When a buyer in Canada asks an AI assistant who to hire or what to buy, the answer names a handful of businesses and ignores the rest. AI SEO is the work of making sure yours is one of the names, while keeping the Google rankings that still send most of the traffic.

I've been in marketing since 2003 and I've worked on SEO for most of that time. Since 2024 I've focused on AI search, and I test everything on my own website before I recommend it to a client.

What Google says about AI search

Google Search Central published a post on how to perform well in Google's AI experiences on Search on May 21, 2025. Its core message is that what Google has long advised carries across to AI Overviews and AI Mode: create unique, satisfying content for your visitors.

The detail I find most useful for Canadian businesses is this. Google says that when people click to a website from results pages with AI Overviews, those clicks are higher quality, and users are more likely to spend more time on the site. So judge AI search by enquiries and sales from those visits, not by click counts alone. The same post says to support text with high-quality images and video, and to keep Merchant Center and Business Profile information up to date.

What I tested on my own site

I don't sell methods I haven't used. My own AI SEO case study shows what happened on my site between January and September 2026: Google clicks grew from 1,322 a month to 6,412, and visits sent by AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Copilot grew from 32 a month to 3,599. The full story is in my AI SEO case study.

How an AI SEO engagement runs

Every engagement follows the same order, because fixing things out of order wastes months.

1. Check what ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews say about your business and your competitors today.
2. Fix what stops search engines and AI tools reading your site.
3. Make your key pages answer buyer questions directly, in your own voice.
4. Make it obvious who you are, where you work and what you're known for, on your site and off it.
5. Re-check the same questions and measure enquiries, not just traffic.

What Canadian businesses often miss

Two things come up again and again. First, the Business Profile: if you serve customers locally, Google's own advice is to keep it current, and it's often the most neglected asset a business has. Second, the pages that answer buyer questions. Many sites describe services in general terms and never answer the questions buyers type into AI tools, such as who to hire in their province or how to choose a provider. Those answers are what AI tools quote. A short, direct answer near the top of the page, followed by the detail, gives both Google and AI assistants something clear to lift and credit.

How I check what AI tools say about you

Before any changes, I run the questions your buyers ask through ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google, and record who gets named and which pages get cited. Then I run the same questions after the work. It isn't a perfect measure, because AI answers vary from one run to the next, so I look for patterns across many questions rather than celebrating one. But it shows plainly whether your business is moving from absent to named.

Who this suits

It suits Canadian service businesses, consultancies, B2B firms and ecommerce brands that want to be found on Google and named by AI tools. It doesn't suit businesses looking for guaranteed rankings or volume link schemes, because nobody can promise either honestly.

There's more on the services themselves on my AI SEO services page, and every way to work together is on my work with me page.

My plain advice before you hire an AI SEO consultant in Canada

Ask them to show you what ChatGPT and Perplexity say about their own business, and what they've changed on their own site. Then ask how they'll measure success. If the answer is clicks alone, keep looking: Google itself says clicks from AI Overviews are higher quality, so the measure that matters is what those visitors do next.

Frequently asked questions

Who is an AI SEO consultant for Canadian businesses?

Lilach Bullock is a British AI SEO consultant who helps Canadian businesses rank on Google and get named by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews, using methods tested on her own site.

Do I need special optimisation to appear in Google AI Overviews?

Google Search Central says what it has long advised carries across to its AI experiences: unique, satisfying content for your visitors, plus up-to-date Business Profile and Merchant Center information.

Are clicks from AI Overviews worth less?

Google says clicks from results pages with AI Overviews are higher quality, with users more likely to spend more time on the site.

Do you work with Canadian businesses remotely?

Yes. I work with Canadian clients over video and in English, wherever they're based.

Can you guarantee my business will be named by ChatGPT?

No one can guarantee that honestly. I can show what changed on my own site and measure what AI tools say about yours before and after.

How is AI SEO different from ordinary SEO?

The foundations are the same: a site search engines can read and pages that answer real questions well. AI SEO adds a focus on being named in answers, which means clear statements of who you are and what you do, answers to buyer questions in your own words, and signals about your business that AI tools can find beyond your own site.