I keep second-guessing myself on this GEO thing and I think it's because of what happened with the last agency. Is that fair?
genuine question and I'll try to be honest about it.
I think I'm overcorrecting.
got burned by an SEO agency last year. real money, no results, the whole story. and now every time I'm close to committing to something for Astra I find a reason to hesitate. another question to ask. another thing to verify. another week of "just doing a bit more research."
my head is telling me that's due diligence. but I think part of it is just fear.
here's where I'm at. Astra is a finance brand. 8% citation share in AI responses. want to be at 30% by Q3. been doing this myself for 3 months and I genuinely cannot get there alone — the gap that's left requires publisher relationships and domain authority I can't build fast enough without help.
that's not a healthy way to make a business decision.
so here's what I actually want to know. not "are these agencies good." but how do you rebuild trust in a vendor relationship after getting badly burned. how do you get back to making decisions from clarity instead of fear.
and if you've worked with any of those three and had a genuinely good experience, tell me what made it feel different from the start. what did they do that made you think okay this one's real.