The GEO Tooling and Data Market Has a Trust Problem

**Show Notes: The GEO Tooling and Data Market Has a Trust Problem** I surveyed 163 people who work on AI search visibility about the platforms built to measure it. They rate the underlying data at 4.20 out of 5. They rate paying for a platform at 3.19. When I asked what's actually wrong, price came fifth. Trust and ROI came first and second: 57% raised one of those two, against 7% who raised cost. This episode covers what they said, what their answers reveal when cross-referenced against each other, and one argument of mine about why the most common objection may have no answer at all. **Method** Fielded 14 July to 3 August 2026. N=163. Self-selected sample recruited through my own network, two newsletter sends, two industry newsletters, and paid promotion on LinkedIn and X. Not a probability sample, so it describes engaged practitioners in one corner of the industry rather than the industry. Roughly ±7 points at this size. 123 respondents (75%) wrote open text. Themes were coded by hand, and many people raised more than one issue, so shares add to more than 100%. Full numbers and methodology are in the written version. **Disclosure** I build in this category. That's a conflict, and it's most relevant to the section on what vendors can and can't publish about their own methodology. Everything presented as a survey finding comes from the responses. Where I'm making an argument of my own, I say so. **Source** IBISWorld, SEO & Internet Marketing Consultants in the US (NAICS OD4523, August 2025): 714,838 people employed across 362,753 businesses. That category bundles social and display in with SEO, so I use it as a ceiling on who could have answered, not as a count of GEO practitioners. Everything else comes from the survey responses. **Coming next** Two arguments I cut from this piece because they need their own space: what it means when every AI answer converges on the same thing, and why "snake oil" is three separate accusations wearing one coat. **One question** If you can't have a vendor's methodology, and you can't, what would make you believe a number? Nobody in 123 responses proposed an answer. I'd like to hear yours. Get full access to Duane Forrester Decodes at duaneforresterdecodes.substack.com/subscribe