Recommended when your buyers ask AI. Measured every week.

Some of your buyers now ask an AI assistant for a provider, and the answer names a few companies. The Carigiet GEO monthly retainer builds the position of being recommended in that answer, and measures every week, against all the competitors we define together, whether your company is recommended more often. For Swiss companies whose buyers compare before they enquire.

Book a 15-minute callTerms and pricing

We show you live whom the AI assistants recommend in your market today.

From CHF 2,800 per month plus VAT, no setup fee, cancel monthly.
Lead partner: Matthias Carigiet, publisher of the Swiss AI Recommendation Index.

The starting point

An AI assistant answers a buyer question with a short text. It names a few providers, often with rating and specialisation, and recommends from among them whom the buyer should contact. There is no results list with ten links.

Whether a company appears in that text depends on what the assistants find about it and consider reliable: directories and association lists, content on specific buyer questions, a website that machines can read, and the same company details everywhere. Being cited is a means to that end. Being recommended is the goal.

This position builds over months, and it can be measured. Both are what the retainer delivers.

A buyer question from the index

«I am unhappy with my fiduciary. Who in Zurich would you recommend?»

Asked in German, this question gets three named providers from ChatGPT in the recorded excerpt, each with a rating. 1,086 fiduciary firms are measured in the region; the rest do not appear in this answer.

Swiss AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 edition, fiduciary services Zurich, question 20. See the ranking (in German)

3 in 100

companies are recommended in their industry and region at all: 581 of 20,709 measured companies across four industries. In most industries, the places in these answers are not yet taken.

Swiss AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 edition. Measurement basis (in German)

Who the retainer is for

The retainer is not tied to industries. It suits companies with these four characteristics.

  • Your buyers compare before they enquire

    Services that need explaining, sold to business customers or to private individuals facing a decision they do not take on impulse. That is where buyers ask the assistants for providers, and where the recommendation counts.

  • A marketing budget carries the channel over months

    No reliable movement shows before day 60, and durable positions build over quarters. The retainer is a fixed item in the marketing budget from CHF 2,800 per month, not a one-off test.

  • You want to build a channel while it is still open

    In AI answers, the places are not yet taken in most industries. The retainer suits companies that occupy a channel while it is still open, instead of bidding on saturated channels. We run at most five retainers per industry and region.

  • Someone at the table decides

    Content, access and spending on directories and memberships need approvals every week. The retainer works with owners, executive management or a marketing lead with budget responsibility.

What the retainer delivers

A monthly retainer covers your most important service area: one service with its own buyer questions and its own competitor set. Week after week, with no hourly billing.

  • Measurement

    We put your market's buyer questions to the AI assistants daily and evaluate whether your company is recommended, compared with named competitors. How we measure

  • Content

    Up to ten pieces of content per month, each answering a specific buyer question, with a weekly blog. Produced with AI, reviewed by the lead partner, approved by you.

  • Sources and directories

    Corrections and entries where the assistants back up their answers: directories, association lists, knowledge sources. Plus a company record that carries the same details everywhere.

  • Technical foundations

    We find what stops the assistants from reading your website, write the specification ready for a ticket and verify after implementation. Implementation is done by your agency, your IT or by us as website operations.

  • Weekly call

    30 minutes with the lead partner: what has been implemented, what is blocked, what we need from you, what has changed in the answers. This is where decisions are made.

  • AI reputation protection

    Weekly checks of what AI assistants claim about your company. We trace false statements to their source, correct them there and re-measure. What the protection covers

How we measure

For each service area we put 50 buyer questions, phrased the way your buyers ask, daily to six AI assistants.

  • ChatGPT
  • Claude
  • Perplexity
  • Gemini
  • Copilot
  • Google AI Overviews

That makes 300 answers per day. Each answer receives a verdict for your company and for every competitor we have defined together: recommended, mentioned only, or not mentioned. From this comes the recommendation rate: the share of answers in which your company is recommended as an option, per assistant and compared with the competitors. The baseline stands after seven days; the comparison runs weekly. The full measurement protocol is in Measuring AI visibility reliably.

We check what the assistants claim about your company itself every week, with twelve dedicated questions about the company. These questions are part of AI reputation protection and do not count towards the recommendation rate.

The Swiss AI Recommendation Index applies the same yardstick. It measures monthly which Swiss companies AI assistants recommend; how we measure, weight and verify is set out openly in its methodology (in German).

How we start

A sequence, not a calendar. With quick approvals everything is live in one week, with slow ones in three; you set the pace.

  1. Step 01

    Access and research

    You give us access to Analytics and Search Console, optionally to the CMS. In parallel we review the technology, content and source landscape of your market. In the onboarding call we settle service areas, approval paths and the cooperation budget: the frame for directory entries and memberships that you pay for directly.

  2. Step 02

    Knowledge base and buyer questions

    We build your company's structured knowledge base and derive the buyer questions per service area from it. You review both, along with the competitors we measure against.

  3. Step 03

    Live

    Measurement sets your baseline. Content starts on a weekly rhythm, and the first source proposals come to the call.

  4. Step 04

    The weekly rhythm

    Measure, produce, approve, publish: tracked in the shared task list, decided in the weekly call.

Division of tasks

You provide expert input and approvals: one 30-minute call per week, plus fact checks and approvals in the shared task list. We build everything else; what that covers is set out under «What the retainer delivers».

You do

  • Access: Analytics, Search Console, optionally CMS
  • Expert input and fact checks from your organisation
  • Approvals, directly or via Legal
  • Technical implementation by your agency or IT, otherwise through our website operations
  • Decisions on directory entries and memberships that you pay for directly
Matthias Carigiet

Lead partner

Analysis, prioritisation and quality assurance sit with the lead partner: Matthias Carigiet, publisher of the Swiss AI Recommendation Index. Research, directories and source work are handled by the team to his specifications.

Matthias Carigiet · Founder of Carigiet GEO · Publisher of the Swiss AI Recommendation Index

What becomes visible when

A guaranteed position by a given date does not exist. AI answers are statistical: the same question does not produce the same answer twice, and the assistants do not agree with each other. That is why we measure the trend over months, against competitors and across six systems, and why we do not lock you in.

  1. Day 7

    Baseline

    Buyer questions, recommendations, sources and false statements are documented within seven days of access and the onboarding call. You know where you stand.

  2. Day 30

    Baseline dossier

    Knowledge base, buyer questions, recommendation rate per assistant, source map, action plan. It belongs to you, even if you cancel afterwards.

    By now the first measures are live: website readability, answer passages, gaps in sources the assistants already trust.

  3. Day 60 to 90

    First movement

    The first reliable, still fluctuating movement in the answers.

  4. Day 90

    Decision

    We compare the status with the baseline. If the data points show no meaningful movement, we talk about it openly instead of extending the retainer.

  5. Month 3 to 12

    Durable position

    For established brands after 3 to 6 months, for young domains after 6 to 12 months or longer: the assistants only consider a domain once there are enough independent signals, visits, mentions, links from pages with real readers. Reach shortens this phase; that is why we also prepare content for trade press, associations and your LinkedIn profile. Channels and ad budget stay with you.

In between, the rhythm: every week we ask the same buyer questions again and check whether your company is recommended more often, described more accurately and backed by better sources; at least one prioritised improvement goes live. Every quarter you receive a report of plan versus delivered.

Terms and pricing

A published price, no fine print. An ongoing retainer instead of project work.

Carigiet GEO monthly retainer

fromCHF 2,800

per month plus VAT, first service area

A service area is one service with its own buyer questions and its own competitor set. Each additional one costs CHF 1,500 per month, and can be added or removed individually. How many there are is decided by three tests in onboarding with real measurement data, not by us.

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Start
Baseline and onboarding are included in the first month of the retainer. No setup fee.
Term
No minimum term. Cancel monthly, 30 days' notice to the end of the following month.
Ownership
Everything we create for you belongs to you: content, specifications, buyer questions, entries, documentation.
Website operations
Without your own agency or IT, we take over the technical implementation: CHF 1,200 per month, only with a running retainer, cancel monthly like the retainer.
Third-party costs
You pay directory entries and memberships directly, within the cooperation budget we set during onboarding.
Limit
At most five retainers per industry and region. Whether a place is free in your market, we clarify in the call.
Data protection
The Swiss FADP (revDSG) as the basis, GDPR where you sell in the EU.

Frequently asked questions about the retainer

What buyers want to know before the first call.

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Which industries is the retainer meant for?

We keep no list of industries. The retainer fits when your buyers compare before they enquire, a marketing budget carries the channel over months and someone at the table grants approvals. Which industries we measure monthly today is shown by the Swiss AI Recommendation Index: fiduciary services, IT service providers, property management and web agencies, as of September 2026. The retainer is not limited to them; for other industries we set up the measurement during onboarding.

When does something count as a separate service area?

Three tests in onboarding with real measurement data: its own buyer questions with under 20 percent overlap, its own competitor set, its own content required. Two out of three positive means a separate area. When in doubt, fewer areas. That protects both sides: we cannot split artificially, and you cannot pack everything into one area.

What additional costs are there?

An additional service area costs CHF 1,500 per month, optional website operations CHF 1,200 per month. Third-party costs for directory entries and memberships are paid by you directly, within the cooperation budget we set together during onboarding. All prices exclude 8.1% VAT.

How quickly can we cancel?

Every month, with 30 days' notice to the end of the following month. No minimum term, no setup fee. You keep everything: content, specifications, buyer questions and all entries.

Is there a guarantee of success?

No. AI answers are statistical: the same question does not produce the same answer twice, and the assistants do not agree with each other. That is why we measure the trend over months against competitors instead of promising a position by a date. The risk is covered by cancellability: monthly, and everything created stays with you.

How does this differ from search engine optimisation?

Search engine optimisation aims at a position in a results list. The retainer aims at being recommended as an option in an answer. Some of the foundations are the same: a readable website, consistent company details, content that answers questions. What differs are the sources that count and the measurement: not rankings, but the recommendation rate across several assistants, measured daily.

Can we keep our web or SEO agency?

Yes. Your website and the technical implementation stay with your agency: we write the specifications ready for a ticket, your agency implements them, we verify afterwards. The retainer content answers buyer questions for the AI answers; what your agency produces for Google stays in place, and we coordinate the editorial plan with them.

How much effort is required from us?

One 30-minute call per week: what is blocked, what information we need from you, what is done, what has changed. Everything else runs through the shared task list. Plus expert input and approvals from your organisation; the technical implementation is handled by your agency or IT.

And if we have neither a web agency nor internal IT?

Then we take over the implementation as website operations: CHF 1,200 per month, only alongside a running retainer, migration without a setup fee, cancel monthly like the retainer.

Is there a dashboard or reporting?

No dashboard login. The status lives in the shared task list and is discussed in the weekly call. On request we send a monthly progress overview; every quarter you receive a report of plan versus delivered.

In which languages do you measure and write?

Buyer questions and content in German (Switzerland), English as a comparison; French and Italian on request.

Whether a retainer is worth it takes 15 minutes to find out.

We show you live whom the AI assistants recommend in your market today and what that means for your company. Before that, you can have your website analysed free of charge.

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