Rank Tracking as Retainer Insurance: Why Citation Coverage Now Sets Agency Pricing

Rank tracking stopped being a reporting chore and became the evidence layer that justifies an SEO retainer. Agencies that monitor both classic SERP positions and AI citation share can show a client why visibility moved, while shops that report only Google positions are defending a shrinking slice of the answer surface. The margin question is not which tracker you buy, it is whether your reporting can survive a client asking why ChatGPT never mentions them.