Here's the brutal truth: 73% of businesses are still paying for outdated SEO strategies that won't work in the age of AI search. While you're burning budget on keyword rankings that matter less each month, your competitors are optimizing for ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity: where your customers are actually finding answers.
If your current consultant is stuck in 2019, you're not just wasting money: you're falling behind every single day. The shift to generative search isn't coming; it's already here. And most seo consulting experts are completely unprepared for it.
Ready to stop throwing money at yesterday's tactics? Here are the seven red flags that scream your consultant isn't ready for the AI-powered search landscape.
Sign #1: They're Still Obsessing Over Keyword Rankings
Your consultant sends weekly reports celebrating that you moved from position 4 to position 3 for "best accounting software." Meanwhile, ChatGPT is answering that exact query for thousands of users without ever showing your website.
Traditional keyword rankings tell you almost nothing about your visibility in generative search. When someone asks an AI assistant for software recommendations, they're getting curated answers from multiple sources: and ranking #1 for a keyword doesn't guarantee inclusion.
Modern expert seo consulting services focus on intent-driven retrieval instead of keyword-based discovery. They track how often your content appears in AI-generated answers, not just where you rank in traditional SERPs.
The Reality Check: Ask your consultant how many times your content appeared in ChatGPT responses last month. If they can't answer that question, they're measuring the wrong metrics entirely.
Sign #2: They Can't Explain Your AI Search Visibility
Here's a simple test: Ask your consultant to show you exactly how your brand appears in generative AI results right now. Can they pull up examples of your content being cited by ChatGPT? Do they know which of your pages appear in Google's AI Overviews?
If they look confused or start talking about traditional search rankings instead, you've found your answer. A competent seo consulting company in 2025 should be conducting AI Search Readiness Audits as standard practice.
Your consultant should know:
- Which content AI systems are actually citing from your site
- How your information gets summarized in AI-generated answers
- Where the gaps exist in your generative search presence
- What competitors are getting cited instead of you
The Bottom Line: If they haven't assessed your AI visibility, they're flying blind in the most important search channel.
Sign #3: Their Content Strategy Ignores AI Parsing
Does your consultant still create content based solely on "search volume" and "keyword difficulty"? That's a dead giveaway they don't understand how generative engines actually work.
AI systems don't care about keyword density or exact-match phrases. They parse content for structured, fact-dense information that can be confidently cited in response to user queries. This requires a completely different approach to content creation.
Leading consultants now focus on:
- Entity optimization – making sure your content clearly defines relationships between concepts
- Citation engineering – structuring information so AI systems can easily extract and reference it
- Passage-level optimization – ensuring individual paragraphs can stand alone as complete answers
If your consultant is still talking about "targeting keywords" instead of "answering queries comprehensively," they're using an obsolete playbook.
Sign #4: They Don't Understand Technical SEO for AI
Generative search introduces entirely new technical requirements. Your seo consultant website should reflect expertise in schema markup for AI, structured data optimization, and content architecture that supports AI parsing.
But here's what most consultants are missing: traditional technical SEO focused on helping Google's crawler understand your site. AI-era technical SEO focuses on helping language models extract and cite your information accurately.
This means:
- Advanced schema implementation beyond basic markup
- Content structure optimized for passage retrieval
- Entity relationship mapping within your content
- Technical audits that include AI accessibility factors
Red Flag Alert: If they mention "technical SEO" but can't explain how schema markup affects AI citation, they're not equipped for modern search optimization.
Sign #5: They Have No AI-Specific Tools or Processes
Traditional SEO tools like keyword trackers and backlink analyzers are still useful, but they're not enough anymore. Modern expert seo services require specialized tools for generative search optimization.
Your consultant should be using:
- AI citation tracking tools to monitor where your content appears in generative results
- Content optimization platforms that test AI readability and extraction
- Automated workflow systems that keep content fresh and aligned with evolving AI behaviors
- Forensic seo analysis tools that reverse-engineer why competitors get cited over you
If they're still relying solely on Ahrefs and SEMrush without any AI-specific tools in their stack, they're using yesterday's toolkit to solve tomorrow's problems.
Sign #6: They Make Unrealistic Promises About "AI-Proof" Rankings
Be extremely wary of consultants who promise they can "AI-proof" your rankings or guarantee top positions regardless of how search evolves. This reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how generative search actually works.
Generative engines don't have fixed "positions" the way traditional search results do. Your content either gets cited and included in AI-generated answers, or it doesn't. There's no "position 1" in a ChatGPT response.
Legitimate consultants focus on increasing citation probability and expanding semantic footprint rather than promising specific rankings. They understand that success in AI search means becoming a trusted source that language models consistently reference.
Warning Signs:
- Promising "#1 rankings in AI search"
- Claiming they can "beat ChatGPT's algorithm"
- Offering "guaranteed AI visibility"
These promises are either deceptive or demonstrate ignorance about how generative search actually functions.
Sign #7: They're Taking a Siloed Approach
Perhaps the biggest red flag is a consultant who treats generative search optimization as a separate, add-on service rather than an integrated approach. AI-era SEO requires a holistic understanding of how content, technical implementation, user experience, and entity relationships work together.
Effective generative search optimization touches:
- Content strategy – creating comprehensive, citable information
- Technical SEO – ensuring AI accessibility and proper structure
- User experience – since AI systems factor in engagement signals
- Entity optimization – building clear relationships between concepts
- Citation engineering – structuring information for easy AI extraction
If your consultant focuses on just one area: like building backlinks or rewriting meta descriptions: without connecting it to the bigger AI search picture, they're missing the forest for the trees.
Modern seo consulting training emphasizes this integrated approach because generative search success depends on multiple factors working in harmony.
The Cost of Waiting
Every month you delay adapting to generative search is market share your competitors can capture. While you're optimizing for traditional rankings, businesses with AI-ready consultants are becoming the sources that ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI systems cite most often.
The businesses that win in generative search will be the ones that started optimizing for AI citation and visibility today, not tomorrow.
Making the Switch
Before you continue investing in outdated SEO, ask your current consultant these specific questions:
- "Show me examples of our content being cited in AI-generated responses"
- "What's your strategy for optimizing our content for passage-level retrieval?"
- "How do you track our visibility in generative search results?"
- "What AI-specific tools do you use in your optimization process?"
Their answers will tell you everything you need to know about whether they're ready for the future of search: or stuck in its past.
Don't let another month pass while your competition gets ahead in AI search visibility. The consultants who understand generative search optimization are still rare, but they're the ones delivering results that matter in 2025 and beyond.
Ready to work with a team that actually understands how AI search works? Book a consultation with Expert SEO Consulting and get a comprehensive AI Search Readiness Assessment for your business. Let's see where you really stand in the search landscape that matters.
