Best AEO Agency in Vancouver

Look, I'm going to be straight with you. If you're still thinking SEO alone is going to carry your business through 2025 and beyond, we need to talk.

I was chatting with a client last month who runs a mid-sized tech company in Yaletown. Smart guy, been doing solid SEO work for years. His organic traffic? Down 20%. His rankings? Actually up. What the hell happened?

Answer engines happened.

Here's What's Actually Going Down Right Now

People aren't clicking anymore. When Google shows an AI Overview, users click through to websites only about 8% of the time compared to 15% without one. And these AI-generated summaries are now appearing in roughly 18% of searches—that's nearly one in five queries where traditional SEO rankings barely matter.

ChatGPT hit 5.14 billion total visits in April 2025, up 182% year-over-year. People are literally bypassing Google entirely and asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude their questions. And you know what? Those AI tools are giving direct answers without sending anyone to your website.

This isn't some future trend—this is happening right now, in Vancouver, to businesses just like yours.

What Even Is AEO? (Without the Marketing BS)

Answer Engine Optimization is pretty straightforward: it's making sure that when someone asks an AI tool a question related to your business, your brand is the one that gets cited as the answer.

Not your competitor. Not some random blog from 2018. You.

It's different from SEO because you're not trying to rank #1 on a list of ten blue links. You're trying to be THE answer—the single source that AI models trust enough to quote when someone asks "who's the best [whatever you do] in Vancouver?"

Think of it this way: SEO is like competing to get your restaurant on the first page of Yelp. AEO is like having the AI concierge at every hotel in the city recommend your restaurant by name. Which one drives more business?

Why Vancouver Businesses Are Getting Left Behind

Vancouver's tech scene is competitive as hell. We've got over 1,000 startups, companies like Hootsuite and Later crushing it in their spaces, and a startup ecosystem that's second-largest in Canada.

But here's the problem: most businesses are still playing the old game.

Companies that established dedicated AEO strategies in early 2024 are capturing 3.4x more answer engine traffic compared to competitors who delayed implementation. That's not a small edge—that's a complete blowout.

And it gets worse. Most AI citations happen within 2-3 days of publishing content and can represent up to 2% of all citations in your niche. But this decays quickly, dropping to just 0.5% within 1-2 months. The window is narrow, and it's closing faster than you think.

What Actually Makes Specter Strategies Different (And No, It's Not Just "We're Really Good")

We've been doing this before it was trendy. While other agencies were still figuring out what AEO even meant, we were already optimizing content to get cited by AI models. We've seen what works and what's a complete waste of time.

We understand Vancouver's specific market. A generic AEO strategy from some agency in Toronto or LA isn't going to cut it. We know the Vancouver ecosystem: the industries that dominate here (fintech, gaming, real estate, SaaS), the local search patterns, and how BC consumers actually use AI search tools.

We're honest about what AEO can and can't do. It's not magic. You'll typically see initial results within 60-90 days, with substantial improvements appearing after 6-12 months of consistent effort. Anyone promising overnight results is lying to you.

We actually track the right metrics. Most agencies are still obsessing over keyword rankings and backlinks. Those matter, but they're not the whole story anymore. We track AI citation rates, featured snippet appearances, brand mentions in AI responses, and how often your content appears in tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity.

How We Actually Do This (The Real Process)

First, we audit where you currently stand. And honestly? For most businesses, the answer is "nowhere." If an AI doesn't know you exist, it's never going to recommend you. We find out exactly what these AI models are saying about your industry and whether you're part of that conversation.

Then we map out the questions your actual customers are asking. Not what you think they're asking but what they're actually typing into ChatGPT at 11pm when they're trying to solve a problem.

We restructure your content to answer these questions clearly and directly. AI models don't want flowery marketing copy. They want facts, they want structure, and they want to be able to trust what you're saying. We make your content citation-worthy.

On the technical side, we implement structured data, fix your site architecture, and make sure everything is formatted in a way that AI systems can easily parse and understand. It's unglamorous work, but it's what actually moves the needle.

And then we build your authority. We get your brand mentioned in the right places, create content that positions you as the expert, and make it impossible for AI models to talk about your industry in Vancouver without bringing up your name.

Real Talk About What This Costs (In Money and Time)

AEO isn't cheap, and it isn't fast. If you're looking for a $500/month package that's going to transform your business in 30 days, this isn't it.

Good AEO requires serious content work, technical implementation, ongoing monitoring, and consistent authority building. We're talking months of effort, not weeks.

But here's the thing: Stack Overflow saw an 18% drop in visits after ChatGPT became popular, but NerdWallet reported a 35% growth in revenue despite a 20% decrease in site traffic. The clicks might go down, but the quality of those clicks (and the brand awareness from being cited) can actually drive more business.

That Richmond-based manufacturer I mentioned earlier? They're now the company that Perplexity cites when people ask about specialized components. Their traffic is down 15%, but their qualified leads are up 40% because the people who do reach out already trust them based on the AI recommendation.

Industries Where AEO Is Make-or-Break

Tech and SaaS: If someone's asking "what's the best project management tool" or "how do I solve [technical problem]," you want to be the answer. Period.

Professional services (legal, accounting, consulting): These are high-value conversions. Being the firm that AI models cite as the Vancouver expert in your specialty is worth its weight in gold.

Real estate: People are absolutely using AI to research neighborhoods, property values, and market trends. If you're not showing up in those conversations, you're invisible.

E-commerce: Product recommendations and comparisons are some of the most common AI queries. Your products need to be part of that conversation.

Healthcare and wellness: People trust AI for health information (rightly or wrongly). If you're a clinic or practitioner, being cited by AI tools builds immediate credibility.

The Part Nobody Talks About: This Is Going to Get More Extreme

By 2025, over 50% of searches are expected to be AI-driven. We're not even at the halfway point yet, and the shift is already massive.

43% of users now turn to AI chatbots instead of Google for research queries. That's nearly half of all research traffic going to a completely different channel.

And it's not just search. It's voice assistants, it's AI agents that can complete tasks, it's the next generation of tools we haven't even seen yet. All of them will need authoritative sources to cite. The question is whether that source is you or your competitor.

Common Objections (And Why They're Wrong)

"My SEO is fine, why do I need this?" Because when AI Overviews appear, the click-through rate for the top organic result drops by 34.5%. Your rankings aren't protecting you anymore.

"Can't I just do this myself?" Maybe. If you've got the technical chops, the content expertise, the time, and the ability to stay on top of how AI systems are constantly evolving. Most businesses don't.

"This seems like a fad." So did mobile optimization in 2010. And video content in 2015. And voice search in 2018. The companies that moved early on those trends dominated. The ones that waited got left behind.

"What if AI search doesn't take off?" It already has. 34% of U.S. adults have used ChatGPT, roughly doubling since 2023. This isn't speculation—it's documented behavior change.

What Happens If You Don't Do This

Nothing dramatic. You won't wake up tomorrow and your business will be gone.

But slowly, over the next 12-24 months, you'll notice prospects mentioning your competitors more often. You'll see them get quoted in industry discussions while your name doesn't come up. You'll watch your qualified leads decline while your competitor's seem to be increasing.

And when you finally decide to fix it, you'll be playing catch-up against companies that have already built their authority with AI systems. It's possible to recover, but it's expensive and time-consuming.

Or you can get ahead of this now while there's still a first-mover advantage.

Let's Be Real About Next Steps

If you're reading this and thinking "okay, this actually matters for my business," here's what you should do:

Don't just hire the first agency that mentions AEO in their pitch. Ask them for specifics. How do they track AI citations? What tools do they use? Can they show you examples of clients who are actually being cited by AI platforms?

Look at their own content. Is their site structured for AEO? Are they practicing what they preach?

And honestly? Talk to us. Even if you don't hire Specter Strategies, we can at least give you an honest assessment of where you stand and what it would take to become a cited authority in your space.

Because here's the truth: in 2025, being invisible to AI is the same as being invisible to your customers. And no business can afford that.

Want to know where you currently stand with AI search engines? Let's audit your visibility and show you exactly what these AI tools are (or aren't) saying about your business. No BS, just data.