How much budget should I actually allocate to GEO? Looking for real numbers

Here’s a realistic budget framework based on what I’m seeing:

2025-2026 GEO allocation benchmarks:

What GEO budget covers:

1. Monitoring tools ($50-500/mo)

   • Am I Cited or similar
   • Competitive tracking
   • Alert systems

2. Content optimization (40-50% of budget)

   • Restructuring for AI extraction
   • Adding FAQ sections
   • Schema implementation

3. Authority building (20-30% of budget)

   • Digital PR for citations
   • Expert content development
   • Third-party platform presence

4. Technical implementation (15-20% of budget)

   • Crawlability for AI bots
   • Structured data
   • Speed optimization

For your $25k/mo SEO budget: Start with $3,750-5,000/mo for GEO (15-20%).

Here’s how I think about in-house vs agency:

DIY/In-house ($2-5k/mo):

• Am I Cited subscription: $50-100/mo
• Training/education: $500-1,000 one-time
• Content writer time: $2-4k/mo
• Technical implementation: Internal

Best for: Teams with existing SEO expertise, limited budgets

Hybrid consulting ($5-15k/mo):

• Monitoring tools: $100-200/mo
• Strategy consultant: $2-5k/mo
• Internal execution: $3-5k/mo
• Occasional specialist work: $2-3k/mo

Best for: Mid-sized teams wanting guidance

Full agency ($15-50k/mo):

• Full-service GEO agency: $15-50k/mo
• Includes: Strategy, content, technical, monitoring, reporting

Best for: Large companies, complex needs, fast results

My recommendation for your $25k SEO budget: Start with hybrid. $5k/mo gets you:

• Quality monitoring
• Monthly strategy sessions
• Framework for internal execution

Here’s how to calculate potential GEO ROI:

Current AI traffic value: Check your GA4 for traffic from:

• chat.openai.com
• perplexity.ai
• bing.com/chat
• gemini.google.com

The value multiplier: Research shows AI referral visitors are worth 4.4x traditional organic visitors:

• 27% lower bounce rate
• 38% longer sessions
• Higher intent

ROI calculation:

Current AI traffic: X visitors/month
Current conversion rate: Y%
Average order value: $Z

Current AI value: X × Y × Z

With GEO optimization (assume 2-3x visibility):
Projected AI traffic: 2.5X visitors/month
Projected AI value: 2.5X × Y × Z

Monthly ROI = Projected value - Current value - GEO cost

Example with real numbers:

• Current AI traffic: 2,000/month

• Conversion rate: 2%

• Average order value: $200

• Current value: 2,000 × 0.02 × $200 = $8,000/month

• With GEO (2.5x): 5,000 × 0.02 × $200 = $20,000/month

• GEO investment: $5,000/month

• Net ROI: $7,000/month additional

That’s 140% ROI on GEO spend.

For those with tight budgets, here’s minimum viable GEO:

$500/month approach:

• Am I Cited basic: $50/month
• 4 hours content optimization: $400/month
• Focus: Top 5 pages only

$1,000/month approach:

• Am I Cited pro: $100/month
• 8 hours content work: $800/month
• Focus: Top 10 pages + new content structure

$2,500/month approach:

• Full monitoring suite: $200/month
• Dedicated part-time person: $2,000/month
• Schema implementation
• FAQ sections across site

What each level gets you:

My experience: We started at $500/mo just to understand the landscape. Scaled to $2,500/mo after 3 months when we saw opportunity. Now at $8k/mo with clear ROI.

Start small, scale with proof.

Enterprise perspective - we spent $400k on GEO last year. Here’s the breakdown:

Our allocation:

• Team (2 FTEs): $200k
• Tools and platforms: $40k
• Agency support: $100k
• Content production: $60k

Results after 12 months:

• AI referral traffic: 8% of total organic
• AI Share of Voice: 23% (up from 6%)
• Brand mentions in AI: 340% increase
• Estimated value: $2.1M additional revenue

ROI: 425%

What we learned:

1. Most value came from content restructuring (not new content)
2. Technical optimizations had outsized impact
3. Authority building takes time but compounds
4. Monitoring is essential - can’t manage what you can’t measure

My advice for $25k/mo SEO budget:

• Year 1: Invest $5k/mo, prove the model
• Year 2: Scale to $10k/mo if Year 1 shows promise
• Don’t go all-in until you understand your specific opportunity

Here’s a phased allocation framework:

Phase 1: Discovery (Month 1-2) - 5-10% of SEO budget

• Set up monitoring
• Benchmark current state
• Identify quick wins
• Understand competitive landscape

Phase 2: Foundation (Month 3-6) - 15% of SEO budget

• Implement technical changes
• Restructure priority content
• Build monitoring infrastructure
• Initial authority building

Phase 3: Acceleration (Month 7-12) - 20-25% of SEO budget

• Scale content optimization
• Aggressive authority building
• Advanced technical implementation
• Full competitive response

Phase 4: Optimization (Year 2+) - Stabilize at 25-30%

• Maintain and defend position
• Continuous improvement
• New platform expansion
• Innovation and testing

Key principle: Budget should follow results. Don’t commit to 25% on day one. Prove ROI in phases.

This is exactly what I needed. My budget plan:

Q1 2026 - Discovery Phase ($3,750/mo = 15%)

• Am I Cited subscription: $100/mo
• Consultant for strategy: $2,000/mo
• Internal time for implementation: $1,650/mo

Q2 2026 - Foundation Phase ($5,000/mo = 20%)

• Tools: $200/mo
• Content optimization: $2,800/mo
• Technical implementation: $2,000/mo

Q3-Q4 2026 - Based on results

• If positive: Scale to $6,250/mo (25%)
• If neutral: Maintain at $5,000/mo
• If negative: Reassess strategy

Success metrics I’ll track:

• AI referral traffic (GA4)
• Am I Cited visibility score
• Share of voice in target queries
• Cost per AI-driven conversion

The key insight: GEO isn’t replacing SEO budget - it’s rebalancing it. Some “SEO” work IS GEO work. I just need to track it separately.

Starting with 15%, scaling with proof.

Thanks everyone for the real numbers!