HOSTING-SIDE SEO DIAGNOSTICS · 02
How to choose a GEO agency in Hong Kong: 7 questions that reveal who actually does the work
Plenty of companies in Hong Kong now offer GEO. Most of them write a few articles and send a report. Here are seven questions to ask in the meeting — and one of them only a hosting provider can answer.
🔍 1. Question 1: can you see my AI crawler logs?
This is the dividing line. Most consultants only see third-party estimates. They never see the actual requests hitting your server.
| Who you are talking to | Typical answer | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Pure consultancy | “We use a tool to estimate AI visibility” | Diagnosis by guesswork; they cannot tell if you are blocked |
| Technical agency | “We can look at your logs if you grant access” | Needs permissions and your IT team — usually weeks |
| Hosting provider | “We see it in the logs already” | Can name the crawler, the hit count and the status code on the spot |
If they cannot tell you whether GPTBot has ever crawled your site, every recommendation that follows is an estimate.
🛠️ 2. Question 2: are you advisors or builders?
Advisors deliver slide decks. Builders change files. GEO outcomes come almost entirely from the second group:
- Fixing
hreflang(the most common error on trilingual sites) - Fixing
robots.txt(some hosts block AI bots by default) - Adding structured data (LocalBusiness / Product / FAQ)
- Restructuring pages so the answer appears early enough for AI to extract
- Fixing Cloudflare / WAF rules so AI crawlers are not blocked along with the bad traffic
Ask: who makes the change, will you check with me first, and is there a record of it?
🎯 3. Question 3: which five questions will you benchmark?
“Best yakiniku in Hong Kong” is too broad — the AI answers with city-wide brands and you will never win that slot. You need district + identity + situation:
- ✗ Too broad: “best baby shop in Hong Kong”
- ✓ Specific: “baby shop near Shek Mun, Sha Tin with strollers in stock”
- ✓ Specific: “Japanese yakiniku near D2 Place, Lai Chi Kok for a company dinner”
They must also state the platform (ChatGPT / Perplexity / Google AI Overviews) and the language. Change any of the three and the answer can change completely.
✏️ 4. Question 4: what exactly will you change?
Ask for a written list. Reject “we will optimise your content”. A real list names the pages, what changes on each (title, paragraphs, schema, internal links), when it will be done and who signs it off.
📊 5. Question 5: how will you prove it worked?
Do not accept a “GEO score”. A score is a black box you cannot verify. Ask for three things:
- Raw answer screenshots — same question, same platform, same language
- Citation URLs — which sites the AI cited, and whether you were among them
- Re-test dates — how long between tests
And accept one fact: AI answers fluctuate. One mention is not success; one miss is not failure. Test three times or more and look at the trend.
💰 6. Question 6: how many re-tests are included, and what if it does not work?
The quote should state the number of revision rounds, the number of re-tests, the monitoring period, and what is excluded (video, media placements, link building). No responsible company guarantees AI mentions.
🔐 7. Question 7: will you touch my DNS, Cloudflare or hosting?
This is a risk question, not a technical one. We have seen sites where, after Cloudflare access was handed over, the rules ended up blocking Googlebot — rankings fell and nobody knew who changed what.
Ask for: least-privilege access, a written record of every change, and the ability to revoke access at any time.
🤝 8. Four engagement models (ours)
| Model | Best for | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| One-off audit 1–2 weeks | Not sure yet; want to see the current state first | Crawler log analysis, technical issue list, priorities — no contract |
| Project 4–8 weeks | Known problems, want them fixed in one pass | Changes within an agreed scope plus a re-test report |
| Monthly retainer | Ongoing content and monitoring of AI answers | Monthly content, monitoring, quarterly review |
| Do it in-house, we support | You have internal hands | Hourly guidance and review of your changes |
⚠️ 9. Three traps specific to the Hong Kong market
1. Language bias
Ask the same question in English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese and the AI may cite completely different sites. Testing only one language means testing a third of the market.
2. Simplified-content contamination
Content migrated with Simplified characters can make an AI treat you as a mainland brand — and cite you in the wrong regional answer.
3. Inconsistent local data
If OpenRice, Google Business Profile and your own site disagree on address or phone, the AI will not risk citing you — it cannot verify you.
🚀 10. Why a hosting provider has an edge at GEO
| Capability | Pure consultancy | Timway (hosting provider) |
|---|---|---|
| See AI crawler logs | Tool estimates | ✅ Reads the server log directly |
| Change server / Cloudflare settings | Needs your credentials | ✅ We already run it |
| Verify immediately after a change | Waits for the next report cycle | ✅ curl plus log comparison on the spot |
| Trilingual implementation | Usually outsourced | ✅ Our own sites run in three languages |
| Commercial model | Retainer, locked in | One-off audit available, no lock-in |
Want to know what your site looks like to AI right now?
One phone call: we use server logs and live tests to tell you which AI crawlers arrived, what they received, and what needs fixing — evidence, not scores.
Timway · just say “GEO audit”