Today, there are two categories of users for whom SEO has to work: Google ranking algorithms and AI-based retrieval engines, which will have answered the user's question before they click on any of the links. They include: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude. SEO package has to appeal to both of these if it wants to solve the problem of the company. In this paper, we describe what this actually means and how the SEO package should be structured.

What "SEO of a Company" Means Today?

Entity recognition is SEO today. Google, Bing, Reddit threads, review sites, and other sources used by AI models when answering a user's query influence how that company is recognized and represented. There are three main criteria by which a company can achieve or fail entity recognition today:

• Organic visibility
• Number of AI model citations – how frequently that company is mentioned in AI-generated answers
• Entity consistency of its basic information – name, location, type of business, service offerings, expertise/credentials in all sources mentioning that company

That is why keyword stuffing and backlink building do not work anymore. Search engines and AI models are built to seek very specific, structured, and self-contained content – not content which is optimized to rank for some phrase.

What SEO Services Should Include?

A proper SEO package goes far beyond on-page optimization. It definitely should include the following:

• Technical SEO – crawlability, page speed, schema markup implementation, and confirmed accessibility for AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended). Lack of that access makes the company invisible in AI-generated answers regardless of its ranking in the regular search.
• Content optimized for both humans and retrieval systems. Every section has to have an answer to its key question at the beginning, descriptive H2/H3 headings, and be written in self-contained paragraphs that make sense out of context.
• Off-page authority building – a few relevant editorially placed links beat any number of irrelevant and spammy links.
• E-E-A-T signals – content created by a named expert, in first-person language ("in our work with clients in [industry]…"), based on original research and data, not on recycled claims of the industry.

How SEO Packages Should Be Structured?

Most SEO packages are still priced based on the quantity of tasks performed – how many backlinks, blog posts, or "targeted" keywords a provider gives you per month. Such a pricing system incentivizes activity, but does not guarantee results, which are increasingly hard to achieve with today's ranking system. The structure of a successful SEO package should look like this:

• Foundation phase (first 2 months): technical audit, schema markup implementation, crawlability verification, entity-consistency audit across directories and social media profiles.
• Authority phase (months 2-5): original research and data assets published on the company's site, earned links on relevant sources – not paid links or spun content.
• Retrieval phase (ongoing): refreshing top-performing pages, expanding FAQ content based on customer questions, and tracking how often and consistently AI answer engines cite that company.

Any package that starts with the authority phase, skipping the foundation phase, skips today's ranking system and will not bring any results.

Modern SEO vs. Outdated SEO

Practice Area Outdated Approach Modern Approach

Content Keyword-stuffed pages targeting exact-match phrases Question-first sections with specific data, named entities, and natural keyword use

Links Bulk paid links or PBNs with exact-match anchors Contextual, editorially placed links with varied anchor text and a follow/nofollow mix

Authority Anonymous or generic "staff writer" bylines Named authors with verifiable credentials and first-hand experience

Measurement Rankings and traffic only Rankings, AI citation frequency, and entity consistency across the web

Crawl access Ignored entirely Actively confirmed against GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended.

Geographic Reach Now Matters For Map-Pack Rankings & AI Answer Retrieval

Geographic reach is associated with two distinct elements: map-pack rankings and the capability of AI systems to deliver information in response to location-specific searches such as "SEO company near me" and "best SEO services in berlin." It is a minimum requirement to have name, address, and phone (NAP) data presented consistently in Google Business Profile, directories, and all occurrences of a business name in other sources.

Creation of separate, dedicated pages for each geographic market (instead of just "areas we serve") produces better results in regular and AI-driven searches for local businesses. Agencies operating in several metro markets definitely need more credentials besides a strong home page for the nationwide presence.

Test To Run: The First-Sentence Test

It is a simple audit test for every page on a website: reading its first sentence(s). Unless there is something clear about the purpose of the page in question that would be recognizable by both humans and AI systems, the page fails as a potential source of the AI answer, as it does not contain a self-contained sentence that can be used as an AI answer.

FAQs

How long does it take SEO to work?

On average, it takes 3 to 6 months to see a difference in rankings, while it takes longer to build authority signals and AI citations.

What is the difference between "SEO services" and "SEO package"?

The former means the full range of SEO services offered by the agency. The latter is the same range, but with a specific list of services offered at a fixed price and timeline.

Are backlinks still valuable in 2026?

Definitely yes; however, relevance and quality are considered much more important than the number of links: two contextually relevant links from topically relevant websites perform much better than hundreds of irrelevant or low-quality backlinks.

Would blocking AI crawlers affect my SEO?

Yes, it will prevent the content from becoming an AI answer, even if it ranks well.

How can I identify that an SEO agency uses outdated techniques?

Presence of ranking guarantees, packages of backlinks by quantity, widespread use of exact-match anchor texts, and no mention of schema markup, AI crawler access, and AI citations in their SEO process.

About the Author

Content written by Maha Zaka — BS Software Engineering graduate and SEO Content Writer with 4+ years of experience creating search-optimized, user-focused content. She specializes in SEO, AEO, GEO, E-E-A-T content strategies, and long-form articles across technology, business, and digital marketing. Connect with her on LinkedIn:  Maha Zaka's LinkedIn profile.