Answers to the questions we get most.

4Q Consultancy offers seven core digital marketing services: Website Design, SEO (including AEO and GEO), Paid Advertising, Web Presence Management, Social Media Management, Digital Strategy, and Branding. Most clients combine two or more into a monthly retainer.

AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) is the practice of structuring content so AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews cite your brand in their answers. GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) builds entity authority across the web so your brand appears consistently in AI-generated summaries. Traditional SEO focuses on search engine rankings; AEO and GEO focus on how AI surfaces information — an increasingly important distinction as more searches happen through AI tools.

Yes. 4Q offers a full suite of digital marketing services under one roof — strategy, web design, SEO, paid advertising, social media, and branding. You brief one agency, get one coherent strategy, and see one clear report. No coordinating between three separate vendors who do not talk to each other.

Both, depending on your needs. We build on WordPress, Webflow, and fully custom HTML/CSS/JS. We recommend the platform that gives you the best performance, lowest maintenance cost, and easiest self-management for your team — not the one that's easiest for us to build on.

Retainer services start from $1,000/month. Most clients invest between $2,000 and $5,000/month for a multi-channel retainer covering SEO, paid advertising, and content. Every engagement receives an itemised proposal after a discovery call — no vague ranges, no hidden fees.

A professionally designed website from 4Q starts at $3,500 for a lean, high-performance site. Most small business websites land between $5,000 and $12,000 depending on the number of pages, custom functionality, and content requirements. E-commerce sites and large multi-service websites are scoped individually after a discovery call.

SEO retainers at 4Q start at $1,000/month for a focused single-channel engagement. A comprehensive SEO programme covering technical optimisation, content, and local search typically runs $1,500 to $3,000/month. Competitive markets like Toronto and Calgary may require higher investment to compete effectively against established players.

Our retainers run month-to-month after an initial 3-month commitment. The 3-month minimum ensures enough time to implement changes and see meaningful early results. We believe results keep clients, not contracts.

Both. Website builds and brand identity packages are one-time projects with a fixed scope and price. SEO, paid advertising, social media, and web presence management are retainer services — they require ongoing work to deliver compounding results.

Most websites take 4 to 8 weeks from kick-off to launch. A lean 5-page business site can be completed in 3 to 4 weeks. Larger sites with custom functionality, content writing requirements, or e-commerce can take 8 to 12 weeks. We provide a realistic project timeline in your proposal before work begins.

Yes. Every website we build includes on-page SEO fundamentals as standard: semantic HTML structure, optimised title tags and meta descriptions, proper heading hierarchy, fast load times, structured data, and a clean URL architecture. SEO is built in, not bolted on after launch.

Yes. We build sites so you can manage them without a developer. WordPress and Webflow sites include a training session and documentation. For custom-coded sites, we set up a simple content management layer and provide clear instructions for making common updates like adding pages, updating text, or publishing blog posts.

Technical SEO fixes — speed, indexing, structured data, broken links — can improve rankings within 4 to 8 weeks. Content and authority building compounds over time, with meaningful organic traffic growth typically visible at the 3 to 6 month mark. AEO citation appearances in AI answer tools can happen faster, sometimes within weeks of publishing well-structured content.

Local SEO focuses on ranking for searches with a geographic intent — "digital marketing agency Calgary" or "accountant near me." It involves optimising your Google Business Profile, building local citations, earning reviews, and targeting location-specific keywords. Regular (national or organic) SEO targets broader queries without location signals. Most local businesses need both working together.

Yes. Google Business Profile management is part of our Web Presence Management service. This includes profile optimisation, regular posting, review response, Q&A management, and citation building across directories — everything needed to rank in Google's local map pack.

Google Ads campaigns can generate clicks and leads within the first week of going live. However, Google's machine learning needs 2 to 4 weeks of data to optimise bidding effectively. We typically see the best cost-per-lead results after the first 6 to 8 weeks as the algorithm learns your audience and your budget is deployed without wasted spend.

We recommend a minimum monthly ad spend of $1,000 in smaller markets, and $1,500 to $2,500 for competitive markets like Toronto or Calgary. Ad spend is separate from management fees. Running below these thresholds typically results in too few clicks to gather meaningful data or generate consistent leads.

Google Ads captures existing demand — people actively searching for what you offer. Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) creates demand by reaching people who are not yet looking but match your target profile. For most service businesses, Google Ads delivers faster, more predictable results. For e-commerce, brand awareness, or reaching specific demographics, Meta can be more cost-effective. Many businesses benefit from both running simultaneously with coordinated messaging.

Yes. The majority of our clients are Canadian businesses. We understand Canadian consumer behaviour, regional market differences, and the competitive landscape across major cities including Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, and Edmonton. We know that a strategy that works in Toronto may need to be rethought entirely for a B2B business in Calgary's energy sector.

Yes. We actively serve businesses in Calgary, Toronto, and across Canada. Toronto is one of the most competitive digital marketing markets in North America — we help businesses compete without outspending everyone. In Calgary, we have specific experience with the energy sector, professional services, and the growing Platform District tech ecosystem.

We work with Canadian businesses across professional services, real estate, health and wellness, technology, e-commerce, trades and home services, financial services, and energy-adjacent businesses. We do not specialise in a single vertical — our strength is applying rigorous digital marketing principles to whatever market your business operates in.

After signing, you receive an onboarding questionnaire covering your brand, goals, existing digital assets, and competitors. Within the first week, we hold a kick-off call and deliver a 30-day plan. Ongoing: weekly async updates and a monthly video call with reporting and next steps. You always know what was done, what is next, and what it produced.

We track metrics tied to your actual business goals — leads generated, cost per lead, revenue influenced, organic traffic growth, or e-commerce revenue — not vanity metrics like impressions or follower counts. Every monthly report shows what moved, why it moved, and what we are doing next.

You work directly with a senior strategist — not a junior account manager or an outsourced team. We keep client numbers deliberately low so the people who understand your business are the ones doing the work, not handing it off after the kick-off call.

Yes. We work with businesses at all stages, from pre-revenue startups building their first website to established companies scaling their paid advertising spend. Services are scoped to your goals and budget, and we will tell you honestly if you are not yet at the stage where a particular service will generate meaningful returns.

Yes. We are a remote-first global agency with clients across North America, the UK, and the Caribbean. Being remote-first means we have built our communication and delivery processes around async collaboration and structured reporting — which often means clients get better visibility than with an agency they meet in person once a quarter.