The AI assistant powering your operations can also help you get discovered by AI—here's the complete playbook.
If you run a business in Edmonton, Claude isn't just a tool you can use—it's a platform where you want to be found.
This distinction matters. While most business owners think of Claude as a helpful assistant for drafting content or analyzing data, there's a bigger opportunity: making sure Claude (and other AI systems) recommends your business when Edmonton customers ask questions like "best [your service] near me."
This article covers both sides of the equation. First, how to effectively leverage Claude in your business operations. Second—and this is where it gets interesting—how to optimize your business so AI systems like Claude cite, reference, and recommend you.
Let's dig in.
Part 1: Using Claude Effectively in Your Edmonton Business
Claude is an AI assistant from Anthropic that businesses can adopt for tasks like content drafting, document summarization, data analysis, and customer communication. But here's what most Edmonton business owners get wrong: they treat it like a generic tool rather than training it to understand their specific context.
Step 1: Choose the Right Plan
For business use, you'll likely need Claude's Team or Enterprise plan rather than the free individual version. Key considerations include signing up with a business email (not personal accounts like Gmail) and setting up a separate "organization" for your business. Make sure you comply with Canadian data privacy regulations, especially if you're uploading sensitive business documents.
Step 2: Provide Rich Business Context
The difference between generic AI output and genuinely useful business content comes down to context. Instead of just uploading your website and asking for ideas, prepare a structured document that clearly states:
What your business does — The specific problem you solve for Edmonton customers
Who your ideal customers are — Demographics, pain points, and local considerations
Why customers choose you — Your competitive advantage in the Edmonton market
Your brand voice — Tone, style, and communication preferences
Upload this context into a Claude Project workspace, then test by asking Claude to explain what makes your business different. If the output sounds generic, refine your context document until Claude's responses feel authentically you.
Step 3: Integrate Claude Into Your Local Workflow
Identify key operations that would benefit from AI assistance:
Content creation — Blog posts targeting Edmonton customers, social media content, email campaigns
Customer support — Draft responses that maintain your brand voice while handling common inquiries
Report summarization — Condense market research, financial reports, and operational data
Local market content — Create materials that resonate with Alberta-specific context and language
Train your staff on effective prompting. The goal is outputs that require minimal editing—content that sounds like your business wrote it because, in a sense, it did.
Step 4: Make Your Business "Claude-Ready" for Local Context
Since you're operating in Edmonton, consider:
Local business details — Ensure Claude understands your address, service area, and regional positioning
Edmonton-specific data — Upload local market research, customer feedback, and regional language nuances
Canadian compliance — Verify your Claude usage aligns with Alberta data privacy requirements
Brand positioning — Articulate specifics like "We serve Edmonton's tech startups" or "We're the go-to for small businesses in the River Valley area"
Part 2: Getting Your Business Into Claude's Answers
Here's where the real opportunity lies. Using Claude is table stakes. Getting Claude to recommend your business when Edmonton customers ask questions? That's the competitive advantage.
This emerging discipline is called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)—the practice of optimizing your business's digital presence so AI systems cite, reference, and recommend you in their generated answers.
Why GEO Matters for Edmonton Businesses
Traditional search sends you a list of links. AI search generates direct answers—often without linking anywhere. Research suggests that 78-99% of AI queries never send traffic to any website. The AI just answers the question.
But the traffic that does come through is extremely high-intent. These are customers who've been pre-qualified by the AI's recommendation. They're not browsing—they're ready to act.
For Edmonton businesses, the opportunity is significant because most local competitors haven't started thinking about GEO yet. Early movers will capture disproportionate visibility in AI-generated recommendations.
How AI Decides Who to Recommend
When you ask Claude or ChatGPT for a business recommendation, the system learns from user interactions over time. If users click through to a recommended business and stay—reading content, exploring pages, taking action—that's a positive signal. If users bounce back immediately, that's negative feedback.
This reinforcement learning loop means AI engines favor businesses that satisfy users. Not businesses with the most keywords or biggest ad budgets—businesses that actually deliver what customers want.
The spectrum of user satisfaction signals ranges from negative (short click-backs, query reformulation) to positive (long dwell time, scrolling engagement, sharing and bookmarking). Your website's user experience directly impacts whether AI will recommend you.
The GEO Tools Landscape: What's Available in 2025
The good news: you don't have to figure this out manually. A growing ecosystem of GEO tools helps businesses track their AI visibility, identify optimization opportunities, and measure progress.
Search Party
Search Party recently launched with $3.5 million in funding to help brands track and control how they appear in answer engines like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. What sets it apart is that it goes beyond surface-level analytics to reveal the sources shaping AI perceptions, then activates autonomous workflows to influence those sources.
Key capability: Reveals where AI sources its answers, then generates strategies and content to influence those sources. "AI models respond to the signals we feed them," notes co-founder Ryan Brown. "We give brands the technical visibility to see which sources shape those signals and the tools to influence them."
Best for: Mid-market and enterprise teams looking to influence how their brand is perceived in AI answers.
Peec AI
Peec AI delivers instant visibility alerts and citation tracking across AI search engines. Its simplicity and speed make it particularly valuable for companies that need agility. The platform tracks brand mentions across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini with query-level detail.
Key capability: AI Visibility Dashboard with real-time tracking and competitive benchmarking.
Best for: Teams wanting straightforward visibility monitoring with actionable insights.
Goodie AI
Goodie AI has established itself as a comprehensive end-to-end GEO platform. It offers AI visibility monitoring across all major LLMs, content optimization recommendations, and an AI Content Writer that identifies gaps and creates optimized content specifically for AI consumption.
Key capability: Connects visibility data with real workflows—from insights to action.
Best for: Brands wanting both monitoring and hands-on tools to improve performance.
Semrush AI Toolkit
If you're already using Semrush for traditional SEO, their AI Toolkit extension lets you monitor how AI systems mention your brand. It measures how AI describes you, how you compare to competitors, and what AI prompts you're ranking for.
Key capability: Integration with existing SEO workflows—bridges traditional SEO and AI visibility.
Best for: Teams already invested in the Semrush ecosystem.
Otterly.AI
Otterly is particularly suitable for smaller businesses and startups focused primarily on monitoring. It offers AI visibility tracking, sentiment analysis, and citation monitoring at an accessible price point starting at $49/month.
Key capability: User-friendly interface with budget-friendly pricing.
Best for: Early-stage teams wanting to monitor AI mentions without enterprise complexity.
AthenaHQ
Founded by former Google Search and DeepMind team members, AthenaHQ provides comprehensive monitoring and actionable insights across generative engines. It allows brands to see their footprint across multiple AI platforms in real time.
Key capability: Technical depth from founders with search engine experience.
Best for: Enterprise organizations with substantial budgets seeking expert-driven optimization.
Ahrefs Brand Radar
Ahrefs brings its credibility in traditional SEO to AI search optimization. Their tools analyze visibility in both traditional and AI-driven search, helping adapt existing content for AI-generated responses.
Key capability: Market share and competitor analysis for AI mentions.
Best for: Blending traditional SEO insights with AI search performance.
The Edmonton GEO Checklist
Based on how these tools work and what AI systems prioritize, here's what Edmonton businesses should focus on:
1. Claim and Optimize Local Listings
Your Google Business Profile is essential, but AI systems pull from many sources. Ensure consistent presence on Yelp, Bing Places, local Edmonton directories, and industry-specific platforms. Critical: Your Name, Address, and Phone (NAP) must be exactly consistent across every listing.
2. Implement Structured Data
Add JSON-LD schema markup (LocalBusiness, Organization, FAQ) to your website. This tells AI systems exactly what you are, where you are, and what you do—in a language they understand.
3. Create Content That Answers Questions
Think about what Edmonton customers might ask AI:
- "What should I look for in an Edmonton [your service]?"
- "Best [your industry] companies in Edmonton"
- "How much does [your service] cost in Alberta?"
Create content that directly, comprehensively answers these questions.
4. Build External Authority
What others say about you matters more than what you say about yourself. Get mentioned on:
- Local business publications and Edmonton media
- Industry "best of" lists
- Partner and vendor directories
- Customer reviews on third-party platforms
5. Optimize for User Satisfaction
Once AI sends someone your way, everything depends on their experience. Fast-loading pages, clear content, mobile-friendly design, and easy-to-find contact information all contribute to the positive signals that reinforce AI's decision to recommend you.
How Agency7 Can Help
At Agency7.ca, we specialize in AI automation and web development for Edmonton businesses. Our approach combines both sides of the AI equation:
Using AI Effectively — We build custom AI solutions, automation systems, and workflows that help Edmonton businesses operate more efficiently. Our team understands how to leverage tools like Claude because we build with AI every day.
Getting Found by AI — We implement the technical foundations (schema markup, structured data, optimized content) that help your business appear in AI-generated recommendations. Our web development includes SEO and GEO best practices by default.
Ongoing Optimization — GEO isn't a one-time project. We provide maintenance and SEO services that keep your business visible as AI systems evolve.
Ready to Get Started?
We offer free consultations to assess your current AI capabilities—both how you're using AI tools and how AI tools are representing your business. Book a 15-minute discovery call to explore how we can help your Edmonton business thrive in the AI-first era.
The Bottom Line
Claude and other AI systems aren't just tools you use—they're platforms where your business needs to be visible. Edmonton businesses that master both sides of this equation (using AI effectively AND being recommended by AI) will outperform competitors who only focus on one.
The GEO tools now available make it possible to measure, track, and improve your AI visibility in ways that weren't possible even a year ago. Combined with a well-optimized website and consistent external presence, you can ensure that when Edmonton customers ask AI for recommendations, your business is part of the answer.
The technology is moving fast. The opportunity is now.
Agency7 is Edmonton's AI automation and web development agency. We help local businesses leverage AI technology to grow, automate, and thrive in the digital age. Learn more at agency7.ca