Greg Ichshenko

Calgary SEO expert and digital marketing specialist,
developing advertising strategies for businesses of all sizes

(403) 308-5949

greg@to-the-top.ca
1509 14 Ave SW, Calgary,
AB T3C 0W4

    Submit your request or question, and I will get back
    to you shortly

    How SEO Helps Roofing Companies Win More Local Leads

    SEO helps roofing companies win more local leads by putting them in front of homeowners at the moment they search for a roofer, in the Google map results and in the ordinary listings beneath them. Those searches come from people who already have a leak, a hail claim or a quote to collect, so being visible at that moment puts you in front of homeowners who are already comparing contractors. For most roofers the work runs in this order: a complete Google Business Profile, a steady flow of genuine reviews, one page for each roofing service and area, consistent business details across directories, and links from local sources.

    Roofing company website appearing in local search results on mobile device

    Where roofing leads come from in search

    A search such as “roof repair Calgary” or “roofer near me” usually shows paid ads at the top, then the map pack, a block of three businesses from Google Maps with their ratings and phone numbers, and then the organic results. The map pack is where many roofing calls start, because a homeowner can tap the phone number without ever visiting a website. The organic results matter more for researched jobs, such as a full replacement or a switch to metal, where the homeowner reads a few sites before asking for quotes.

    (more…)

    What Is High Quality Content for SEO?

    Somebody reviewed your page and told you it needed to be higher quality. You asked what that meant. The answer came back as a checklist you had already read on three other sites.

    High quality content for SEO is content that would score High on the Page Quality scale in Google’s rater guidelines. Clear purpose. Visible effort. Something original in it, signed by a party a reader can place.

    (more…)

    How to Redesign a Website Without Losing SEO

    Website redesign SEO mistakes happen more often than most business owners expect. We have seen the damage firsthand. The call comes in about six weeks after the new site goes live. “Organic visits dropped 40 percent. We have no idea why.”

    A site overhaul launched without preparation is almost always the cause. Keyword positions built over three or four years. Gone inside a month.

    (more…)

    How to Generate Leads in Google Local Services Ads

    To generate leads in Google Local Services Ads, get your business through Google’s screening so it carries the Google Verified badge, list every job type you do and the areas you will actually serve, set a weekly budget with the “Maximize leads” bid mode Google recommends, and build a profile with reviews and real photos. After that, answer every call and message quickly. Google ranks these ads in an auction that weighs your bid together with how likely your ad is to produce a lead and the quality of your profile, so responsiveness, reviews and profile quality count alongside your bid.

    This guide reflects Google’s help pages as they read on October 30, 2026, including the Canadian versions where Google publishes one. A great deal of what is written about Local Services Ads predates the badge change Google made in 2025, so it is worth checking any guide you rely on against the current rules.

    (more…)

    What Does PPC Stand For? Pay-Per-Click Meaning Explained

    PPC stands for pay-per-click, an online advertising model in which the advertiser pays when someone clicks the ad rather than when the ad is shown. Under click-based bidding, simply showing the ad costs nothing, and the advertiser is billed when someone clicks it. Google’s own Help page puts it this way: “CPC pricing is sometimes known as pay-per-click (PPC).” In Canada the same three letters also stand for the People’s Party of Canada, a federal political party, which is covered briefly further down, but this page is about the advertising meaning.

    Illustration of a person clicking a link on a laptop, shown as a paper plane leaving the screen

    How the pay-per-click charge works

    On a platform such as Google Ads, the advertiser chooses the searches or audiences an ad should reach and sets a budget. Every time an ad space becomes available, Google runs an auction among the eligible ads, and the advertiser is charged only if the ad wins a place and someone clicks it. With manual bidding, the advertiser sets a maximum cost per click, which Google describes as the most you will typically be charged, and the actual charge is often lower. Google says you pay only what is needed to clear the Ad Rank thresholds and beat the Ad Rank of the advertiser directly below you, and that if no one below you has cleared the thresholds, you pay the reserve price instead. Because that comparison is made fresh in each auction, the price of a click changes from one search to the next.

    (more…)

    Why Is SEO Important for Ecommerce and What Happens Without It

    Organic search sends shoppers who are already looking to buy. Budgets run dry sometimes. Paid ads stop cold the moment that happens. SEO keeps working long after that, quietly, in the background.

    A store skipping SEO leans entirely on ads or existing brand recognition. Neither scales cheaply. Both get more expensive every year as competitors bid on the same keywords.

    (more…)

    What Is PAA in SEO?

    PAA stands for People Also Ask. It is the box of questions sitting partway down a Google results page. Click one and it opens into a short answer, lifted off somebody’s website, with a link back to it.

    The standard advice is sound. Find the questions. Answer them plainly, keep the answer tight, put it under a heading that matches. All of that works, and this site covers it properly elsewhere, so none of it gets repeated here. Nor does the other half, where those questions get harvested as topics for your keyword research. Good practice, and well documented.

    (more…)

    What to Avoid in an SEO Company: 9 Warning Signs

    The things to avoid in an SEO company fall into two groups. Some show up in the sales pitch: guaranteed rankings, claims of a special relationship with Google, cold emails, and a refusal to explain what the work involves. Others only appear once the work starts, such as bought links, pages produced in bulk, accounts registered in the agency’s name, reports full of keywords nobody searches for, and a package that never changes. Google publishes its own advice on hiring an SEO, and most of this list comes straight from it.

    Google’s guidance on hiring an SEO is direct about where the risk sits. Its Do you need an SEO? page, last updated in June 2026, says that “you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire”. If the agency breaks Google’s rules, it is your domain that pays for it, and the agency can simply move on to its next client.

    (more…)

    What Is NLP in SEO? How Google Reads Meaning, Not Just Keywords

    NLP stands for natural language processing. Google’s algorithm leans on it to read a page closer to how a person would, not just how a machine scans text. Meaning over matching.

    That shift changed what counts as good SEO content. Stuffing a keyword into a page ten times used to work. Not anymore. There is a real gap now between a page that mentions a topic in passing and one that actually explains it.

    (more…)

    How to Do Keyword Research for Ecommerce and Actually Sell Something

    Ecommerce keyword research differs from standard SEO research in one critical way. Raw search volume matters far less than purchase intent. Two percent conversion on a smaller term beats zero point two percent on a bigger one, every time.

    Most stores chase volume first and profit second. Backwards, in practice.

    (more…)