› TomHow / Packages

One monthly fee. Three levels of how hard we work.

Every package does the same job: improves the odds that your brand is named when buyers ask AI systems, while keeping traditional search healthy at the same time. Higher tiers ship more content, watch more competitors, and build custom tools inside your stack. Read the package, test fit, speak to Thomas if useful.

Start with paid audit -> See sample monthly report ->
From GBP 5,000 / month · Invoiced monthly, paid in advance · Cancel any month after the minimum
Last reviewed 2026-09-06
› What you are actually buying

You are buying senior solo capacity plus a repeatable system for helping your brand get mentioned in AI answers while staying visible on Google. The setup is one operator, Thomas Howcroft, supported by six AI-assisted workflows. Every month you get useful articles published on your site, technical work that makes the brand easier to understand, competitor tracking, and a signed report showing what changed.

> Brand Alignment Profile

The content has to sound like you, not like an AI tool.

Before anything is published, I build a working brand profile for your account. It captures how you want to sound, what you never want to say, which proof points are safe to use, and what a finished piece must pass before it goes live.

Voice rules

Formal or blunt. Technical or simple. Founder-led or corporate. The profile makes that explicit.

Proof points

Claims, examples, categories, client language, and evidence are separated from guesses.

Banned language

No filler, no off-brand phrases, no words your team hates, no generic agency polish.

Approval loop

The first pieces are checked harder, then the profile gets sharper every month.

> Technical AEO scope

The method is platform-agnostic. The implementation is not guessed.

WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Squarespace, Wix, HubSpot CMS, custom React, Next, Astro, and headless builds all need the same AEO logic, but they do not expose it in the same way. The first technical sprint starts by identifying the stack and choosing the safest route.

Universal layer

Schema, llms.txt, sitemap, robots, canonicals, OpenGraph, internal links, entity clarity, and crawl health. Start with the free Schema Generator.

Platform route

Direct implementation where access is clean. Developer-ready tickets where the CMS, theme, or app stack needs the client's team.

No fake coverage

I will not pretend every builder works the same. Platform limits are stated in the report before work starts.

Search Lab only

Dashboards, CMS automations, and deeper stack integration belong in Search Lab after scoped approval.

Citation Engine
£5,000
≈ $6,300 USD · ≈ €5,800 EUR
/ month · 6-month minimum

Reduce the risk of losing customers to AI answers.

GBP 2m to GBP 10m brands protecting AI visibility.

Core monthly output
  • 4 priority page improvements/month
  • 30 priority queries tracked
  • Signed monthly report
Full package detail

Every month we ship 4 priority page builds, upgrades, or evidence assets, fix the technical signals that help search and AI systems understand you, and send a signed report showing what changed.

Right for: B2B brands with flat or falling organic visibility that want a managed search improvement programme.

Everything that ships
  • 4 priority pages or evidence assets shipped around agreed buyer questions
  • Up to 120 official-API citation checks a week when all four surfaces are credentialled (30 queries x 4 APIs). Google AI Overviews is excluded.
  • 8 to 15 technical AEO changes or developer-ready tickets
  • 1 signed monthly PDF report on the 1st
  • 1 quarterly strategy session (call or async, your pick)
Included, in detail
  • Citation tracking
    Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini checked weekly through official APIs when credentials exist. Up to 30 priority queries. Google AI Overviews is excluded until a first-party route exists. Monthly chart of movement, query by query.
  • Brand Alignment Profile
    Voice rules, proof points, banned phrases, approved examples, and sign-off rules locked before the first draft. Every article is checked against it before publishing.
  • Priority page delivery
    4 substantial page builds, upgrades, or evidence assets per month. Length follows the buyer question and evidence, not a word quota. Schema is added only where it matches the visible page.
  • Technical AEO
    Monthly knowledge graph audit. Schema upkeep across priority page types. Hand-written llms.txt. Sitemap and robots.txt hygiene. Internal link graph rebuilds. Implemented directly where access allows, otherwise delivered as developer-ready tickets.
  • Signed monthly PDF
    Five sections: executive summary, citation index, what shipped this month, what is shipping next, signed by Thomas Howcroft. Lands in your inbox by 09:00 on the 1st.
  • Strategy review
    Quarterly call (or written report + screen recording if you prefer pure async). Active read of your data plus the citation index, next quarter locked in writing.
Not included
  • Paid media
  • PR
  • Social media management
  • Email marketing
  • Custom automation builds
Start with the paid audit → Review the sample monthly report ->
AEO Stack
£8,500
≈ $10,800 USD · ≈ €9,900 EUR
/ month · 6-month minimum

Ship more of the work that closes the gap.

GBP 5m to GBP 20m brands losing ground to named competitors.

Core monthly output
  • 8 priority page improvements/month
  • 3 competitors monitored
  • Mid-month strategy update
Full package detail

Same as Citation Engine, but we ship 8 priority page or evidence improvements every month and track up to 3 direct competitors. You get more delivery capacity and a clearer picture of where the market is moving ahead of you.

Right for: B2B brands with clear competitors and enough internal evidence to support a broader search and AI-answer programme.

Everything that ships
  • 8 priority pages or evidence assets shipped around agreed buyer questions
  • 960 LLM citation polls (yours) + 480 competitor polls (theirs)
  • 15 to 25 technical AEO changes or developer-ready tickets per month
  • 1 signed monthly PDF + 1 mid-month strategy update
  • 1 monthly strategy session (call or async)
Included, in detail
  • Everything in Citation Engine
    Atlas, Forge, Compass, and Scribe running at a higher cadence.
  • Higher delivery cadence
    8 substantial page builds, upgrades, or evidence assets per month, prioritised by demand, proof gaps, and competitor evidence.
  • Technical AEO sprint
    Monthly schema sprint across whole site. Internal link graph rebuilt every month. Entity disambiguation pass. Platform-specific implementation route agreed before work starts.
  • Competitor monitoring
    Up to 3 named competitors tracked in parallel. Monthly competitor watch: where they are pulling ahead, where they are slipping, where the gap is open.
  • Monthly strategy review
    Active read of GA4 + Search Console + citation index. Mid-month update if anything material moves. Next month locked in writing.
Not included
  • Paid media
  • PR
  • Social media management
  • Custom automation builds (talk to Search Lab)
Start with the paid audit → Review the sample monthly report ->
Search Lab Retainer
£12,000
≈ $15,200 USD · ≈ €13,900 EUR
/ month · 12-month minimum

The lab inside your stack.

GBP 10m+ teams that want the toolkit inside their own stack.

Core monthly output
  • Dedicated delivery backlog
  • Scoped custom workflows
  • Weekly strategy access
Full package detail

Same as AEO Stack, but with dedicated delivery capacity and scoped AI-assisted tools inside your own systems. Your in-house team can get dashboards, CMS automation, data-pipeline work, or a scoped marketing agent once the technical route is agreed. You are buying capacity plus clear technical delivery, not an open-ended software build.

Right for: B2B brands with an in-house marketing or engineering team that wants scoped workflows inside its own systems.

Everything that ships
  • Dedicated monthly backlog across pages, technical fixes, evidence and workflows
  • Unlimited LLM citation polls across your full query universe
  • Continuous technical AEO + scoped bespoke workflow builds
  • 1 signed monthly PDF + weekly strategy access
  • Quarterly in-person working session (London) if useful
Included, in detail
  • Everything in AEO Stack
    Plus dedicated capacity. Your work moves to the front of the queue.
  • Brand system hand-off
    The Brand Alignment Profile becomes a reusable system for your in-house team: voice rules, claim rules, example prompts, and editorial checks documented in writing.
  • Dedicated delivery capacity
    A larger monthly backlog across page builds, evidence assets, technical fixes, and scoped workflows. Output is measured by completed buyer and search jobs, not word count.
  • Bespoke workflow builds
    Scoped tools built into your stack where access and platform limits allow: CMS, data pipelines, dashboards, or CRM. Documented, maintained, transferred to you in writing on contract end.
  • Client dashboard beta
    Private dashboard for citation timelines, content health, shipped work, and report archive. Introduced after the PDF reporting loop has produced clean source rows.
  • Marketing agent add-on route
    Distribution workflow for LinkedIn, newsletter, content repurposing, and proof-led publishing can be scoped here as a paid add-on. Not a free public tool and not included in lower tiers.
  • Weekly strategy access
    Direct line to Thomas Howcroft on Slack or shared channel. Reply within 4 hours during UK working days.
  • On-site or off-site
    Quarterly working sessions in-person if useful (London or remote). Hand-off rituals, knowledge transfer, in-house team training.
Not included
  • Paid media
  • PR
  • Full social media management outside a scoped marketing agent add-on
Start with the paid audit → Review the sample monthly report ->
› What you get in month one

Month one is built for visible progress.

Most retainers feel slow on day one because most retainers are slow on day one. TomHow front-loads month one so you see real shipping inside the first week and finish month one with measurable technical lift plus two long-form pieces live and tracking.

Week 1

Baseline. Atlas checks your 30 priority queries across all 4 LLMs. Anvil crawls your site. The Brand Alignment Profile is built from your site, best existing copy, sales docs, proof points, and banned language.

Week 2

Foundation. Schema added across priority pages, hand-written llms.txt at root, sitemap rebuilt, internal link graph cleaned up.

Week 3

First piece. Forge ships the first long-form piece with schema, entity clarity, and internal links. Tom signs, publishes.

Week 4

Second piece + first signed report. Forge ships piece two. Scribe assembles the first monthly PDF for next month's 1st delivery.

↳ Same sprint runs at every tier. Higher tiers ship more in parallel.

› What we commit to

Four written commitments.

› Citation share commitment

Measurable progress on your priority query set. If we cannot show movement at your first quarterly strategy review, you can cancel and walk away (the 6-month minimum is suspended for failure to deliver). A specific time-bound target will only be published once one full campaign cycle of TomHow brand data is documented.

› Audit credit-back

GBP 2,250 paid audit fee credits back in full against your first month's retainer when you sign within 30 days. Net cost of testing fit: zero if you sign.

› Honest cancel terms

Cancel any month after the minimum with 30 days written notice. No auto-renewal traps. No exit fees. If the work is not landing, the right move is to leave.

› No surprises invoicing

Monthly invoice in advance. Same fee every month. Tools, sub-processors, API costs all bundled. No "expenses charged at cost" line items.

› Why GBP 5,000

What you are paying for, line by line.

The retainer is not citation tracking alone. It covers the agreed page, technical and evidence backlog; measurement then shows what changed. Compare alternatives on the same scope, access and limits.

Component
What TomHow ships
Typical alternative
Brand alignment
Voice profile, claim rules, banned language, and approval checklist
Usually a separate strategy or copy setup
Content production
4 to 16 priority page or evidence improvements each month, with schema, internal links, and brand voice checked
Usually commissioned per asset or through an agency retainer
Technical AEO
Schema, entity clarity, sitemap and internal link review
Usually a separate technical SEO scope
Strategic oversight
Monthly read of GA4, GSC and citation evidence, with the next month locked in writing
Usually a separate consultant or strategy retainer
Citation monitoring
Agreed question and provider scope, with results and limits logged
Software still needs operator time to interpret and act on results
Signed monthly PDF
Branded, narrated, signed report with source rows
Often an additional reporting or account-management task
Senior operator attention
You talk to Thomas Howcroft directly. No account manager layer.
Responsibility and access vary by supplier

The price covers the combined delivery scope plus senior-operator review. Compare it with an alternative using the same work, evidence, access and limits rather than adding unrelated headline rates together. External software and internal staff time remain separate choices.

› Alternatives

Compared to the other routes.

You are not just choosing between TomHow tiers. You are choosing between five routes to the same outcome. Here is the honest comparison.

Route
Monthly cost
Attention you get
What you actually receive
When it makes sense
TomHow
GBP 5,000 to 12,000/month
Senior solo operator oversight on every tier
Agreed SEO and AI-search visibility backlog shipped monthly
When you want an external senior owner and a written scope
In-house hire
Salary, recruitment, tools and management
Dedicated internal ownership
Scope and pace depend on the role and team around it
When the workload and management capacity support a permanent role
Agency retainer
Quoted retainer
Team and senior access depend on the contract
Can combine several search and marketing disciplines
When you need a broader bench or multi-channel scope
Freelancer
Quoted project or retainer
Individual availability
Capability and delivery scope vary by specialist
When the scope is narrow and clearly defined
In-house DIY
Internal time and tools
Your existing team
Delivery depends on available skill and capacity
When the team already owns the work and measurement
› Common pushbacks

Things buyers ask before they sign.

"GBP 5,000 is a lot for citation tracking."

It is. You are not paying for citation tracking. You are paying for the work that moves the citation: monthly content production, technical AEO, knowledge graph wiring, signed reporting. Citation tracking is the proof the work landed. Read the line-by-line breakdown above.

"Why not hire an in-house AEO?"

An in-house route gives you dedicated ownership, but it also needs recruitment, management, tools and enough work for a permanent role. TomHow is the external option when you want senior operator ownership and a defined delivery scope without building that team first.

"Do we need a discovery call?"

No bloated discovery process. TomHow qualifies fit through visible pricing, sample reports, the paid audit, and direct written context. If a call will help clarify a serious opportunity, you speak to Thomas Howcroft directly. The point is to avoid sales theatre, not hide the operator.

"How is this different from an agency?"

Senior solo operator. No account manager layer. I oversee every tier. Higher tiers buy more capacity and access, not a different standard of care. The workflow is structured and AI-assisted, with Thomas retaining review responsibility.

"Can you implement this on our website stack?"

Yes, with a sensible boundary. The AEO method is platform-agnostic: schema, llms.txt, sitemap, robots, canonicals, OpenGraph, internal links, entity clarity, and crawl health. The implementation route depends on your stack. If direct access is clean, I implement. If not, you get precise developer-ready tickets.

"Why put the prices online?"

Because visible pricing filters the wrong buyers out. This is not a cheap SEO retainer hiding behind a sales process. The price says who this is for: serious brands that want senior attention, measurable output, and no agency theatre.

"What if the AI search wave dies?"

Some buyers now use ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google before they shortlist a provider, but the scale varies by market. Traditional SEO is bundled in the retainer, so the work still supports ordinary search when an AI answer surface is not material for your buyers.

"Can I cancel?"

Yes. Citation Engine and AEO Stack: 6-month minimum, then cancel any month with 30 days written notice. Search Lab Retainer: 12-month minimum, then same. No auto-renewal traps. No retention fees. If the work is not landing, the right move is to leave.

› Step 1

Read how the work runs

The four-step method. What happens every month, end to end.

Read how it works →
› Step 2

See a sample monthly report

Fabricated data. Real format. This is the reporting layer every retainer is built around.

Open the sample →
› Step 3

Test fit with the paid audit

GBP 2,250. A signed diagnostic with linked evidence rows, ten prioritised fixes and a 90-day action plan. Credits back in full against any 6-month retainer signed within 30 days.

Buy the audit →
› Recovery route

See what gets fixed first

The beginner recovery route shows the checks behind the retainer: tracking, prompts, schema, internal links, reports, and monthly evidence.

Read the recovery route ->