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AIGuideMalaysia

Should I hire an AEO agency or do it myself?

EasyFound · · 7 min read

TL;DR

Start by doing the basics yourself, because most of what Google and OpenAI ask site owners to do is free: let AI crawlers in, state your facts plainly, keep your Google Business Profile accurate and measure AI referrals. Hire help when your site can't be read by AI, you have no time, or competitors already dominate AI answers in your trade. On 26 September 2026, Malaysian AEO and AI SEO providers published monthly prices from RM 1,200 to RM 8,999, some with 3- to 6-month minimums. Self-serve tools start at US$29 a month but only measure; they don't change your site. No one can guarantee a ChatGPT citation: OpenAI says placement is not guaranteed.

Do the basics yourself first. Most of what Google and OpenAI ask business owners to do is free: let AI crawlers read your site, state your facts plainly, keep your Google Business Profile accurate, and measure what AI sends you. Hire help when your site can't be read by AI, you have no time for it, or competitors already own the answers in your trade.

If you do hire, expect to pay RM 1,200 to about RM 9,000 a month in Malaysia, some require a 3- to 6-month minimum. And be wary of anyone who guarantees a ChatGPT mention: OpenAI itself says it can't be guaranteed.

What can I do myself for AEO?

You can do most of the groundwork yourself, because Google and OpenAI both publish what they want from site owners. Google's own advice is to prioritise "effective SEO strategies over 'AEO/GEO hacks'"1.

AEO tasks a business owner can do without an agency
Task What to do Who says so
Let ChatGPT read your site Make sure your robots.txt and firewall don't block OAI-SearchBot OpenAI: "make sure you aren't blocking OAI-SearchBot"2
Keep Google listings accurate Update your Google Business Profile: hours, services, areas, photos Google says Business Profiles "can help your products and services to be visible in both AI responses and other Google Search results"1
State your facts plainly Put prices or price ranges, areas served and specialities on ordinary pages Google: content people find "unique, compelling, and useful" matters most in the long run1
Measure ChatGPT visits Look for visits tagged utm_source=chatgpt.com in your analytics OpenAI: ChatGPT adds that tag to referral links automatically2
Measure Google AI visibility Open the Generative AI performance report in Search Console Google1

Things you don't need, according to Google: special schema markup, AI text files such as llms.txt, or breaking your content "into tiny pieces for AI"1. If ChatGPT can't find your site at all, start with our five checks for why ChatGPT can't see a website.

How much does an AEO agency cost in Malaysia?

Malaysian providers that publish prices charged RM 1,200 to RM 8,999 a month for AEO, GEO or AI SEO work when we checked on 26 September 2026. Most scopes combine AI work with ordinary SEO: content, schema and monthly reporting.

Published AEO, GEO and AI SEO prices in Malaysia, by band (seven providers that publish prices, checked 26 September 2026)
Price band What you typically get Minimum term
RM 1,000 one-time A setup: audit, fixes to a few pages, basic schema None
RM 1,200–2,000 a month Entry retainer: a handful of pages or keywords a month, schema, monthly report Month to month to 6 months
RM 2,500–3,899 a month Content every month, AI answer tracking, listings; one includes a website Month to month to 6 months
RM 4,999–8,999 a month More pages, more AI tools tracked, digital PR 3 to 6 months

Scopes differ widely, so compare what's included, not just the price. Many other providers quote only after a call.

Estimates of what doing it yourself costs vary just as widely: two Malaysian agencies' own figures ranged from about RM 50 to RM 1,500 a month. The difference is mostly whether you pay for tracking tools.

Do AI visibility tools do the work for me?

No. Self-serve tools measure how often AI names you and suggest fixes, but none of them changes your website. You still do the work, or pay someone to.

Self-serve AI visibility tools, cheapest paid plans (four widely used tools, checked 26 September 2026)
Cheapest paid plan What you typically get Changes your website?
US$29–99 a month 15 to 80 questions tracked across one to four AI tools, plus suggested fixes No

A tool is worth it if you'll act on what it shows every month. If you won't, it's a report nobody reads.

Should I do AEO myself or hire an agency?

Do it yourself if your site is readable and you can spend a few hours a month on it. Hire help if the problem is technical, or you'll never get to it.

Doing AEO yourself vs hiring help
Your situation Do it yourself Hire help
ChatGPT and Google can already read your site ✓ Start with the task list above
Your site blocks AI crawlers, or only loads with JavaScript ✓ It's technical work
You can spend a few hours a month on your listings and pages ✓
You'll realistically never get to it ✓
Competitors are already named in AI answers for your trade Start yourself ✓ If nothing moves after a few months
You want answers tracked in English, Malay and Chinese Hard to do by hand ✓

What should I ask an AEO agency before I pay?

Ask five questions, and walk away from anyone who can't answer them plainly:

  1. "What does ChatGPT say about my business today?" Anyone selling AI visibility should show you the starting point before you pay.
  2. "Do you guarantee citations?" The right answer is no. OpenAI says "Placement is not guaranteed"3, and Google says "Indexing and serving aren't guaranteed"1. At least one Malaysian package still advertises guaranteed citations.
  3. "What's the minimum term?" Published terms ranged from month to month to 6 months.
  4. "Which AI tools and languages will you track?" ChatGPT only, or Google's AI answers and Gemini too? English only, or Malay and Chinese as well?
  5. "What are you actually changing?" If the answer leans on llms.txt or special schema, remember that Google says it needs neither1.

How do I find out where I stand before I decide?

You find out where you stand by asking ChatGPT the questions your customers ask and seeing whether it names you. Do this before you decide either way. If ChatGPT already names you for the questions that matter, doing it yourself may be enough. If it names competitors, you know what you're up against.

Checking properly takes more than one question in your own ChatGPT, because your chat history shapes the answer. You need to ask what customers ask, with no history, more than once. Our free AI visibility check does that for you.

What can't this comparison tell me?

  • Quality. We compared published prices and terms, not results. We didn't hire any of these providers.
  • Unpublished prices. Many providers quote only after a call, so they aren't in the table.
  • Tomorrow's prices. These were the published figures on 26 September 2026.

EasyFound sells AI visibility services too. We agree prices directly with each business, which is why we're not in the table.

Whichever way you go, decide from a baseline, not a guess. Ask us for a free AI visibility check below, and we'll show you what ChatGPT tells your customers about your business today and the first gap to fix.

Curious what AI says about your business?

See exactly how you compare to competitors — no jargon, no setup.

Frequently asked questions

How much does AEO cost in Malaysia?

On 26 September 2026, Malaysian providers that publish prices charged from RM 1,200 to RM 8,999 a month for AEO, GEO or AI SEO work, and one offered a RM 1,000 one-time setup. Some require a 3- or 6-month minimum. Self-serve tools that only measure AI visibility start at about US$29 a month.

Can an agency guarantee my business appears in ChatGPT?

No. OpenAI says 'Placement is not guaranteed' in ChatGPT search, and Google says indexing and serving aren't guaranteed. Several Malaysian providers say so themselves. Treat any promise of guaranteed citations as a warning sign.

Do I need llms.txt for AI search?

Not for Google. Google says you don't need to create new machine-readable files or AI text files to appear in its search or AI features, because Google Search doesn't use them. Some Malaysian packages include llms.txt setup; it shouldn't be the main thing you're paying for.

How can I see if ChatGPT sends visitors to my website?

Check your website analytics for visits tagged utm_source=chatgpt.com. OpenAI says ChatGPT adds that tag to referral links automatically. For Google, the Generative AI performance report in Search Console shows how your pages appear in AI features.

Sources

Our data: EasyFound, published prices and terms of seven Malaysian AEO, GEO and AI SEO providers and four AI visibility tools, read from each provider's website on 26 September 2026. We show price bands rather than naming providers.

Other sources:

  1. Google Search Central, Google's Guide to Optimizing for Generative AI Features on Google Search, updated July 2026 (link)
  2. OpenAI, Publishers and developers FAQ (link)
  3. OpenAI, Searching the web with ChatGPT (link)

Prices checked 26 September 2026. Providers change their prices often.

Research by Janice Pang, EasyFound.