technical access, commercial pages, keywords, buyer prompts, evidence, authority and measurement into one plan. The proposal will state the deliverables, client inputs, exclusions and limits before work begins.
