Hire a GEO Agency, Train Your Team, or Do It Yourself? How to Choose

Choose by what you have more of. If someone in your business has time every week and can write, doing it yourself or training your team can work well. If time is short, the market is competitive or you need several markets and languages, an agency fits better. Each route has a fit. The work underneath is the same in all three: a clear description of what you are, pages that answer the exact questions, mentions on other sites the engines read, and a dated re-check each month.

What work are you actually choosing someone to do?

You are choosing who does four jobs, every month. Getting named in AI answers is not a one-off fix.

1. Audit and plan. Find the questions your buyers ask, check who the engines name today, and decide which questions to win first.
2. Content. Write a plain description of what you are and pages that answer each question directly, with dated facts the AI can quote.
3. Getting named elsewhere. Get onto the lists, directories, reviews and articles the answers lean on. In 40 Google AI Overview results we checked for a branding agency client in September 2026, a business on one source was named 27% of the time; on three or more, 87%.
4. Measurement. Re-check the same questions on each engine and track how often you are named.

The first two are the easiest to do in-house. The third takes the most time and contacts. The fourth is easy to start and easy to drop.

How do the three routes compare?

When does doing it yourself fit?

Doing it yourself fits when the business is small, you sell in one market, you care about a short list of questions, and someone will put in a few hours every week. Founders often do this well, because they already know how to describe the business plainly.

The main risk is stopping. The first check is interesting, the second is less so, and by the third month the work has slipped. The other risk is misreading a single result. Qwang Coffee, Alva’s own store, was cited in a Google AI Overview 48 hours after launch in August 2026, and was listed first on 3 of 5 commercial questions in Singapore. A do-it-yourselfer who checked once would have stopped too early.

If you go this way, use a written method rather than piecing it together from posts. The AI Search Playbook sets out the method Stridec uses, tested on six real businesses, wins and failures included. Tools that track AI answers can do the counting for you, but they don’t decide what to write or where to get named. Our guide to doing SEO yourself or hiring an agency covers the SEO side of the same choice.

When does training your team fit?

Training fits when you have an in-house marketing team with real time to spare and you want the skill to stay in the business. It works best when someone owns the result, not just the course.

Good training for this work has a few things in common:

• It uses your own buyer questions and your own competitors, not generic examples.
• It teaches the team to measure named rate per engine and per question, not traffic alone.
• It covers getting named on other sites, not only writing your own pages.
• It includes a follow-up after the team has tried it, because the first real check always raises questions.

Before you book a trainer, ask what results they have produced on their own sites or for others, dated and by engine. The risk with training is a team that understands the work but has no time to do it alongside everything else.

When does an agency fit?

An agency fits when your team has little time, your market is crowded, or you need to be named in several markets or languages. The off-site work, getting named on other people’s pages, is where an agency’s time and contacts count most.

Markets and languages add up quickly. On 4 November 2026 we asked “best GEO agency” in English and in the local language from Vietnam and Thailand in Google AI Mode. In Vietnam only one agency appeared in both answers. In Thailand none did. Each language is close to a separate job.

Stridec’s three GEO tiers are S$2,500, S$4,500 and S$8,000 a month. Every tier covers all the main AI engines: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini and Claude. The tiers differ by the number of topics and search terms, the volume of content and the amount of amplification. SEO and GEO are done together. The pricing page has the details.

The risk with any agency is paying for activity instead of outcome. Ask every agency, Stridec included, to show results as named rate per engine per question, with dates. Our lists of questions to ask an SEO agency and red flags when hiring one apply here too.

Can you mix the routes?

Yes, and many businesses do. A common split is to keep the plain description and product facts in-house, because nobody knows them better, and hand the off-site work and measurement to someone with the time. Another is to start yourself with a written method, find out which questions matter, and bring in help once you know what you are buying. If you change routes later, keep your question list and your dated checks so the new owner starts from your baseline.

How do you decide this week?

Answer three questions honestly.

1. Who will do this every week, by name? If you can’t name someone with the hours, do-it-yourself and training will stall.
2. How many questions, engines and markets matter? One market and ten questions is a different job from three markets in two languages.
3. What is being unnamed costing you now? If enquiries are already falling, waiting while a team learns has a price. Our page on ranking on page one while enquiries drop shows how to check.

If training is the right route for your team, Stridec runs public workshops in Kuala Lumpur built on The AI Search Playbook, and customised corporate training on enquiry.

What to do next

Start with a baseline so you know what you are fixing. Use the 15-minute check or the free AIO Visibility Checker. To see what progress should look like on any route, read how GEO results are measured. If you are comparing agency prices in Malaysia, see how much GEO costs in Malaysia. If you want to talk it through, contact Stridec.

Frequently asked questions