The $1,500/mo AEO Retainer Playbook.
How to package, price, and sell ongoing Answer Engine Optimization to existing and new agency clients at 94%+ gross margins.
The most effective agency pricing model for AEO is a two-phase commercial structure: a $1,500 one-time 'Sovereign Calibration Sprint' (covering entity disambiguation, canonical /llms.txt, and Schema @graph synthesis), followed by an ongoing $1,500 to $2,500/month 'Model Drift & Citation Protection Retainer'. Because Relayeo wholesale costs start at ~$49/client slot on partner tiers, your agency captures over 94% gross margin while delivering automated monthly proof-of-work.
What Your Agency Actually Delivers
Phase 1: The Sovereign Calibration Sprint ($1,500 Setup)
30-day initial deployment. Fixes missing Schema MedicalSpecialty / SoftwareApplication nodes, generates canonical manifests, and establishes baseline multi-LLM citation share.
Phase 2: Ongoing Citation Defense Retainer ($1,500/mo)
Continuous monitoring against Perplexity Sonar updates, ChatGPT Search crawler changes, and competitor prompt displacement attempts.
The Enterprise Citation Monopoly ($3,500/mo)
For high-ticket clients (SaaS, Healthcare, Legal) who require 100% citation monopoly and competitor lockout across 50+ high-intent buyer prompts.
Agency Retainer Math & Cash Margins
Standard market price for ongoing AI citation surveillance
Effective per-client cost on Growth Partner Plan
$1,451/mo gross cash profit per client retained
Test your client's current baseline citation score below to price their retainer.
Run a live multi-model citation audit to see competitor displacement in real time.
Run the diagnostic stream to project how schema disambiguation and machine manifests improve entity extractability and displace competitors.
Shareable link, missing Schema nodes, and displacement matrix ready.
Ready to onboard your first 3 retainer clients?
Unlock 5 client vaults for \$249/mo or 10 client vaults for \$499/mo. Razorpay Global billing with automated monthly proof-of-work reporting.
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