GEO agency in Toronto: generative engine optimization for Canadian brands
When someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Copilot which firm, clinic or supplier to use, the answer names a handful of brands and cites a handful of sources. Generative engine optimization (GEO) is how you become one of them. GM Digital runs GEO programs for businesses in Toronto and across Canada, built on evidence about what these engines read and repeat.
Signs you need GEO
- AI tools describe your company inaccurately, or not at all
- Competitors are recommended for prompts where you are the stronger choice
- Your brand is rarely mentioned anywhere except your own website
- AI crawlers are blocked in robots.txt and nobody decided that on purpose
- You see AI referral traffic in analytics but cannot explain where it comes from
Models repeat what the web already says about you
A generative engine does not rank ten links. It retrieves a set of pages it considers relevant and trustworthy, reads them, and writes one answer. Your brand shows up when those pages mention you, and it shows up favourably when they describe you clearly and consistently.
So GEO is partly about your own site and largely about everything else. On your site: pages that state plainly what you do, for whom and where, with facts an engine can quote and structured data that confirms them. Off your site: industry directories, review platforms, news coverage, partner pages, comparison articles and community discussions where your name appears next to the service you want to be known for.
Rankings still matter, because engines lean on search indexes to find their sources. That is why we run GEO together with SEO and answer engine optimization rather than as a separate project.
Generative engine optimization services
AI visibility audit
We run the prompts your buyers use across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Google’s AI Overviews and record who is mentioned, who is cited and how your brand is described.
Entity and brand clarity
One consistent description of your business, services, locations and people across your site, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, directories and schema, so engines stop guessing.
Citable content
Pages built to be quoted: definitions, comparisons, pricing explanations, original data and expert commentary, each with a clear author and date.
Source and mention building
Placement in the directories, publications and list articles that engines already cite in your category, earned through digital PR, partnerships and useful contributions rather than paid link schemes.
Crawler access and technical setup
A deliberate robots.txt policy for GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot and Google-Extended, content that crawlers can read without running scripts, and clean structured data.
Tracking and reporting
A fixed prompt set tracked every month for mentions, citations and sentiment, alongside AI referral traffic and enquiries in analytics.
A GEO program in four stages
Baseline
Prompt testing across the major engines to show where you stand against named competitors.
Fix the facts
Correct and align what your own properties say about you, then open the right crawlers.
Earn the sources
Content and outreach aimed at the pages engines cite most often in your category.
Measure
Monthly re-tests on the same prompts, so progress is comparable rather than anecdotal.
Canadian businesses in considered-purchase markets
GEO matters most where buyers ask for a shortlist: legal services, healthcare, real estate, hospitality, B2B technology and manufacturing. We are based in the Greater Toronto Area and take on clients anywhere in Canada. AI answers vary by location, so we test prompts with the city and province modifiers that match where your customers are.
Generative engine optimization questions
What is generative engine optimization?
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the practice of improving how often and how accurately a brand is mentioned, cited and recommended in answers written by AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Google’s AI Overviews.
Is GEO different from SEO?
Yes, though they overlap. SEO targets positions in search results. GEO targets inclusion in AI-written answers, which depends on brand mentions across the web, clear entity information and citable content as well as rankings.
Can you guarantee ChatGPT will recommend us?
No, and nobody honestly can. AI answers vary by prompt, location and model version. What we can do is raise the share of relevant prompts where you appear and show the change with repeatable monthly tests.
How long does GEO take?
Fixes to your own site and crawler access can change how engines with live search describe you within weeks. Building third-party mentions takes longer; expect three to six months for a clear shift.
Should we allow AI crawlers on our site?
For most businesses that want AI visibility, yes for search crawlers such as OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot. Whether to allow training crawlers is a business decision. We set out the options and implement the policy you choose.
Do we need an llms.txt file?
It does no harm and takes minutes, but the major engines have not confirmed that they use it. We treat it as optional and put the effort into content, mentions and crawler access.
Find out what AI says about your business
A free baseline: the prompts that matter in your market, which brands the engines name, and where you stand today.