Five questions to ask an AEO agency before you hire one

Where these questions come from

Ask ChatGPT how to choose an AEO agency in Dubai and it gives you a checklist. We have reproduced the five questions it suggests, because they are good ones, and because any agency selling AI visibility should be able to answer the questions an AI engine itself recommends. Below each question is what a strong answer contains and what a weak one sounds like. We have also answered each for Samura, so you can hold us to the same standard.

1. Can you show actual client brands being cited or recommended by AI search engines, with evidence from before and after your work?

A strong answer is a dated log: the exact prompts, the engine, a screenshot from before the work started and one from after, with the client's name or at least their category. A weak answer is a case study with a percentage and no prompts, or a promise that evidence will be shared "under NDA."

Samura: we keep a weekly prompt log for every client and for ourselves. This company was our first case; the log that shows Samura appearing in AI answers for AEO questions in Dubai, from a baseline of zero, is the one we show first. Client logs are shown with the client's permission.

2. Do you optimise for ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews separately?

A strong answer explains that each engine uses a different index and trusts different sources, and names what differs: ChatGPT search draws on Bing, Gemini on Google's index and Maps, Perplexity on recent web pages. A weak answer treats "AI search" as one thing.

Samura: we track five engines separately every week (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews) and tune the work to whichever is lagging. Bing Webmaster submission is part of every program because of ChatGPT.

3. Do you implement technical fixes, structured data, content strategy and third-party brand authority, or just provide reports?

A strong answer lists what the agency itself builds: schema, llms.txt, page rebuilds, directory profiles, outreach. A weak answer hands you a list of recommendations for your developer.

Samura: we do the work. Our engineering bench rebuilds pages and ships schema; our team creates and maintains the directory and profile presence; the content is written, published and submitted by us. Reports exist to show what changed.

4. Can you support Arabic and English if your target market is the UAE?

A strong answer describes what is done in Arabic: at minimum, FAQ content and entity descriptions, because many UAE buyers prompt in Arabic and the engines reward sites that answer in both. A weak answer is "we can translate."

Samura: Establish and Dominate programs include an Arabic FAQ layer and bilingual entity descriptions. Launch is English-only, and we say so.

5. How will you measure AI mentions, citations, referral traffic and qualified leads?

A strong answer names four numbers and how each is collected. A weak answer is "monthly reporting."

Samura: every week, how many tracked prompts name the client, how many cite the client's site as a source, referral visits from AI tools as recorded in analytics, and enquiries that mention finding the business through an AI assistant. The last one needs a question on the contact form, which we add in week one.

Two questions ChatGPT did not suggest, which you should also ask

What is the price? If the agency will not publish or quote a number before a sales call, ask why. What is the contract? Twelve-month minimums for a service this new should make you pause. Samura's programs run one, two or three months and nothing renews automatically.