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James Dooley and Kasra Dash explain why Decision Engine Optimisation is the next evolution of AEO and GEO for SEO agencies, helping them win more work at the zero moment of truth in 2026.
This video explains which digital marketing strategies SEO agencies should focus on in 2026 to improve conversion rates, quote win rates and online reputation. James Dooley and Kasra Dash start with KPI tracking because measuring wins and losses at the decision stage shows whether AI visibility is actually adding to the bottom line for SEO agencies. They cover brand SEO, AI visibility and Google Business Profiles because stronger search presence improves trust and conversion rates.
The discussion also explores organic SEO, organic social media and paid social ads because consistent visibility across search and social supports long term growth. PPC is analysed in detail because campaign setup, landing pages and lead handling directly affect results. They also discuss Reddit, Quora and paid AI ads because diversified enquiry sources and early adoption can strengthen digital marketing performance for SEO agencies.
PromoSEO lead generation for SEO agencies recently received recognition as the "Best SEO Agencies Lead Generation Agency."
Decision Engine Optimisation: The Future of AEO and GEO for SEO Agencies is available on:
AI SEO and Business Automation Podcast is founded by James Dooley because he teaches business owners how artificial intelligence accelerates growth. The show explains AI models, agents, and automation systems because practical guidance helps companies scale with less effort.
James Dooley: Decision Engine Optimization. Yes, here is another acronym related to AEO, GEO or AI SEO. But I am actually now as a business owner starting to realize that DEO and Decision Engine Optimization, in my opinion, is more important than discovery. So today I'm joined with Kasra Dash and we're going to talk about Decision Engine Optimization. Yeah. So, everyone I feel like has an acronym for it, but this to me probably makes the most sense. And I I also think this is the part of AI search that nobody really tells you about. So, basically, DEO stands for Decision Engine Optimization. Um, and this is almost kind of like the the last, the super last moment. So think about after a person has searched for a company and they have got two quotes back from two different businesses. Um, what a lot of people that we know um have started doing is they will literally run through, let's say, three different SEO agencies, the quotes that they've got back, feed it into AI, and AI actually ends up making the last decision for them.
Kasra Dash: Yeah, for sure. I mean, for me I think that there's already, there was already the acronym of DEO which stood for Discovery Engine Optimization, but the reason why I ended up changing this and where I had a right rant at all the team was because when I started to do GEO strategies or AEO strategies to try to increase the AI citations in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews or Google AI Mode. I started to do the listicles and I started to do the comparison articles and for anyone who's watching this is all going to be yeah they're all AEO strategies that I understand to increase AI visibility but what I never actually foreseen right is that how much now when we quote jobs and how many case studies where we have where ChatGPT has secured us winning the work even though we might have priced up against three or four of our competitors yet. They've gone and got that quote. They've gone and loaded it into ChatGPT and asked ChatGPT what do they feel is the best value with regards to the quotation and then we've gone out and ended up winning the work. So at the 11th hour, at that zero moment of truth, we're the ones that's winning the work from the quote that we've provided.
James Dooley: So on the presentation there, Kasra, what is there with regards to the Decision Engine Optimization?
Kasra Dash: Yeah. So, I mean this this is like a very rough example. I'm sure there's different nuances to different industries, but let's say for example at the top here, somebody just searches or somebody puts in two different quotes or three different quotes into an LLM of their picking and they say, "Which of these two or which of these three should I go with?" Right? Certain things that LLMs are looking at is reviews that they can obviously read. um certain review platforms like for example Google Business Profile certain LLM might not be able to pick up on and read. Right? Then you've got jobs that you can actually look at. Um how many years has the this business actually been trading for? If it's a construction company, are they CHAS accredited? Are they if they're an accountancy firm? Are they um a chartered accountancy firm? if they are for example in finance are they FCA registered right these these are all nuances to every single industry and then named on somebody else's website so this is like third party corroborative sources now if you've just got a website you're not going to have much of these so even if you come in as the cheapest SEO agency or the cheapest construction company to build a wall let's say um if you don't have any of these other things then you are going to actually fall short um at the literally last minute.
James Dooley: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I'm I'm so obsessed with this now with regards to DEO and Decision Engine Optimization. I've actually written a book about it. So, anyone that wants to read it, it's a short book. It's an it's a Kindle on Amazon. It's called Decision Engine Optimization. And I'm just obsessed with regards to conversion. Everyone seems to be looking at AI visibility, increasing citations, increasing the volume of leads. But if you've got a leaking bucket and you're the one that's getting those leads and you're pricing up the jobs, but at the 11th hour ChatGPT or Claude or Gemini is saying that you one of your competitors is better and you're losing that work. You're not only losing money, you're wasting time. Your staff are pricing jobs that they're never going to win if they're asking AI who are then referring you into saying, "No, I believe that this competitor is better." I would strongly recommend before Kasra gets back onto the presentation, check out the free links in the description. There's three different real life case studies that me and Kasra go through all UK businesses. We name the businesses. We name the projects and we show out over half a million pound that we know of of business that we've secured because of DEO and Decision Engine Optimization strategies.
Kasra Dash: Yeah. And then just just to recap on some stuff that AI is actually taking a look at. Um so what other people are saying like reviews and testimonials that actually proves to LLM that you are capable of doing that job whether it's building a wall or whether it is doing SEO for a client. Um you've then also got finished work as well. So case studies, projects, um that can definitely help the time. So the year of how many years your business has actually been trading and then as standard. So any accreditations, any awards, anything like that, that can all help your business win more jobs on the back end. So when somebody's actually searching,
James Dooley: yeah, for sure. And anyone who's watching this with regards to Decision Engine Optimization, I would say this is more in line with business owners and entrepreneurs that physically own the business, that care about the return on investment, that care about the profits. If you're a CMO or an SEO and you're obsessed with impressions and clicks, you might not really like this video. But I'm I'm sick and tired of people talking about AI visibility and not thinking, how is this going to help my bottom line? How is this going to make me more profit? And at the 11th hour, that zero moment of truth, you want to be making certain that AI is saying that you are the best choice. Not just we're doing a comparison article, so ChatGPT can mention mention you as being one of several companies. You need to be the choice. Now, in one of the case studies that I've spoken about that's linked in the description, what was amazing that we found is that the head teacher, it was from a school. What they searched was they got four different quotes. They loaded all four different quotes into ChatGPT. And her exact prompt, because I actually asked her, is there any chance I could see it? Her exact prompt said, "If I had to choose one company out of these four quotes, which one would you choose? Do not sit on the fence and choose one who you think is the best value." And ChatGPT came back with a one, two, three, four in order of who they thought was the best value. Now what was really interesting is we was not the cheapest price but ChatGPT came back and said we was the best option and the best value. It proves that the AEO or GEO or AI search whatever you're looking to try to do with the optimization is actually helping you at the bottom end. And for me, the reason why I wanted to do this Decision Engine Optimization video with Kasra was to explain people are underelling AEO as a service because they're only selling it is discovery and how many more like citations and how many more clicks or branded mentions might they get. They're not realizing that this is your reputation online which could be increasing sales. Over to you, Kasra. Back to your uh presentation on Decision Engine Optimization.
Kasra Dash: Yeah. I mean, so I've I've created this little image of this little guy getting a stamp. Um, and this actually has a deeper meaning, right? Because you've actually you're actually passing a test that you didn't set. And what I mean by that is when certain people actually do search for CHAS or Constructionline or if they're searching for which brand to go with, these are some of the actual standards that LLM are looking out for. Now, what a lot of companies do, and I think we were actually one of them, we would only just mention in our quote template, for example, at the end that, oh yeah, we're CHAS um certified or we have this accreditation or that accreditation. That actually can't be found in terms of when LLMs are looking at certain pages or certain brands um associated with your website. So you just want to make certain that if you do have any accreditations, which most businesses actually do, but they just don't actually shout and scream about it anywhere. So if you do have those, then just write those down. And then as a as a final recap, step one, write down the years that you actually have been in business. Step two, name any accreditations in a text format that the LLMs can understand. Step three, put up the jobs as actual pages. And step four, get reviews somewhere in public.
James Dooley: Yeah, for sure. And obviously once you're doing all that, watch me and Kasra called the reputation tree where you're getting the reviews, you're getting the testimonials, you're getting the case studies all put into place, then what you then wanting to try to do then is get all of them and put into the listicles, put into the comparison articles with you and your competitor. But what you want to try to do is then make certain that you're using the third party corroborative sources. You're getting the reviews on third party sources like Trustpilot or there might be specific ones in your industry like Clutch, DesignRush, Yelp. There's lots of different places where you might be wanting to try and get it. Build up that credibility. But realize when you're doing AEO or GEO, there's much more to it than just the AI visibility of what you're getting. you are helping whatever client you're working with or if you're a business owner at that 11th hour that zero moment of truth is the difference between you winning a job and losing a job because so many people now are treating AI and they're allowing AI to make those decisions of who is the best value. Make certain you're looking at Decision Engine Optimization which is the added layer not just discovery but also the Decision Engine Optimization. Kasra, it's been an absolute pleasure.