AI search optimization for Canadian brands

What changes with AI answers

Traditional SEO ranks pages. AI search composes an answer and cites a few sources. Being one of those sources depends on being crawlable, clear and trusted on the topic. Google AI Overviews draw on the Google index, so classic SEO still matters. ChatGPT search, Perplexity and Gemini use their own mix of crawlers, partners and indexes.

No one controls these systems, and no agency can promise a citation. What we can do is remove obstacles, make your pages easy to quote and measure what happens. Our comparison of SEO and GEO explains how the two relate.

Expect uneven progress. Some topics respond within weeks once a page is clear and crawlable, while others depend on third-party mentions that take months. We tell you which is which during the baseline, so budget and patience match reality.

What we work on

The AI visibility checker gives a quick first look, and our GEO checklist lists the steps in full.

English and French prompts

People ask in French too, and the answers can differ from the English ones. A brand with strong English coverage may be invisible in French because fewer pages exist to quote. We test a set of prompts in both languages and see which sources the assistants cite. If you serve Quebec, French answer pages for your main services can be a cheap gap to fill.

Quebec French has its own vocabulary, so we avoid pages that read like translations from France or from English. A native reviewer checks the wording before publication.

Bilingual structure helps assistants too. Keep English and French pages on separate URLs with matching hreflang, and avoid mixing languages in one page, because passages that switch language partway are harder to quote cleanly.

The role of llms.txt and technical files

An llms.txt file is optional, and Google Search does not use it. Some AI tools and developers read it, so we may add one as a low-cost aid, but we do not treat it as a ranking lever. More important are fast pages, clean HTML, stable URLs, accurate structured data and content that stands alone when a passage is lifted out. Our llms.txt generator can create the file if you want one.

Trust and accuracy

AI systems tend to cite pages that state facts clearly and show who wrote them. We add author names, update dates and primary sources, and remove vague marketing language that cannot be quoted. We never invent statistics or testimonials to make a page look stronger. If a claim cannot be supported, it is cut.

Privacy matters here too. Do not put personal information into prompts or pages you do not want repeated. For Canadian businesses, PIPEDA and Quebec Law 25 still apply to what you publish and collect.

We also review your About, team and contact pages. Assistants look for who is behind a brand, and a thin About page is a common reason a good business is described vaguely, or not at all.

How an engagement runs

1. BaselineTest 30 to 50 prompts in English and French and record who is cited.
2. Fix and restructureCrawler access, page structure, schema and entity consistency.
3. CreateNew pages and updates that answer the questions assistants get.
4. TrackMonthly re-test, with changes explained and next steps proposed.

Calls are in Canadian mornings. 9:00 in Toronto is 19:30 in India in winter, and 9:00 in Vancouver is 22:30.

Each month's report lists prompts tested, answers captured, sources cited and the changes we made, so you can see cause and effect and not just a score.

Pricing

Projects start at $1,500 and our rate is $30 an hour, in US dollars. Site size, number of languages and tracking depth move the quote. See the AI search optimization service page for scope, and the Canada SEO overview for the wider plan.