Use the checklist below to compare proposals. It is a recommended buying framework, not a statement that every ACE plan includes every item. Confirm the scope, price and approval requirements of the actual offer before committing.
What this looked like when ACE became Customer Zero
ACE used the same operating model on its own public site before presenting it as a customer standard. We froze the original discovery questions and the disappointing answers instead of replacing them with easier tests. The baseline included identity confusion around the ACE name and no confirmed ACE-owned AI citation in the captured answers.
We then kept the work and the outcome as separate records. The approved Warm-Demand deployment was verified against the exact reviewed public bytes with rollback retained. Google processed the canonical sitemap and reported 11 discovered pages. Search Console later showed the homepage, About page and AI Visibility Check methodology as indexed.
Then ACE repeated the preserved questions. The two tested organic brand queries now contained the correct agentcommerceexchange.com identity. The same bounded repeat still did not confirm an identity-bound ACE AI citation or commercial recommendation. ACE recorded both facts.
That is the standard a buyer should expect from an AI visibility engagement: work performed is not the same thing as an outcome achieved. ACE keeps indexing, organic discovery, AI mentions, AI citations, referral sessions, qualified leads and attributable outcomes as distinct evidence states. A useful provider should be able to show which stage actually changed and which stages remain unproven.
ACE's own Customer-Zero record is still open. The next milestone remains unproven until the required evidence exists.
Start with the question you want answered
Instead of asking a provider to “improve AI,” name the buyer situation you care about. Which service is the customer seeking? Which customer type and confirmed service area matter? Are you trying to clarify an existing offer, investigate missing mentions, or evaluate a particular website improvement?
Ask the provider to put that scope in writing. If the proposal includes several services, request a distinction between the initial investigation and any later implementation.
For a business with an existing agency or webmaster, ask who will prepare the work and who will apply it. Do not assume that hiring an additional specialist requires replacing the provider you already use.
Ask for a discovery baseline you can inspect
Request the actual questions tested, the search or AI surface used, the observation date and the answer or result captured. Ask which business identity was confirmed and which links were visibly cited.
Keep a place for uncertainty. Was the provider signed out? Did the answer visibly use search? Were some sources inaccessible? Was a similarly named company mistaken for yours?
These are useful review questions because they let you examine the evidence behind a recommendation. Avoid agreeing to a headline “visibility score” without an explanation of what was measured and what was not.
Google says a page must be indexed and eligible for a Search snippet to qualify as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode. It also says eligibility does not guarantee inclusion. Ask a vendor to identify which platform a technical requirement belongs to rather than applying one platform’s rule to every AI product.
Distinguish the deliverables before comparing prices
Use this checklist when reviewing a proposal:
- Measurement: Which buyer questions will be tested, and what dated evidence will you receive?
- Recommendations: Will each proposed action explain the finding, its significance and any missing facts?
- Prepared work: Will you see the actual proposed page, copy or technical change before approval?
- Implementation: Who is responsible for applying it, and what access is required?
- Verification: What will be checked afterward, by whom, and against which expected result?
- Reporting: Will you receive an account of completed work, unresolved issues and the next proposed priorities?
Ask explicitly whether an item is included, optional or separately quoted. A useful comparison should survive that question without relying on a large bundle name or unexplained acronym.
Require an approval and recovery plan
Before authorizing a site change, request the exact pages or files involved, a readable preview or difference report, and the facts used to prepare it. Identify who can approve the change and who can execute it.
Ask for the least access needed for the agreed work. Do not send passwords through an ordinary content request or conversation. Use the provider’s accepted secure onboarding method when access is genuinely required.
For any proposed live change, ask what original material will be retained, what would trigger recovery, and how restoration would be checked. Do not accept “we have rollback” as a substitute for a specific plan. Equally, distinguish a prepared rollback package from a rollback that has actually been exercised.
Prepared work is not deployed work. Treat a reviewed draft as a draft until you have evidence that the approved change reached the intended site.
Define success for the work you are buying
Consider a hypothetical service page with an unclear explanation of what is included. An appropriate first deliverable might be revised copy based on the owner’s confirmed service facts, with an approved preview and a check of the published page.
For that task, ask whether the new explanation is accurate, readable and present on the live page. Separately ask what subsequent discovery observations show. Do not make an unmeasured ranking improvement part of the completion report.
ACE records observations, prepared changes, rollback material and independent verification as separate evidence. ACE does not guarantee rankings, citations, recommendations, traffic, leads or revenue.
Those limits do not prevent you from asking for accountability. Request evidence of the work delivered and a plain explanation of what remains unknown. If recurring work is proposed, ask what decision the next review will support and which activities require further authorization.
Choose a useful first step
Before buying a broad program, ask the provider to explain one relevant observation and the next action it supports. If the finding is minor, ask why it merits a larger engagement. If more research is needed, ask what question that research will answer.
Google recommends helpful, reliable content and foundational search practices for its AI features; special AI files or special schema are not required. Ask for the evidence behind any claim that a proprietary file or large page count is essential.
For ACE’s approach, read the AI Visibility Check methodology and Managed Search + AI Visibility overview. The free ACE Visibility Check uses public evidence; no website credentials are needed to begin. It is not free implementation. Request your free check.
Use a short acceptance conversation
Before signing, ask the provider to walk through one proposed deliverable from start to finish. “Show me what I receive, what you need from us, what requires approval, and how we will know that work is finished.” Request a sample report with private customer information removed if a suitable example is available.
Then ask what happens when evidence is missing. Would the provider pause a factual claim, request confirmation, or prepare a narrower change? Ask how an unresolved issue will appear in the report. Prefer a clear explanation of the next decision over an unexplained green status.
If you manage several businesses or websites, specify which account and domain each piece of evidence belongs to. Confirm that a finding from one site will not be presented as a finding about another. Put consequential decisions, including production access and publishing, in the agreed approval process rather than leaving them to an informal conversation.