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How we score AEO agencies

08 May 2026
Overview
The AEO Score measures whether an agency actually appears in AI search results when buyers run real queries about AEO services. Most agency directories rank by testimonials and reviews. We rank by AI visibility — because that's what AEO agencies are paid to deliver. This page explains exactly how the score works, what it measures, what it doesn't, and how to verify it.

What the score measures?

The AEO Score is a composite of four signals, each measured across the same set of buyer-intent queries.

  • Citation frequency - How often an agency appears in AI answers across the tracked prompts.
  • Platform coverage - How many AI search engines cite the agency.
  • Position quality - Where the agency ranks within each AI response.
  • Citation source diversity - Whether citations come from the agency's own site, third-party press, community signals (Reddit, G2), or a mix.
Search engines covered
ChatGPT ChatGPT Claude Claude Gemini Gemini Perplexity Perplexity DeepSeek DeepSeek Copilot Copilot Grok Grok Llama Llama Qwen Qwen Mistral Mistral

The list is reviewed quarterly. New platforms are added when adoption justifies inclusion. Retired or low-relevance platforms are removed.

How we calculate the score?
Signal Weight
Citation frequency 40%
Platform coverage 25%
Position quality 20%
Citation source diversity 15%

Each signal is normalized to a 0–10 scale, weighted, and summed. The final score is rounded to one decimal place.

Worked example

Agency X cited in 8 of 12 queries (frequency: 6.7), across 7 of 10 platforms (coverage: 7.0), with average position 2.4 (quality: 7.6), citing across 4 source types (diversity: 8.0).

Weighted: (6.7 × 0.40) + (7.0 × 0.25) + (7.6 × 0.20) + (8.0 × 0.15) = 7.2 / 10

How often we update?
Scores are recalculated quarterly. Each agency listing shows the date of its most recent score update.
The tool we use
We run this analysis using Atomic AGI, an AI search analytics platform built by Omnius. Atomic AGI tracks prompts across 10 AI search engines, measures visibility share, and identifies citation sources. The methodology is reproducible. Anyone with access to a similar tool can verify our findings by running the same prompts on the same platforms.
Conflict of interest disclosure
Omnius - the agency that built this directory - is also listed in it. Omnius's score is calculated using the exact same methodology as every other agency. We publish the raw query results so the score is verifiable. If anything in Omnius's score appears inconsistent with the methodology applied elsewhere, contact us. We do not accept payment for listings. Agencies cannot pay to be included or to improve their score.

What the score doesn't measure?

The AEO Score is a measurement of one specific thing: whether an agency shows up in AI search for AEO-related queries. It does not measure:

  • Quality of an agency's work for its clients
  • Client satisfaction or pricing fairness
  • Results an agency delivers for clients
  • Service breadth, team size, or operational maturity
The score is a snapshot. Agencies that score well today may not score well next quarter, and vice versa. For client outcome data, see each agency's case studies on their individual listing page.
What gets listed?
Only top-performing AEO agencies are listed. We don't list every agency that exists - we list the ones that demonstrably show up in AI search for relevant queries. The minimum threshold for inclusion is an AEO Score of 5.0 / 10. Agencies that score below this threshold are not added to the directory until they reach the threshold in a subsequent quarter.

Methodology updates

We log every change to the methodology here. Transparency on changes is part of the trust signal.

  • 08 May 2026   Quality of an agency's work for its clients
FAQ

The AEO Score is a 0–10 composite of four signals: citation frequency (40%), platform coverage (25%), position quality (20%), and citation source diversity (15%). Each signal is measured across 12 buyer-intent queries run on 10 AI search platforms.

We track the AI search platforms with meaningful adoption among B2B buyers as of the most recent quarterly review. The list is updated each quarter to add new platforms and retire ones that are no longer relevant.

No. We do not accept payment for listings or score adjustments. The methodology is the only path to inclusion and ranking.

Omnius is included because Omnius meets the inclusion threshold. The score is calculated using the same methodology as every other agency, and the raw query results are published for verification.

The full set of queries and tracked platforms is published above. Running the same queries through Atomic AGI or a comparable AI search analytics tool will produce comparable results.

See the changelog above. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

Want to track your own AI search visibility?
Try Atomic AGI