The serious answer engine optimization agencies operating in 2026 are First Page Sage, Searchbloom, Optimist, Unified Platforms, iPullRank, Minuttia, Qoulomb, and Masterful. Each one sells a version of the same promise: get your brand named when a buyer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, or Gemini for a recommendation. They differ on geography, price, method, and who they are built to serve. This guide compares them on those terms.
Why trust this comparison?
Masterful publishes this guide, and Masterful is one of the agencies in it. Every list of this kind carries that conflict. Most hide it. We are stating it up front, scoring every agency on the same criteria, and naming our own limitation plainly: Masterful is the newest entrant here, with the smallest public track record. If you want an agency with a decade of case studies, several names below have that and we do not. If you want a specialist built for a market the established players have ignored, keep reading.
We did not rank these agencies one through eight. A single ranking implies one agency is best for everyone, which is false. A fintech enterprise in New York and a B2B SaaS startup in Nairobi need different partners. The comparison below sorts on fit, not on a trophy.
Why does the agency question matter now?
Buyers research differently than they did two years ago. A B2B buyer evaluating software now opens ChatGPT and asks which tool fits their situation before they ever reach a Google results page. If the model does not name your brand, you are absent from the shortlist before the first sales call. Traditional SEO put a blue link in front of a human who chose whether to click. AEO requires your brand to appear inside the answer itself, named and recommended, with no click required.
That shift created a service category. The agencies below sell the work of getting your brand into the text these models draw from. The work splits into entity foundations, content built for extraction, and third-party authority that the models already trust. Every agency here does some version of those three. They differ on how, for whom, and at what price.
How did we score each agency?
We assessed every agency on six factors:
- AI-citation track record. Documented results getting client brands named in AI answers, not just traditional rankings.
- Methodology transparency. Whether the agency publishes how it works or hides it behind a sales call.
- Engine coverage. How many AI platforms the agency optimizes for and measures.
- Pricing transparency. Whether a prospect can find a starting price without a discovery call.
- Specialty fit. How sharply the agency serves a defined buyer rather than everyone.
- Documented results. Named case studies with verifiable numbers.
No agency scores top marks on all six. The strongest on track record tend to be the weakest on pricing transparency. The clearest on price tend to be the newest. The comparison reflects those trade-offs.
How do the eight agencies compare?
| Agency | Geographic focus | Best for | Pricing | Specialty | Honest limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Page Sage | US | Enterprise B2B, healthcare, professional services | $50,000 minimum, not public | One of the earliest AEO agencies, quarterly proprietary research | Out of reach for most companies below enterprise scale |
| Searchbloom | US | Mid-market wanting a published framework | Not public | The MERIT framework, Google Premier Partner | Generalist search shop with AEO layered on |
| Optimist | US | B2B companies wanting practitioner-led work | Not public | Strong LLM referral pipeline data | US-centric, limited emerging-market understanding |
| Unified Platforms | US | Brands wanting AEO, GEO, and SEO under one roof | Custom retainer | Integrated full-stack search | Integration breadth can dilute AEO depth |
| iPullRank | US | Enterprise wanting data-heavy strategy | Custom, upper-market | Relevance Engineering, deep information architecture | Built for large technical budgets |
| Minuttia | Europe | B2B SaaS and tech content | Not public | Research-backed human-crafted content | Content-led, lighter on technical and entity work |
| Qoulomb | India | Brands wanting semantic-search depth | Custom enterprise, $10,000+ typical | Entity and topical-relationship engineering | Enterprise retainer pricing |
| Masterful | Africa and emerging markets | African and emerging-market B2B brands | $3,200/month, public | Citation Architecture, transparent pricing, founder-led | Newest entrant, smallest public track record |
What does each agency actually do?
First Page Sage
First Page Sage launched AEO services in 2023, earlier than almost anyone, and has published proprietary research on the discipline every quarter since. They serve technology, healthcare, and professional-services clients and position B2B companies as authoritative voices in competitive markets. Their work is strong and their research is widely cited. Their $50,000 minimum prices out any company that is not already at enterprise scale, and their published case studies lean more toward traditional SEO than AEO-specific revenue.
Searchbloom
Searchbloom is a Utah search-marketing agency and a Google Premier Partner, a tier held by a small fraction of agencies. They built and published the MERIT framework, a five-pillar method for earning citations across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity. The published framework is a genuine credibility signal. They remain a full-service search shop, so AEO sits alongside PPC and conversion work rather than as the single focus.
Optimist
Optimist positions itself as a practitioner-led B2B agency with real LLM-referral pipeline data behind its claims. They argue against splitting SEO and AEO across two vendors, which is a defensible position for companies that want one partner. Their focus and case studies are US-centric.
Unified Platforms
Unified Platforms integrates AEO, GEO, and SEO into one growth system rather than selling AEO as a bolt-on. For a brand that wants a single strategic partner across all of search, that integration is the draw. For a brand that wants deep, dedicated AEO specialism, the breadth can work against depth.
iPullRank
iPullRank brings a data-heavy approach they call Relevance Engineering, building strategic information architecture rather than answering tactical citation needs one page at a time. Their documented work includes large performance gains for enterprise clients. The technical depth suits organizations with the budget and internal sophistication to use it.
Minuttia
Minuttia is a European agency with deep B2B SaaS and tech expertise, integrating AEO with SEO and content marketing. Their strength is research-backed, human-crafted content built to perform in both traditional and AI search. The work leans content-first, which means lighter coverage on the technical and entity-signal layers some brands need.
Qoulomb
Qoulomb is an India-based agency that treated generative engine optimization as its own technical discipline early. They build webs of related topics and data points so models trust and cite a brand, working through the lens of semantic-search SEO rather than page-by-page keyword work. Their pricing sits at enterprise retainer levels, typically starting around $10,000 a month.
Masterful
Masterful is built for African and emerging-market B2B brands, the segment every agency above has left unaddressed. The method, Citation Architecture, works each engine separately: entity foundations, content structured for extraction, and third-party authority in the sources each model trusts within the region. Pricing starts at $3,200 a month and is published openly. The honest limitation, stated again: Masterful is the newest agency here and carries the smallest public track record. The bet a client makes on Masterful is a bet on specialist focus and regional fit, not on a long case-study archive.
How should you choose any AEO agency?
The list above narrows the field. These four questions narrow it further, and they work on any agency, including the ones here.
First, ask how they measure AI citation. A credible agency tracks brand mention rate and citation rate across named engines and shows you the data. An agency that only talks about traditional rankings has not made the shift.
Second, ask which engines they cover and how the work differs per engine. ChatGPT weights community and editorial sources. Perplexity weights news and primary research. Google AI Overviews track closer to traditional ranking. An agency that treats all engines as one job does not understand the field.
Third, ask for a named case study with numbers. Anonymous results ("a global cybersecurity leader") are weaker proof than a named brand with a citation screenshot. Press for specifics.
Fourth, ask what they would do in the first 90 days. A real methodology produces a concrete answer: audit, entity foundations, content priorities, authority targets. A vague answer signals a vague method.