For most of the past 20 years, being found online meant ranking on the first page of Google. That premise is now being rewritten in real time. Because a growing percentage of customers don’t scroll through links. Customers ask questions to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s AI Overview, or other AI engines and act on the answers given.
For local businesses, the risks are clear. If the AI engine doesn’t recognize you, you’ll become invisible to some of the fastest growing markets. And finding it is only half the battle. Once your customers land on your site, you need to capture their business.
Helping Ottawa businesses on both sides is the focus of Ottawa SEO Inc., a search and web design agency founded in the capital in 2014.
Combining SEO and web design for over 10 years
The company combines two areas that are often treated separately: capturing searches through search engine optimization (SEO) and AI search optimization, and converting attention through custom website design and social media. “SEO and web design go hand in hand,” says Martin Vassilev, Founder and Lead Strategist. “Ranking a company to the top only works if the websites it sends people to are built to convert visitors into customers.”
What sets this agency apart is that they don’t just provide search advice, they build and operate searches every day. Its work spans a wide range of sectors of the local economy, including moving and logistics, hospitality, comfortable living and trade, cannabis retail, and construction. The client list includes Ottawa companies such as Prestige Moving, ByExpress, Pho By Night, Kaloozie Comfort, Bluebird Cannabis and GLV Paving. For each company, a well-built website focused on strong rankings and conversions is designed to work together rather than as separate projects.
In addition to our client work, Ottawa SEO builds and actively ranks our own network of over 70 Ottawa websites across 18 service industries. This is a live laboratory where every tactic, from search to site design, is tested in the same markets our clients compete in.
“The fundamentals of being discovered have changed,” says Vasilev, who brings more than 15 years of experience to the business. “Ranking on Google is still important, but it also needs to be the source that the AI engine cites, and the websites that get clicks need to be distributed as well. These are related, but different areas, and most companies haven’t caught up yet.”
Enabling better business decisions through “education over mystique”
The agency’s approach focuses on transparency through senior-led work, flat pricing, and no long-term contracts. We also recently opened a new chapter by starting private one-on-one training sessions for local owners who want to understand how modern search and web design works rather than outsourcing.
These intensive two-hour working sessions cover SEO, AI search visibility, web design, and social media and are tailored to each participant’s business.
According to Vassilev, the underlying idea is education rather than mysticism. “Informed owners make better decisions, whether to hire us or not. The most successful companies are the ones that understand this shift early.”
This may be the most useful lesson for Ottawa’s business community. Search and the websites behind it are changing together, the rules are being rewritten, and the time to adapt is now.
