passcite

When a prospect asks an assistant for an agency, you are not on the list

30 buyer questions across three engines, run against a real marketing agency. This is a category where reputation translates poorly into an AI answer — and it is worth understanding why before you sell this to your own clients.
The answers

Where each engine got its answer

Six of the questions Single Grain lost, asked exactly as written, with the sites each engine cited.

  • “most recommended digital marketing agency”

    ChatGPT (API)

    • g2.com
    • clutch.co

    Perplexity

    • 6smarketers.com
    • analyticsinsight.net
    • +3 more

    Gemini

    • webtonic.io
    • solved6.com
    • +1 more
  • “who is the best digital marketing agency for ecommerce”

    ChatGPT (API)

    • clutch.co

    Perplexity

    • mayple.com
    • forbes.com
    • +3 more

    Gemini

    • thriveagency.com
    • silverbackstrategies.com
    • +3 more
  • “best digital marketing agency for SEO”

    ChatGPT (API)

    • clutch.co

    Perplexity

    • thecmo.com
    • dataally.ai
    • +3 more

    Gemini

    • primaryposition.com
    • seoprofy.com
    • +2 more
  • “best digital marketing agency for B2B”

    ChatGPT (API)

    • clutch.co
    • staging.clutch.co

    Perplexity

    • blendb2b.com
    • beomniscient.com
    • +3 more

    Gemini

    • prweb.com
  • “compare digital marketing agency options”

    ChatGPT (API)

    No sites cited

    Perplexity

    • thebusinessrover.com
    • onely.com
    • +3 more

    Gemini

    • clutch.co
    • solved6.com
    • +2 more
  • “how much does SEO cost”

    ChatGPT (API)

    • adency.org
    • strategyc.io
    • +1 more

    Perplexity

    • collaborada.com
    • forbes.com
    • +3 more

    Gemini

    • fastdigitalmarketing.com
    • gomega.ai
    • +3 more

Asked on : ChatGPT (API) openai/gpt-5.4-mini · Perplexity perplexity/sonar-pro · Gemini google/gemini-3-flash. Engines answer differently over time; this is what they said that day.

The pattern

Clutch on 25 of the 30. Then agencies' own pages.

Single Grain was named on three of the twenty-one questions that never mention it. Under the answers sat Clutch, cited on twenty-five of the thirty questions, Reddit on fifteen and G2 on eight. ChatGPT cited Clutch on four of the six questions above, and nothing but Clutch on three of them. The agencies that were named came with pages of their own: Thrive's site was cited on eleven questions, SalesHive's on ten, WebFX's on nine, First Page Sage's on eight. In this category the profile with reviews decides who is in the running, and a page that names the buyer's industry decides who is quoted.

Cited most

On how many of the 30 questions each site was cited. Claimable ones are directory profiles the business can claim and correct.

  1. clutch.co Claimable 25/30
  2. reddit.com Community 15/30
  3. thriveagency.com 11/30
  4. saleshive.com 10/30
  5. webfx.com 9/30
  6. g2.com Claimable 8/30
  7. firstpagesage.com 8/30
  8. featuredcustomers.com 4/30
  9. gtm8020.com 2/30
The report’s list

What the report said to do

The tasks this run filed for Single Grain, each with how many of the lost questions it answers.

  • answers 13 questions

    Own your listings on clutch.co, g2.com

    On 13 of the questions you lose, the assistants cite a directory rather than any business's own site. Those listings are the answer buyers are being shown.

  • answers 12 questions

    New page answering “most recommended digital marketing agency”

  • answers 3 questions

    Answer “who is the best digital marketing agency for ecommerce”

    on singlegrain.com/services/seo/

  • answers 2 questions

    Answer “who makes a good digital marketing agency”

    on singlegrain.com/about-us/

The profiles

Where the answers about agencies & consultancies come from

On each profile you claim, write the name, address, phone and website exactly as the site has them.

  • Clutch

    Claim it

    Cited on 25 of the 30 questions — by ChatGPT for “most recommended digital marketing agency”.

    1. Create the free profile, or claim the one Clutch already has, from Clutch's Get listed page.
    2. Fill in the services, the industries you serve and your pricing, and ask recent clients to leave a review.
    Claim it on Clutch
  • G2

    Claim it

    Cited on 8 of the 30 questions — by ChatGPT for “most recommended digital marketing agency”.

    1. Claim the agency's profile on G2: it is free, and G2 checks a work email.
    2. Fill in the services you sell and a description in the buyer's words; invite recent clients to review.
    Claim it on G2
  • Reddit

    Community

    Cited on 15 of the 30 questions — by Perplexity for “most recommended digital marketing agency”.

    Threads are quoted as word of mouth. Nothing to claim: answer as yourself, and say who you are.

The pages

What buyers ask, and the page that answers it

  • Buyers ask: “best digital marketing agency for ecommerce”

    Answer it on: A page for each industry you serve

    What it has to say: Clients in that industry, named with permission, what you did and the results, with dates

    Markup: Organization, with the industries in knowsAbout

  • Buyers ask: “how much does SEO cost”

    Answer it on: A pricing page

    What it has to say: A range for each kind of engagement, and what moves it

    Markup: none needed

  • Buyers ask: “who makes a good digital marketing agency”

    Answer it on: The about page

    What it has to say: How you would judge an agency, and how you meet it

    Markup: none needed

  • Buyers ask: “compare digital marketing agency options”

    Answer it on: A how-to-choose page

    What it has to say: What to ask any agency, how you work, and who you are not right for

    Markup: none needed

  • Buyers ask: “digital marketing agency in Chicago”

    Answer it on: A page for each office

    What it has to say: The address, who works there, clients nearby

    Markup: Organization, with an address for each office

  • Buyers ask: “is [agency] any good”

    Answer it on: Clutch and G2

    What it has to say: Verified client reviews, and the services and industries you list

    Markup: none needed

FAQ

Questions

Should we sell this service to our own clients?
That is who Passcite is built for, and it is fair to ask us to prove it works on our own kind of business first. Run your first report on your own site before you run one on a client's.
How do agencies package this?
Usually as an audit up front and then a monthly retainer covering the fixes and the before and after. A client report carries the monthly part — built once, a new edition after each scheduled run — and on the Agency plans it goes out under your own name and logo.
What does it cost us per client?
Plans are credits, and a client is a brand: its 10 prompts asked twice a month are 20 credits, and an article is 10. Agency is $149 a month for 1,000 credits across up to 500 brands, with the totals across all of them.
Can our clients see it directly?
Through a link you send them: a report, or a client report that always opens its latest edition. On the Agency plans it carries your name and logo and can wait for your review first; client logins are being built for Agency Plus.
Will you contact our clients?
No. We do not contact anyone's clients, and that is not going to change.
What if our client's site is on Wix or Squarespace?
The diagnosis works identically; only the publishing differs. The pages are written all the same and wait for your approval, then are copied into the site — rich text, HTML or Markdown — and the rest of the list comes as tasks with steps. The platform pages say what each one lets you change.

Run the same test on your own agency, or a client's

The run above asked 30 questions. A brand tracks up to 200 prompts, a credit a prompt on each report.

10 free credits — your first report, 10 prompts across ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Mode. A free account, no card. About 3 minutes.