You don’t need to become an SEO expert. You need customers to find you.
If you own a business, you probably aren’t waking up thinking about keywords and backlinks. You want the phone to ring, appointments to be booked and inquiries to become customers.
Imagine someone needs a dentist in Ottawa. They ask Google or ChatGPT which practices accept new patients, offer evening appointments or provide a particular treatment. Your practice might fit. Can they find that information?
A website isn’t Field of Dreams. Building it doesn’t guarantee people will come.
Most owners concentrate on work they understand. SEO can feel unfamiliar, so it gets put aside. Here’s how its pieces connect to the outcome you care about: new business.
1. Understand what SEO does
Search engine optimization, or SEO, helps people find your website in unpaid search results. You don’t pay Google for each organic click, although doing the work takes time and resources.
There are three connected parts:
- Technical SEO: Can search engines access your pages, and can customers use them?
- On-page SEO: Does your content answer what people need to know?
- Off-page SEO: What do relevant websites, listings and other sources say about your business?
Visibility in AI answers is often called answer engine optimization (AEO) or generative engine optimization (GEO). Much of the groundwork overlaps with SEO, but a strong Google ranking doesn’t guarantee an AI recommendation.
2. Find SEO keywords in customer questions
Ask your front desk what prospective patients want to know:
- Are you accepting new patients?
- Can you help with a dental emergency?
- Do you provide sedation or care for children?
- What happens at the first appointment?
- What should I know about costs and insurance?
- Is parking available?
These questions are content ideas with a purpose. Someone searching “dentist accepting new patients Ottawa” may be ready to book.
This is where Ottawa SEO becomes practical: help nearby people find accurate information about a service they need. Start with one important service and its customer questions, rather than repeating a keyword throughout the page.
3. Investigate the sources cited in AI search
Try those questions in Google and AI search tools. Then open the cited sources.
You may find directories, independent articles, “best” lists or competitors’ own websites. Who published each page? What does it explain? Which businesses appear? Does it answer something your website overlooks?
Don’t dismiss a listicle because it looks promotional. An Ahrefs study found “best X” lists frequently among sources for selected commercial prompts. Equally, don’t assume publishing one guarantees results.
The information available and retrieved helps shape an answer. Investigate the actual sources for the question instead of deciding in advance which format you need.
Repeat important searches and record the question, tool and date. Results vary. A citation is a clue, not proof that a headline caused selection or that the publisher’s business was recommended.
4. Give your website enough room to answer
A five-page website may struggle to explain a practice with several services, experienced staff and years of patient questions.
Your website should be as substantial as the information customers need. That may mean service pages, team profiles, appointment information and explanations of common concerns.
Check existing pages first. Improve a weak page when it already addresses the subject. Create a new one when there is a genuine gap. Avoid near-identical pages for every keyword or neighbourhood.
Missing answers can make it harder for customers and search tools to understand your business. There is no magic page count, and even comprehensive information cannot guarantee a recommendation.
Use clear titles and headings. Link related pages so people can explore the subject. Then make calling or requesting an appointment easy.
5. Show experience and expertise with E-E-A-T
Local businesses can’t rely on journalists and bloggers to explain everything they offer. Earning relevant links and coverage can be difficult.
Sometimes you have to beat your own chest. If you don’t explain what your business does well, no one else is going to do it for you.
Give people reasons to choose you. Explain your experience, approach, services and practical strengths. A “Why choose us?” page can bring that story together, with supporting detail on the service pages.
Google’s E-E-A-T framework helps explain the evidence:
- Experience: Relevant firsthand knowledge.
- Expertise: The knowledge and skills the subject requires.
- Authoritativeness: Being a credible source on that subject.
- Trustworthiness: Accurate, honest and dependable information.
E-E-A-T is not a single ranking factor or a score you can buy. Google says trust is central.
Introduce the team and relevant qualifications, subject to the profession’s advertising rules. Describe how the practice works. Have appropriate experts review health information. AI can organize your knowledge, but it must not invent experience or credentials.
There are also industry rules. Ontario’s RCDSO guidance restricts dental comparisons, implied superiority and testimonials in advertising. A dentist can describe verified hours, languages, accessibility and services without claiming to be “the best.” The dentist remains responsible for agency-written copy.
For other businesses, a comparison or listicle mentioning competitors may be appropriate when it answers buyers’ questions. Identify the publisher, apply fair criteria and support claims. Canadian advertising rules still prohibit materially misleading impressions. Your business-written list should not masquerade as an independent ranking.
6. Remove obstacles between finding you and contacting you
Open your website on your phone. Can you find a service, tap the number and complete an appointment request?
Fix broken pages, confusing navigation, slow loading and failed forms. Prioritize problems affecting inquiries rather than chasing a perfect technical score.
Set up Google Search Console, Google’s free search-performance tool. It helps you investigate whether important pages are indexed, meaning included in Google’s searchable collection. A sitemap can help Google discover pages but doesn’t guarantee inclusion.
For eligible local businesses, keep the Google Business Profile accurate. Use the real business name, address, category, hours and contact details. Local results also depend on distance; adding neighbourhood names won’t make a clinic equally visible everywhere.
Build relevant mentions through genuine associations, partnerships and community involvement. Follow professional rules around reviews and patient privacy. Generic marketing advice doesn’t always apply to dentistry.
7. Maintain existing pages, not just new ones
Imagine a 50-page website with pages untouched for years. Meanwhile, staff, services and customer questions have changed.
An old page attracts little attention, so nobody reviews it. The business moves forward while its website falls behind.
Review important pages regularly. Check accuracy, unanswered questions, links and appointment options. Assign responsibility and record meaningful changes. You don’t have to rewrite all 50 pages at once.
Google revisits some pages more often than others. Update frequency is one consideration, but low traffic doesn’t mean Google stops visiting. Changing a date or a few words doesn’t guarantee more crawling or better rankings.
Improve pages because customers need better information. If an important update seems missed, investigate it in Search Console. Other AI systems retrieve and refresh information differently.
8. Measure SEO through calls, inquiries and customers
Search Console shows impressions, clicks, queries and pages attracting attention. An impression is an appearance in search results, not a visit.
You can review the report yourself or use AI to help sort a large export. Compare matching periods and filters, then ask: “Which relevant searches gained impressions without gaining clicks? Show the supporting rows and suggest three things to investigate.” Tell it which services matter to your business.
Use a tool approved for the data, check its privacy settings and leave patient information out. Verify sample rows and calculations against Search Console. AI can surface patterns, but a pattern alone doesn't explain its cause. Inspect the page and search results before deciding what to change.
Separately, monitor a consistent selection of AI questions, business mentions and citations.
Then connect visibility to outcomes:
- Calls and qualified inquiries
- Appointment requests and bookings
- New customers and revenue, where reasonably measurable
Ask people how they found you. Referral data helps, but it won’t capture everyone who discovers you online and later phones directly.
Start with one service and one useful page. Record your changes and review progress over time. SEO can take weeks or months, and nobody can guarantee first place.
Your business already has knowledge customers need. Make it findable, understandable and useful when they’re deciding whom to contact.
Getting useful AI help takes practice: ask a focused question, check the answer and review what happened. Salient AI offers recurring AI coaching to help you build that routine around real business tasks and catch avoidable mistakes earlier. Explore our SEO services and local SEO support.
Written from Stephen Lau’s experience and point of view, with AI-assisted research, editorial production and illustrations.