Ottawa SEO Agency for Google and AI Search
SEO F1RST provides SEO services in Ottawa for businesses that want to get found in Google, Google Maps and AI search. We combine local SEO, technical SEO, content and link building with AI SEO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), so your brand ranks in organic results and gets cited in Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. Our team works remotely with companies across Ottawa, the National Capital Region and the rest of Canada.
SEO in Ottawa: What the Local Market Looks Like
Ottawa is Canada’s capital and the centre of the National Capital Region. The federal government is the largest employer, and around it has grown a market of consultancies, IT contractors, associations and professional services firms. Kanata North is one of the largest technology parks in Canada, home to software, telecom, cybersecurity and defence companies, and Ottawa is also the city where Shopify started. Add the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, a strong health sector and a busy local service economy, and you get a market where both B2B and local search matter.
Search here has its own rules. Ottawa is a bilingual city, so many customers search in both English and French, and businesses often compete for clients on both sides of the river, in Ottawa and Gatineau. People search by neighbourhood and suburb, from Centretown, the Glebe and Westboro to Kanata, Barrhaven, Orléans and Nepean. B2B buyers, including companies that sell to government, compare several vendors and read a lot before they reach out. More of them now start with ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews instead of a list of links.
For an Ottawa business, search engine optimization is no longer only about ranking in Google. You need to be the source that search engines and AI assistants trust enough to recommend.
Ottawa SEO Services: Local SEO, GEO and AI Search
Technical SEO and SEO Audit
Every project starts with a full SEO audit. We fix site structure, speed, indexing and on-page issues first, including hreflang and duplicate pages on bilingual English and French websites. Then we build authority with content and links from relevant Canadian, Ontario and industry websites.
GEO: Generative Engine Optimization
GEO, often called AI SEO, makes your brand easy for ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity to understand and cite. For Ottawa tech and B2B companies, whose buyers research long before they call, this is often where the first impression happens. We clarify who you are and what you do with structured data, keep your business information consistent across the web, create content that answers real buyer questions and build mentions on sources AI systems trust.
AEO: Answer Engine Optimization
AEO targets featured snippets, the People Also Ask box and voice search. We format key pages with clear, direct answers, add FAQ markup and cover the questions your customers ask before they buy, in English and, where you need it, in French.
Google AI Overviews Optimization
We check which of your target searches show an AI Overview, which websites Google cites there and why. Then we rework your key pages so Google can quote them in AI-generated answers.
Results We Have Delivered
Ottawa B2B and tech buyers want proof before they sign. For an ecommerce swimwear brand, our SEO and GEO work brought 49.7K organic clicks and 4.38M impressions. AI responses mentioning the brand grew from 118 to 461, and its appearances in Google AI Overviews grew from 19 to 376. Read the full case study.
For a Shopify store, organic traffic grew by 275%, with dozens of new AI Overview placements. More results are in our case studies.
How We Work on Ottawa SEO Projects
We learn how your business makes money, who your customers are and how they choose a provider in Ottawa. For B2B and government suppliers, that often means long research cycles and several decision makers. We map the questions buyers ask in Google and in AI assistants like ChatGPT, so every next step is built on real demand.
We study who ranks for your services in Ottawa, Gatineau and across Canada, and who gets cited in AI Overviews and ChatGPT. Then we compare content, backlinks, Google Business Profiles, bilingual setup and site structure to find the gaps you can win.
You get one prioritized plan for Google and AI search: which pages to create or improve, which technical issues to fix first, how to grow local visibility from Kanata to Orléans, whether you need French pages, and how to make your brand easy for AI systems to cite.
We find the searches Ottawa customers use, from “seo services ottawa” to long questions by neighbourhood or industry, in English and in French, and group them by intent. We also research the prompts people type into ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity in your niche, so your content answers both search engines and AI assistants.
We remove what blocks search engines and AI crawlers: slow pages, Core Web Vitals issues, broken links, duplicate content, incorrect hreflang on bilingual sites and a weak mobile experience. A clean technical base helps every other part of your SEO work faster.
We write and optimize service pages, location pages, guides and FAQs for Ottawa audiences, with clear, direct answers. That helps you win featured snippets and People Also Ask results and makes your pages easy for AI Overviews and ChatGPT to quote.
We make sure Google indexes your important pages and skips the rest, set up sitemaps, robots rules and canonical tags, and add LocalBusiness, Service and FAQ schema so search engines and AI systems understand exactly what you offer.
We earn links and mentions from relevant Canadian, Ontario and Ottawa sources: industry associations, local business directories, tech community sites and trade publications. These signals build authority in Google and raise the chance that AI assistants recommend you when people ask for providers in Ottawa.
Each month you get a clear report: rankings, organic traffic, Google Maps visibility, leads and sales from search, and how often your brand appears in AI Overviews and AI answers. We explain what changed and what we will do next.
Steady organic growth for Ottawa businesses: we target the searches that bring leads and contracts, not vanity traffic, and track results every month.
We optimize titles, headings, content and internal links on every key page, in English and French where needed, so Google and AI search understand what you offer in Ottawa.
Links and mentions from relevant Canadian, Ontario and Ottawa industry sources that build authority and help AI assistants trust your brand.
We map Ottawa search demand and AI prompts by intent, including B2B and government-sector searches, then turn them into a clear plan of pages and priorities.
Monthly reports on rankings, traffic, leads and AI visibility, with a plain explanation of what changed and what we will do next.
Local SEO in Ottawa
Local SEO in Ottawa means winning searches across a city that stretches from the downtown core to Kanata, Orléans and Barrhaven, and often across the river into Gatineau. We optimize your Google Business Profile, build consistent citations on Canadian directories, create service and location pages for the neighbourhoods you serve and help you earn steady reviews. For bilingual businesses, we keep your English and French listings and pages consistent. Accurate local data also feeds AI search: it makes ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews more likely to recommend your business for local questions.
SEO for eCommerce
Ottawa is the city where Shopify started, and its ecommerce scene ranges from local retailers to fast-growing brands selling across Canada. We optimize category and product pages, fix technical issues on Shopify, WooCommerce and custom platforms, and add structured data for rich results, so your products appear in Google Shopping, AI Overviews and ChatGPT shopping answers.
SEO for WordPress
Many Ottawa consultancies, associations, clinics and B2B tech companies run their sites on WordPress, often with bilingual plugins, heavy themes and slow pages. We speed up the site, improve Core Web Vitals, set up correct hreflang for English and French versions, clean up schema markup and organize content so Google and AI search engines understand what each page is about.
Shopify SEO
For Ottawa brands selling on Shopify, we fix the platform’s typical issues: duplicate collection URLs, thin product pages, slow themes and, for bilingual stores, duplicate or untranslated French pages. Then we optimize collections, product pages and structured data to bring more organic sales and more product mentions in Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT.
Multi-Location and Franchise SEO
Many Ottawa businesses serve several areas at once: a clinic with offices in Kanata and Orléans, a home services company covering Ottawa and Gatineau, or a franchise with locations across Ontario. We build a clear structure of location pages, set up a Google Business Profile for each location and keep names, addresses and phone numbers consistent everywhere, so every branch can rank in Google Maps and get recommended by AI assistants.
Why Choose SEO F1RST as Your Ottawa SEO Company
Looking for the best SEO company in Ottawa? Here is what makes our approach different for B2B, tech and local businesses.
- SEO and GEO in one strategy. You grow in Google and in AI search together, with one team and one budget.
- A senior SEO expert on every project. An experienced SEO specialist builds and runs your strategy, not a junior account manager.
- Focus on revenue. We measure success in leads, contracts and sales, not only rankings.
- Clear communication. Monthly reports, regular calls and one point of contact who knows your business.
- Proven results. 5-star ratings on Clutch and Upwork from clients in North America, Europe and Asia.
Search engine optimization
AI SEO Services (AI SEO Agency for Generative Search & AI Visibility Optimization)
SEO Audit Service
SEO Migration Services
Search engine optimization
Shopify SEO Services
Content writing
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