Should I hire an SEO agency or a GEO agency in Malaysia?

Hire for the gap you have, not for the label. An SEO agency is the better first hire if Google can't find your website or you're about to rebuild it. A GEO agency is the better first hire if Google already finds you but ChatGPT and other AI tools name your competitors. Much of the page work is the same, so don't pay both for it.

GEO, generative engine optimisation, means getting AI tools such as ChatGPT to name your business with the right facts. The two kinds of agency are closer than they sound: Google now lists "Optimizing for generative AI" among the services an SEO may provide¹. Whether you need GEO or SEO at all is in GEO vs SEO; this guide is about which agency to hire.

What does an SEO agency do each week that a GEO agency doesn't?

An SEO agency works on where your pages rank in Google, and a GEO agency works on what AI tools say when a customer asks who to choose. The clearest difference is what each one checks every week.

Google's own list of SEO services includes "Review of your site content or structure", "Content development" and "Keyword research"¹. The GEO column follows the Malaysian packages we read, where the monthly work was page changes plus a report (what they include). Scopes differ, so treat the table as a typical description, not measured data.

Where does an SEO agency's work overlap with a GEO agency's?

An SEO agency's work and a GEO agency's work overlap on your own website: readable pages with your facts in plain text. Google says of its own AI answers: "optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO"². That is Google speaking about Google. In our Malaysian tests, ChatGPT leaned on the same base: for who-to-hire questions, businesses' own websites were the largest group of sources it cited (sources by question).

If you hire both kinds of agency, give these four jobs to one of them only:

1. Technical fixes, including crawler access.
2. Rewriting service and location pages.
3. Structured data.
4. Your Google Business Profile and directory listings.

Ask each for last month's task list. If the same pages appear on both, you're paying twice.

When should I hire an SEO agency first, and when a GEO agency?

Hire an SEO agency first when the basics of being found on Google aren't in place. Hire a GEO agency first when they are, and AI answers still leave you out.

An SEO agency is the better first hire if:

• You're building or rebuilding a website. Google says "a great time to hire is when you're considering a site redesign (the earlier, the better), or planning to launch a new site"¹.
• Google doesn't show your site for your own name, service and area.

A GEO agency is the better first hire if:

• Google already finds you, but ChatGPT names competitors or gets your facts wrong.
• Customers ask in Malay or Chinese, and nobody is checking those answers.

Not ready to hire anyone? See doing the basics yourself.

What should I ask an SEO agency or a GEO agency in Malaysia before signing?

Ask an SEO agency and a GEO agency the same four questions before signing. The first two are Google's own wording.

1. "How do you measure your success?"¹ An SEO agency should name Google positions and visits; a GEO agency, how often AI answers mention you.
2. "Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site"¹ Either kind should say yes and show a sample.
3. How many times do you ask each customer question? Anyone selling GEO should know. Tools, languages and minimum terms are in what to ask an AEO agency.
4. Does your AI advice follow Google's guidance? Google suggests asking whether "AEO" or "GEO" advice is "aligned with Google Search's official guidance"¹.

If either promises first place, Google's advice is short: "find someone else"¹.

How can I tell an SEO agency offering GEO is really doing the work?

You can tell an SEO agency offering GEO, or a GEO agency offering SEO, is really doing the work by its report. GEO work leaves saved AI answers as evidence; SEO work leaves changes to your site.

Signs an SEO agency is really doing GEO:

• The report lists the questions asked, with the AI tools, the languages and the number of repeats.
• It doesn't stop at Google rankings. In our Malaysian test, only about one in five of the businesses ChatGPT named were in Google's top five places for the same search (ChatGPT vs Google Maps).
• It doesn't rest on one screenshot. In our test, two ChatGPT answers to the same question shared only 15% of the businesses they named (why answers vary).

Signs a GEO agency is really doing SEO:

• It asks for your Search Console access and shows what it found.
• It doesn't lead with special AI files. For Google Search, Google says you can ignore "creating unnecessary AI text files (like llms.txt)"².

What can't this comparison of SEO agencies and GEO agencies in Malaysia tell me?

• Results. We compared what SEO and GEO agencies say they do; we didn't hire any.
• The ChatGPT app. Our figures come from small tests through OpenAI's API, so the app may differ.
• Our interest. EasyFound is a founder-led AI SEO service in the Klang Valley. We are one of the GEO-side options, so weigh our view like any seller's.

How do I decide between an SEO agency and a GEO agency for my business?

To decide between an SEO agency and a GEO agency, first see which gap you have: Google, AI answers or both.

1. Request EasyFound's free check. See what ChatGPT says about your business, then go through it with us on a free call.
2. Search Google for your service and area in a private window. If you don't appear, an SEO agency comes first.
3. Sign with one kind first, and add the other only for work the first doesn't do.

EasyFound is an AI SEO service for Malaysian businesses. We check six AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode) in English, Malay and Chinese, then work on the pages they draw on. If your gap is Google, we'll say an SEO agency should come first. The free check is below.