Guides
Everything here is free and none of it needs us.
The questions Calgary businesses ask before they hire anyone, answered properly. If you read these and fix it yourself, that's a good outcome.
Start with whichever of these is you.
Nobody reads a whole library of guides. These are the situations people actually arrive in. Pick the sentence that sounds like your week and skip the rest.
- You've searched your own business and something else comes up first.
- Not showing up on Google Maps in Calgary
- Someone quoted you a number and you have no idea whether it's fair.
- How much does SEO cost in Calgary?
- You're about to sign with an agency and want to know what to ask them.
- How to choose an SEO company in Calgary
- Somebody told you customers are asking ChatGPT instead of Google now.
- How to show up in AI answers in Calgary
- You'd rather just fix it yourself and want the order to do it in.
- A local SEO checklist for Calgary businesses
- You don't have a website yet and someone said the Google listing might be enough.
- Do I need a website with a Business Profile?
- How long does local SEO take? | Calgary guideHow long does local SEO take? A Calgary guide to the timeline, from crawl and indexing checks to rankings and enquiries, with monthly review points.7 sections · last reviewed
- A local SEO checklist for Calgary businessesA practical Calgary local SEO checklist covering crawl access, titles, Business Profile categories, competing pages, content, and local details.8 sections · last reviewed
- How much does SEO cost in Calgary?How much does SEO cost in Calgary? Our pricing guide explains monthly work, one-time projects and how to compare the scope behind a quote.7 sections · last reviewed
- How to choose an SEO company in CalgaryQuestions to ask a Calgary SEO agency before signing, warning signs to notice, and ways to review whether the promised work was completed.7 sections · last reviewed
- Which AI crawlers should you allow?A guide to OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, GPTBot, and Google-Extended, including live search, training, and robots.txt choices.7 sections · last reviewed
- How to rank in the Google map pack in CalgaryHow Calgary map results are shaped by proximity, relevance, and prominence, with practical context on which local factors a business can influence.7 sections · last reviewed
- Not showing up on Google Maps in CalgarySix reasons a Calgary business may be missing from Google Maps, arranged in a useful checking order with fixes owners can review themselves.6 sections · last reviewed
- How to show up in AI answers in CalgaryHow AI assistants identify businesses, which website and source details you can improve, and how to review whether your information is being surfaced.6 sections · last reviewed
- Do I need a website with a Business Profile?When a Google Business Profile may suit a Calgary business, when a website adds useful context, and how the two sources work together.5 sections · last reviewed
- How to get more Google reviewsHow to ask for Google reviews within platform rules, respond to difficult feedback, and understand what review count can and cannot tell you.6 sections · last reviewed
- Your Google Business Profile is suspendedCommon causes of Google Business Profile suspension, the reinstatement process, and what video verification may ask a Calgary service-area business to show.5 sections · last reviewed
- NAP consistency and local citationsWhat local citations are, which Calgary listings may matter, and how consistent business name, address, and phone details support local information.6 sections · last reviewed
- Google Search Console for ownersA practical guide to Google Search Console: useful reports, search queries, pages, and ways to read the data before changing your website.6 sections · last reviewed
- Service areas, without fake location pagesHow Calgary service-area businesses can cover real areas without thin suburb pages, using useful website content and accurate profile details.5 sections · last reviewed
- What an SEO expert in Calgary actually doesWhat a Calgary SEO expert may handle month to month, what to ask before hiring one, and how to assess the work behind a monthly report.6 sections · last reviewed
- What an SEO audit should cover in CalgaryWhat a useful SEO audit checks, how to read its findings, and why an honest audit cannot promise or report one permanent Google position.5 sections · last reviewed
- Is SEO worth it for a small business in Calgary?Is small business SEO worth the spend in Calgary? Compare contribution margin, base and downside scenarios, and the website fixes to consider first.6 sections · last reviewed
- What is actually in an SEO package?What a Calgary SEO package can include each month, how to question filler line items, and which measures help compare two service plans.5 sections · last reviewed
- Local SEO agency, freelancer, or developer?How a Calgary local SEO agency differs from a marketer, freelancer, or web developer, and how to choose the type of help your business needs.5 sections · last reviewed
Common questions
Do I have to hire anyone to use these?
No. Every guide is written so you can do the thing yourself, in the order that matters, without buying anything. If you read one and fix your own site, that's a good outcome — it's also the fastest way to find out whether you actually need help.
How do I know these are current?
Each guide carries a last-reviewed date at the top, and we move it when we re-check the content rather than when we touch the file. Local search changes in specific places — a Google feature is retired, a crawler is renamed — and where guidance has changed we rewrite the section instead of adding a note at the bottom.
Is this Calgary-specific or generic advice with a city name added?
Calgary-specific where the city actually changes the answer, and honest about where it doesn't. The map pack, the categories your competitors use and the seasonal demand curves are local. How a title tag works is not, and we don't pretend otherwise to make a page look more local than it is.
What's the difference between a guide and a service page?
A guide answers a question you have before you've decided to hire anyone. A service page explains what we'd do if you did. The guides are deliberately the more useful of the two if you never contact us.
Or just run the check and skip the reading.
Nine automated tests against your live site, about thirty seconds, no email.