Local SEO · Ottawa–Gatineau
Local SEO for Ottawa–Gatineau businesses.
Show up in the map when someone nearby searches for what you do, on both sides of the river, in English and French. We do the work our local SEO guide teaches, on your profile and your site.
From $999 / month · quoted after your audit · no long-term contract
How the map works
You can't buy a better spot
Most local searches show a map of three businesses before the regular results. Google ranks that map on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Confirmed–Google
Google is blunt about the rest: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." So the work is making your profile and your site the most complete, relevant and trusted answer near the searcher. Confirmed–Google
Source: Google Business Profile Help · Tips to improve your local ranking
What local searchers see
The map is on every local search we checked
We looked at 39 common service searches across the region, from "plumber ottawa" to "notaire gatineau." Tested by us
39 of 39
Showed the map box
20 Ottawa searches in English and 19 Gatineau searches, 17 of them in French. Together, about 40,000 searches a month.
5 of 39
Had a Reddit thread as the top regular result
Plumbers, mechanics, landscapers and cleaners: neighbours asking for recommendations, ranked above the businesses' own websites.
1 of 39
Showed an AI Overview
Only "dentiste gatineau." For local services, the map still matters far more than AI answers, at least for now.
How we checked: Semrush Canada database, results-page features for 40 searches on Oct 20, 2026 (no data for one). One snapshot per search, not a live check from every neighbourhood.
What we do
The work, in order
1. Your Google Business Profile
Claimed, verified and complete: your real business name, as few and as specific categories as possible, hours, services and real photos of your work. We fix what breaks Google's guidelines before it gets the profile suspended.
2. Address or service area
Storefronts show their address. Businesses that go to customers hide it and list the areas they actually serve, within Google's limit of about two hours' drive. No virtual offices and no mailbox "locations."
3. An honest review routine
A simple way to ask every customer for a review, the same day, and to reply to every review you get. No incentives, no filtering out unhappy customers, and no staff reviews: Google bans all three, and Canada's Competition Bureau has warned about undisclosed employee reviews.
4. A website that backs up the profile
The same name and phone on every page, one page per service, pages for the areas you really work in, and LocalBusiness schema that matches what's on the page.
5. Listings cleanup
Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and the old directory listings that still show your previous phone or address.
6. English and French
French pages that match the English ones in quality, so you reach customers who search in French on the Gatineau side and across the region.
7. Measure calls, not rankings
Profile calls, direction requests and website clicks, phone taps on your site, and where your leads came from, read with you every month.
Source: Google Business Profile Help · Guidelines for representing your business on Google
Who it's for
Businesses that serve people nearby
Shops, clinics, offices, trades and mobile services anywhere in the National Capital Region, from Kanata to Orléans and from Hull to Aylmer. It isn't for online-only businesses; for those, start with SEO.
Prefer to do it yourself? The local SEO guide has every step, with sources, free.
What we won't do
- Promise the map pack or page one. Nobody controls that.
- Stuff keywords or city names into your business name.
- Set up fake or virtual-office locations.
- Buy, filter or write reviews.
Common questions
Before you call
How long does local SEO take?
A complete, accurate Business Profile can show changes sooner than most SEO work. Reviews, listings and local pages build over months. Google's own hiring advice says SEOs usually "need four months to a year" to make improvements and see results. Anyone promising the map pack in weeks is guessing.
Source: Maile Ohye, Google · How to hire an SEO (video) · Feb 2017
I work from home. Can I still show up in the map?
Yes. If you go to your customers, you're a service-area business. Google tells service-area businesses to hide their address and set the areas they serve instead. We set that up and keep your home address off the profile and your website.
Source: Google Business Profile Help · Guidelines for representing your business
I'm in Orléans. Can you get me into the map in Kanata?
Not reliably, and nobody honest will promise it. Distance is one of the three things Google ranks the map on, and you can't change where the searcher is standing. What reaches further is your website's regular search results, which aren't tied to the map. That's where local pages for the areas you actually serve come in.
Source: Google Business Profile Help · Tips to improve your local ranking
Do I need a French website for Gatineau customers?
If your business has a Quebec address, Quebec's language rules apply to your website, and the local SEO guide explains them. If you're on the Ontario side and want Gatineau customers, French pages are how you reach people who search in French. Either way, the French has to be as good as the English.
Read: Local SEO guide · Step 6, English and French
What does it cost?
Local SEO starts at $999 a month, in Canadian dollars, quoted after the free audit because the work depends on what the audit finds. No long-term contract: leave any time with 30 days' notice.
Start with a free audit.
It covers your Business Profile, your listings and your site, whether or not you hire us.
// three fields · no card · no contract