Honest indicative pricing for GEO retainers - by tier, with full deliverables. The work to get cited across AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude is real - and so is the cost.
Free 30-min scoping call · No obligation
GEO retainers in India sit in four tiers — ₹55K-₹80K Starter, ₹90K-₹1.5L Growth, ₹1.6L-₹2.6L Scale, ₹3L+ Enterprise. GEO sits slightly above AEO pricing because of the additional engine coverage (Gemini, Claude, Copilot) and the original-research work that compounds generative citation share. Most serious engagements land in the ₹90K-₹1.6L band.
Four tiers. Each scoped to a clear stage of brand maturity and generative-search ambition.
₹55K - ₹80K / mo · $650 - $950
Starter GEO
Fits: Single-product brands testing generative-engine visibility, founders shipping first GEO program
Establish baseline visibility across AI Overviews + ChatGPT + Perplexity for 15-30 priority queries.
What you get
₹90K - ₹1.5L / mo · $1,100 - $1,800
Growth GEO
Fits: D2C ₹5-25Cr, B2B SaaS in growth, brands with established SEO ready to extend into generative
Build category-level generative visibility with structured content + entity authority + citation seeding.
What you get
₹1.6L - ₹2.6L / mo · $1,900 - $3,100
Scale GEO
Fits: ₹25Cr+ D2C, mid-market B2B SaaS, fintech, regulated industries with deep content libraries
Dedicated GEO team building category dominance across all major generative engines.
What you get
₹3L+ / mo · $3,600+ / mo
Enterprise GEO
Fits: Listed companies, ₹100Cr+ brands, multi-country sites, regulated B2B
Custom-scoped engagement with embedded analyst, multi-region coverage, executive reporting.
What you get
Side-by-side of what shifts between tiers.
| Deliverable | Starter | Growth | Scale | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEO audit | One-off | Quarterly | Monthly | Continuous |
| Priority queries tracked | 30 | 60-100 | 200+ | Custom |
| Generative engines covered | AIO + ChatGPT + Perplexity | + Gemini + Claude | All major + emerging | All + custom |
| Schema engineering | FAQ + HowTo + Article | + ProfilePage + Speakable | + ClaimReview + DefinedTermSet | Custom |
| Entity authority work | — | Wikidata + KG | Multi-entity + author hubs | Multi-region |
| Original research | — | — | 1 / quarter | 1 / quarter + analyst |
| Citation seeding | — | Reddit + Quora | + Industry directories | Dedicated lead |
| Reporting cadence | Monthly | Bi-weekly | Weekly | Weekly + analyst |
| Dedicated team | Shared | Shared senior | Dedicated pod | Dedicated + analyst |
Real GEO retainers in India start at around ₹55,000/month for narrow-scope work and run to ₹3L+/month for enterprise multi-region programs. Below ₹50K, the bandwidth required for schema engineering, entity authority work, and citation tracking across multiple generative engines does not exist. Most serious engagements sit in the ₹90K-₹1.6L band.
AEO focuses primarily on answer surfaces - AIO, featured snippets, ChatGPT-Search citations. GEO covers the broader generative-engine landscape including Gemini, Claude, Copilot, and emerging engines, plus the data-study + research work needed to be cited across all of them. GEO tier pricing runs about 5-10% above the equivalent AEO tier because of the additional engine coverage and seeding work.
Overlap is real but not total. If your AEO retainer is working on AIO + ChatGPT citations only, you're leaving Gemini + Perplexity + Claude on the table. Most brands either start with AEO and extend into GEO at the Growth tier, or commit to GEO from day 1 if generative visibility is a board-level priority. We rarely sell both as separate retainers - usually one consolidated program covers both surfaces.
Conservative: 6-10 weeks for first generative citations on long-tail queries where competition is thin. 4-6 months for category-level citation share across multiple engines. Generative citation work compounds faster than SEO once entity authority is established, but the initial groundwork (audit + schema + content rewrite + entity setup) takes a full quarter to settle.
Three things. (1) Original research - a data study per quarter that becomes the citation bait generative engines pull from when answering category questions. (2) Programmatic generative-ready pages for long-tail intent (50-500 pages). (3) Competitor citation displacement - actively unseating competitors from generative answers where we have stronger source signals. Growth tier does none of these systematically.
Yes. All Nico Digital retainers are month-to-month after a 90-day initial commitment. The 90-day floor exists because the first quarter is heavy upfront work that needs full execution to be worth anything. After 90 days, cancel any month with 30 days notice.
Technically yes, practically no. Generative engines pull heavily from traditional search indices for the sources they cite - so a site with weak SEO foundations will struggle to get cited at all. If you have no SEO, start with SEO first or run them together at the Growth tier or above.
Five red flags. (1) Anyone guaranteeing specific generative-engine placements - they cannot be guaranteed. (2) Bulk schema implementations without strategy. (3) Citation tracking via screenshots rather than systematic measurement. (4) No mention of entity authority, Wikidata, or training-data sources. (5) Pricing below ₹50K/month for anything beyond a one-off audit.
30-minute call. We'll audit your generative-engine surface, your priority queries, and quote a realistic tier band. No sales pitch.