AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews are reshaping how B2B software buyers discover and evaluate solutions. Traditional SEO agencies aren’t always built for this new reality. You need a partner that understands Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) – and more importantly, understands B2B SaaS, complex buying journeys, and how AI assistants now influence decisions long before anyone reaches your website.
Here’s what to look for when choosing a GEO agency with strong B2B SaaS & Software credentials.
You can download our GEO/AI SEO agency evaluation scorecard here: Download [doc]
1. Proven results in generative visibility and a focus on revenue outcomes
Any agency can show you keyword rankings and traffic graphs. That’s not enough anymore.
Look for a partner that can show evidence of visibility in AI generated answers from ChatGPT and Perplexity to Google AI Overviews. Ask to see how they track prompts, citations, and competitor coverage using tools like Peec AI. Ask to understand their methodology, and how they are approaching the process of improving AI search performance.
2. A focus on revenue outcomes
But visibility isn’t the end goal. You want an agency that connects AI presence to real commercial outcomes: buyer influence earlier in the journey, more qualified leads and stronger pipeline.
AI search is still evolving and attribution sometimes difficult, but you need an agency with the right mindset and that speaks your language.
At FirstMotion, we believe AI search is changing the entire length of the B2B buyer journey – not just initial discovery. It’s our goal to prove that AI search can be a revenue driver for B2B software brands, not just a visibility measure.
3. A deep understanding of how LLMs actually work
Generative Engine Optimisation is not just SEO with new keywords. You need a partner that understands:
- How LLMs cite and reference content
- The importance of structured data and clean formatting
- The sources models trust (e.g. G2, Reddit, Gartner, community forums)
- How prompts vary by buyer role and journey stage
GEO is about earning influence, not just publishing content. AI search is more technical than ever, and so an agency partner should have proven technology credentials.
LLMs are new and the world changing fast – so you can’t expect a partner to always have answers. This is no different to SEO and algorithm changes. But you should expect them to always be learning, testing, sharing their insights, and have a clear B2B focused methodology for approaching the AI SEO landscape.
4. Fluency in B2B SaaS buyer behaviour
Generic content doesn’t win in AI search. The best GEO strategies are built around audience intelligence.
That means:
- Mapping the decision-making unit, not just personas
- Understanding long sales cycles and complex buying processes
- Aligning prompts to buyer roles, not just funnel stages
Your agency should speak your language – ACVs, RFPs, compliance risks, enablement content, analyst briefings. Not just keywords and blog posts.
At FirstMotion, we’re unique in having our own ContextualJourney™ AI search audience intelligence platform to help us deeply understand buyer behaviour as we shape AI SEO strategies and map/align prompts.
5. Strategic alignment with your marketing goals
AI search doesn’t sit in isolation. It feeds into brand, content, demand generation, ABM and revenue marketing.
The right agency won’t just deliver tasks. They’ll act as an extension of your team, helping you:
- Prioritise the right prompts based on intent
- Build content that supports both AI and human journeys
- Make smart bets based on research and data
- Translate visibility into buyer influence and pipeline
If they don’t understand your goals as a B2B marketer, they can’t help you meet them.
6. Built for experimentation and rapid change
The AI search space is evolving every week. You need a partner who’s:
- Testing LLM behaviour in real-time
- Tracking changes to AI visibility across a large number of prompts
- Monitoring shifts in prompt phrasing and source influence
At FirstMotion, we treat GEO like a living system, not a set-and-forget checklist. We maintain the largest up to date database of GEO/AI SEO research studies as well as carrying out our own visibility index reports.
7. Modern, AI-first delivery model (not the old agency playbook)
Most SEO agencies are built on bloated account teams, manual reporting, and recycled strategies.
FirstMotion is different. With our founder having previously built and sold a SEO agency in the pre-AI era, we’re building FirstMotion differently, firmly believing that the traditional agency model is dead.
We’re AI first, lean by design, and powered by our proprietary ContextualJourney™ platform. That means:
- No layers of account managers slowing you down
- Leaner, faster delivery
- A focus on consultancy and client empowerment
- Real time insight, automation, and buyer contextual strategies
Our goal is to combine consultancy grade thinking with technology grade speed.
8. Transparent tracking and reporting
You can’t manage what you can’t measure. Your agency should:
- Show you which prompts you’re visible for
- Break down your inclusion in different LLMs
- Track changes in citation sources and formats
- Benchmark you against competitors
- Iterate quickly
We use tools like Peec AI and integrate with your broader analytics stack to give full funnel visibility.
9. Proven track record by a B2B SEO leader
FirstMotion was founded by Alex Price, who previously built and sold one of the UK’s leading B2B SEO agencies. His agency led enterprise SEO strategies for brands like:
- Amazon
- Inmarsat
- SparkCognition
- Nexthink
- Amplitude
- Vertex
- Qt
- SuperAwesome
- Codat
- NetDocuments
- Sitecore
- Peak AI
FirstMotion’s B2B software credentials run deep.
10. Ability to help with ‘traditional SEO’
We’re in a shift at the moment – Google is still the most used search engine, but AI usage and traffic is increasing, and expected to continue to do so.
So it might be important for you to have an agency or consultancy partner that can help with your ‘traditional SEO’ strategy too. A good AI focused search agency should have its roots in SEO, and therefore be able to assist with both – keeping your agency roster simple, reducing the number of partners you have to manage and making sure SEO and GEO are aligned – which makes a lot of sense given how they overlap in many areas.
Conclusion: AI SEO is a strategic capability
Choosing the right GEO agency or consultancy is one of the most important decisions a B2B SaaS brand will make over the next 12 months. It’s the difference between showing up in the next wave of AI-native buying journeys.
You can download our GEO/AI SEO agency evaluation scorecard here: Download [doc]
At FirstMotion, we help B2B software companies turn buyer understanding into prompt strategy, prompt strategy into AI visibility, and AI visibility into pipeline.