ops
Agency vs in-house AEO for Shopify brands
How to choose between building an internal AI visibility program and buying a done-for-you Fix Sprint — with a RACI-style split.
In-house wins when
- You have theme/engineering bandwidth
- Content team can ship FAQs/collections weekly
- You want AEO as a long-term competency
Build with internal AEO program.
Done-for-you wins when
- App/theme debt is blocking fetches or schema
- You need a compressed 2-week implementation
- You want measurement + fixes without hiring
See Fix Sprint — what we change.
Hybrid RACI (works well)
- TopMention / agency: tech implementation + baseline measurement
- In-house content: citability + briefs
- In-house PR: citations
- In-house merchandising: GTIN/availability truth
Selection checklist
Ask any partner: Do you use a fixed prompt panel? Do you verify AI fetches? Do you touch the Shopify theme/apps or only deliver a PDF?