Stage 3 · ongoing AEO
AEO Retainer
The AEO Retainer is the monthly work that keeps your company on the AI shortlist: fresh answer content, review and roundup work, launch support, and a scorecard that shows what moved.
Three tiers, with the AI visibility tracker included. We size the tier with you at the audit readout and quote the monthly fee then.
Core, Growth or Scale · tracker included · 6-month first term, then rolling monthly · fees quoted on a call
Why monthly
Why does AEO need a retainer?
Because the assistants change where they get their answers, often overnight, and pages go stale.
On 10 July the share of ChatGPT product picks taken from merchant feeds jumped from 8% to 62%, and about one in five previously visible merchants disappeared (Profound via Relevant Audience). In August, Reddit's share of ChatGPT citations fell by 86% in a week (Promptwatch data, reported by Search Engine Land, August 2026), and by October it was about one answer in forty-three (Ahrefs, October 2026). Google has been moving the other way, quoting forums directly in AI Overviews. In September, ChatGPT switched from Bing to its own search index (Peec AI, September 2026).
Freshness matters too: 75% of the pages AI assistants cite were updated within the past year (Seer, July 2026). A one-off project can't respond to any of this.
What the retainer does about it
- Tracks your agreed prompt panel across the major assistants, all month, each one reported separately.
- Maps every signal in the data to an action, and checks each month that the answer crawlers still get through your CDN.
- Publishes new answer pages and refreshes the ones that matter.
- Runs the off-site work: roundups first, then reviews, trade press, YouTube and community answers.
- Handles launches with a fixed playbook.
- Reports it all in one monthly scorecard.
The working method
What do we do each month?
Tracking is only worth paying for if every signal leads to an action. This table is the working method behind every retainer, and the backbone of your scorecard.
| What we see | Where we see it | What we do about it |
|---|---|---|
| A competitor is cited for one of your prompts, and you're absent | The tracker's answers and the sources each assistant cited | We go after the source the AI used. A roundup: we pitch its publisher. A competitor's own page: we publish a better answer. A review site: we push reviews on that platform. A Reddit thread or forum: a disclosed answer from a named person on your team, which helps in Google AI Mode and Perplexity. A YouTube video: we brief a long-form explainer. |
| You're mentioned but not cited or linked | Tracker: mentions compared with citations | We strengthen your page for that question: the direct answer first, then a sourced figure, a customer quote and a real update. |
| An assistant states wrong facts about you, such as an old country count, the wrong category or an old brand name | Brand prompts in the tracker, plus a manual brand check | An accuracy sweep. We fix the source the AI is repeating (your own pages, your G2 or Gartner Peer Insights category, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, directories, Wikidata) and add a clarifying Q&A to your site. No assistant offers a correction channel, so the source is the fix. |
| Negative or lukewarm sentiment | Tracker sentiment, review sites | We trace it to the review or article behind it, agree a response plan with you, and target review requests. |
| Copilot's grounding queries | Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance | We treat them as ready-made content briefs. Each unanswered grounding query becomes a page section or a new page. |
| AI impressions rising on a page | Search Console's Generative AI report | We refresh and extend that page first, and link to it from newer pages. |
| AI impressions falling on a page | Search Console, the tracker | A real refresh: new data and a new example, then a new date. |
| Which pages AI visitors land on, and whether they convert | GA4's AI Assistant channel | We improve the conversion path on those pages and write more on those topics. |
| Pipeline influenced by AI | A “How did you hear about us?” field in your CRM with an AI assistant option | We report AI-influenced leads and revenue, not just visibility. |
| New questions your prospects actually ask | Sales call notes, support tickets, site search | We add them to the prompt panel and the content plan. |
| A competitor ships new comparison or category content | A share-of-voice drop in the tracker, plus a manual watch | A response page or a refresh within the month. |
| A platform changes where it gets its sources | Industry watch, the tracker's source mix | We move effort to where it now counts, and explain the change in a short note in that month's scorecard. |
The monthly scorecard
What's in the monthly scorecard?
One document that combines the tracker, Search Console, Bing, GA4 and your CRM, so you can see what moved and why.
- Visibility on your agreed prompt panel: presence rate, citation rate and share of voice against named competitors, for each assistant separately.
- Answer accuracy: whether each assistant describes you correctly and currently.
- Source diet: which third-party pages the assistants cited, which tells us where to pitch next.
- Platform data: AI impressions from Search Console, and Copilot citations, grounding queries and competitor gaps from Bing.
- Traffic and pipeline: AI Assistant sessions and conversions in GA4, and AI-influenced leads from your CRM.
- Work shipped: pages published and refreshed, reviews collected, roundup positions and outreach.
- Platform notes: a short note when an engine change, rather than our work, moved the numbers.
- Next month: what we'll do, and why.
How we report
- Visibility as a percentage across many runs, on 4-week rolling averages.
- Never a single screenshot, and never an “AI rank position”.
- The prompt list is agreed with you and published in every scorecard.
- The first four weeks set the baseline, and we claim no uplift against a shorter period.
- One tracker for the life of the trend line, because numbers aren't comparable across tools.
Honest measurement
What can AI visibility tracking tell you, honestly?
A lot, if you know its limits. We tell every client these six things before they sign.
Answers are samples, not rankings
In SparkToro's 2,961 tests, the chance of ChatGPT or Google's AI giving the same brand list twice was under 1 in 100. So we report a percentage across many runs, never a position.
Trackers aren't your buyers
Trackers run logged out, without memory, from data centres. Real buyers have history and a location. The tracker is a proxy for their experience, not a copy of it.
Apps and APIs can differ
Some engines are captured through the model's API rather than the consumer app, and those answers can differ. We know which is which for each engine, and we tell you.
We choose the prompts, with you
Because the prompt list shapes the result, it is agreed with you and published in the scorecard. The “prompt volumes” tools show are vendor estimates.
Models change overnight
A model update can move the numbers without anyone touching your site. The first four weeks are the baseline, and no uplift is claimed against a shorter period.
We show correlation, not proof
We can't prove causation, only a controlled before and after. We say so up front, and we flag any month where a platform change plausibly explains a swing.
One path, three stages
Where the retainer fits
Every client starts with the AI Visibility Audit, which sets the baseline. The retainer is designed to follow the 90-day AEO Implementation Programme, so the foundations are in place before the monthly cadence begins.
Launch playbook
How do you handle a product launch?
Every launch of a product, service, location or feature is an AEO event, so it gets a fixed checklist. Growth covers up to one launch a month, Scale covers launches as needed, and Core gets ad hoc support.
4 weeks before
We add 5 to 10 launch prompts to the tracker so there is a baseline. We agree the canonical facts every surface will repeat: the name, the category, a one-line description and the key numbers.
2 weeks before
We draft the answer page, a visible Q&A and a comparison against the obvious alternative. Specification data goes in HTML, not only a PDF. For retailers: feed entries with full attributes.
Launch day
We publish, ping IndexNow (for Bing and Copilot) and update the sitemap. We update your review platforms, Merchant Center, Wikidata and your LinkedIn product page. We pitch trade press (earned coverage, not a wire release) and brief a YouTube explainer.
2 weeks after
We check Bing's grounding queries and Search Console's AI impressions for the new pages, and fix the gaps.
4 and 8 weeks after
We rerun the launch prompts in the tracker, then refresh the pages with early customer quotes and numbers.
The tiers
Which tier is right for you?
Every tier includes the AI visibility tracker, a monthly scorecard and a 6-month first term, then rolls monthly. The difference is scale: how many prompts we track, how much we publish and how much off-site work we run.
One brand, one market
- Monthly scorecard
- 3 content pieces a month, new or refreshed
- Review and roundup monitoring
- Ad hoc launch support
- Monthly call
Built for most mid-market companies
- Monthly scorecard
- 6 content pieces a month, new or refreshed
- Roundup and trade-press outreach
- Review programme run for you
- Launch playbook for up to 1 launch a month
- Fortnightly call
- Quarterly strategy review
Multi-brand, multi-market, ecommerce with feeds, or regulated
- Monthly scorecard
- 10 content pieces a month, plus feed work
- Full digital PR
- Per-branch listings
- Compliance workflow for regulated sectors
- Launch playbook as needed
- Weekly check-in and quarterly strategy review
The tracker subscription is included up to each tier's prompt allowance, so there is no separate tool bill. Each tier has a flat monthly fee, excluding VAT, and we quote it once we have agreed the tier with you. HelloWorld is a small studio led by Bryan Hurley, so we take on a small number of retainer clients at a time. See what each stage includes, or book the audit to get started.
Common questions
Questions about the retainer
What happens each month on the AEO Retainer?
We track your agreed prompt panel, publish or refresh the month's content pieces, run the off-site work your tier includes, and act on what the data shows. You get a monthly scorecard and a regular call: monthly on Core, fortnightly on Growth, weekly on Scale.
What is the minimum term?
The first term is six months, then the retainer rolls monthly. Six months gives the trend line time to mean something: the first four weeks set the baseline, and first measurable movement typically appears around month three.
Is the AI visibility tracker included?
Yes. The tracker subscription is included up to your tier's prompt allowance. We use Peec AI by default, or HubSpot AEO if you already run HubSpot Marketing Hub. If you leave, you get an export of your tracking history.
Which tier do we need?
Core suits one brand in one market. Growth suits most mid-market companies, especially if you launch regularly or want roundup and trade-press outreach. Scale is for several brands or markets, ecommerce with product feeds, or regulated sectors such as pharmacy, where every piece needs a compliance sign-off.
Where does the retainer fit with the audit and the programme?
Every client starts with the AI Visibility Audit, because it sets the baseline the retainer is measured against. The retainer is designed to follow the 90-day Implementation Programme, so the foundations are in place before the monthly cadence begins.
How many retainer clients do you take on?
A small number at a time. HelloWorld is a small studio led by Bryan Hurley, and the work is senior-led, so we cap the number of retainers to keep the quality up.
We already have an SEO agency. Do we still need a retainer?
We partner with your SEO agency; we don't replace it. The foundations are SEO. The retainer covers what a normal SEO retainer doesn't: reviews, roundups, PR, product feeds, entity work and measurement across several AI assistants.
Every retainer starts with an audit
See where you stand first.
The AI Visibility Audit sets the baseline your retainer is measured against. It is a fixed fee, credited in full against the programme, and the retainer tier and monthly fee are agreed at the readout.