What is AI search optimization (GEO/AEO)?

AI search optimization, also called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) or Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), structures a website so AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews cite it when answering buyer questions. Arete offers it as a dedicated service.

How much does a website cost in Canada?

Cost depends on scope, from a focused redesign to a full custom build with SEO and ongoing marketing. Arete provides a clear fixed quote after a short discovery call.

Do you build on Shopify and WordPress?

Yes. Arete builds custom WordPress, Shopify, Shopify Plus, and WooCommerce stores, choosing the platform around your goals rather than a default.

Where is Arete Soft Labs located?

Arete has offices in Toronto (1 Yonge Street) and Ottawa (502 Langelier Avenue), and serves clients across Canada and the United States.

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B2B Web Design Agency · Toronto & Ottawa

We design, build & grow B2B websites.

Q: What industries does Arete Soft Labs work with?

We work with B2B clients across manufacturing and industrial, professional services, legal, finance and accounting, SaaS and technology, education and training, and wholesale and distribution, mostly in the $1M–$10M revenue range.

Arete Soft Labs is an award-winning B2B web design and digital marketing agency in Toronto and Ottawa. We craft high-performance websites and rank them across Google and AI search — engineered for qualified calls and quote requests.

Book a Free Consultation ↗See Our Work

★★★★★5.0 rating · 30+ awards · 1,000+ projects · reviewed on Clutch & Google

Trusted by ambitious B2B brands across North America

Bartell GlobalFence ArmorCanadian Down & FeatherWisdom EssentialsOpticannGenrep Bartell GlobalFence ArmorCanadian Down & FeatherWisdom EssentialsOpticannGenrep

Who We Are

Award-Winning Web Design & Digital Marketing Agency in Canada

Arete Soft Labs is a B2B web design and digital marketing agency based in Toronto and Ottawa. Since 2007 we've partnered with ambitious Canadian and US brands to design, build, migrate, and grow high-performance websites and online stores.

Our work combines considered design, robust WordPress and Shopify development, SEO, and AI-search optimization — delivered through pipeline-first foundations and continuous optimization to drive measurable, long-term growth.

Explore Our Work →

18yrs

Designing & building since 2007

1,000+

Projects delivered

30+

Industry awards

5.0★

Avg. client rating

Our Services

One system. Five ways we grow you.

B2B web design, ecommerce, marketing, and search — organized into the Arete system, so nothing falls between the cracks.

Arete Build

Sites engineered to convert, not just impress.

Conversion-first web design and custom WordPress development — fast, secure, and built to guide B2B buyers toward a call.

Web DesignUX/UIWordPressCustom Dev

Arete Commerce

Stores built to sell and easy to run.

Shopify, Shopify Plus, and WooCommerce builds and migrations — chosen around your goals, not a default platform.

Shopify PlusWooCommerceMigrations

Arete Amplify

Demand that's measured on revenue.

Google and Meta campaigns plus paid social — built to fill the pipeline with high-intent leads, not vanity metrics.

Google AdsMetaSocial

Arete Search

Be the answer — on Google and in AI.

Technical SEO, content, and AI-search optimization (GEO/AEO) that decides who gets found and cited now.

SEOGEO/AEOContent

Arete Care

Your site, always improving.

Ongoing support, maintenance, and conversion-rate optimization on a monthly retainer — so your site keeps getting sharper and safer after launch, not slowly out of date.

SupportMaintenanceCRORetainers

Our Work

B2B Web Design Case Studies

Proof over promises. We design, build, and grow sites across manufacturing, retail, and regulated industries — real metrics drop into each case below.

Manufacturing · Custom WordPress

Bartell Global

A global construction-equipment manufacturer needed one site to serve six product divisions and capture dealer and distributor leads worldwide. We unified the divisions under a single, fast, search-optimized WordPress build with clear paths to enquiry — giving buyers in every market a way to find the right product and get in touch quickly.

+00%

Lead capture

Divisions unified

00%

Faster load

Read case study →

Retail · Shopify Plus Migration

Canadian Down & Feather

A premium bedding brand replatformed to Shopify Plus for a faster, more refined buying experience. We migrated the catalogue with zero downtime, rebuilt the storefront around the buyer's path to checkout, and tuned performance so the site loads fast and converts — reflecting the quality of the products it sells.

+00%

Conversion

+00%

AOV

00%

Bounce ↓

Read case study →

E-commerce · Shopify + SEO

Fence Armor

A Shopify redesign paired with a sustained SEO program to grow organic traffic and online revenue. We rebuilt product and category pages for clarity and conversion, then layered in technical SEO and content targeting the terms real buyers search — compounding organic growth month over month rather than relying on paid spend.

+00%

Organic traffic

+00%

Revenue

+00

Keywords pg.1

Read case study →

Explore All Case Studies ↗

BArete Build

B2B Web Design & WordPress Development

Arete Build designs and develops custom B2B websites and WordPress sites — engineered for speed, trust, and turning visitors into qualified enquiries.

Our designers craft on-brand, conversion-focused experiences; our developers build them fast, secure, and easy for your team to manage. Every layout, word, and load-time decision is judged against one question: does it move a qualified buyer closer to contacting you?

Web Design Custom WordPress UX/UI Design Headless Builds

Explore Arete Build →

CArete Commerce

Shopify & WooCommerce Ecommerce Agency

Arete Commerce builds and migrates Shopify, Shopify Plus, and WooCommerce stores — chosen around your goals, then optimized to convert and scale.

Whether you're launching, replatforming, or scaling, we design commerce experiences that reduce friction to checkout and are easy for your team to run day-to-day. We pick the platform that fits your business — never a one-size default.

Shopify Shopify Plus WooCommerce Migrations

Explore Arete Commerce →

AArete Amplify

PPC & Paid Media Management

Arete Amplify runs Google, Meta, and paid social campaigns built to fill your pipeline with high-intent leads — measured on revenue, not clicks.

We build and manage paid campaigns that bring qualified buyers to conversion-ready pages, then optimize against the metrics that matter to your business. No vanity dashboards — just measured demand that supports your sales pipeline.

Google Ads Meta Ads Paid Social Retargeting

Explore Arete Amplify →

SArete Search

SEO & AI Search Optimization Agency (GEO/AEO)

Arete Search optimizes your site to rank on Google and to be cited by AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.

Search is splitting in two. Half your buyers still type into Google; the other half now ask an AI. We build for both — technical SEO and content that earns rankings, plus Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) that make your business the answer AI recommends.

SEO AI Search (GEO/AEO)Technical SEO Content

Explore Arete Search →

CArete Care

Website Support & Care Plans

Arete Care keeps your site fast, secure, and improving after launch — ongoing support, maintenance, and conversion-rate optimization on a monthly retainer.

Launch is the start, not the finish. Our Care retainers cover day-to-day support and updates plus continuous optimization — testing, refining, and hardening your site so it keeps converting better over time instead of slowly going out of date.

Support & Maintenance CRO Retainers Audits

Explore Arete Care →

Industries We Serve

B2B web design for your sector.

Deep experience across B2B and considered-purchase industries — with signature strength (●) in manufacturing and industrial.

Manufacturing & Industrial Professional Services Legal Finance & Accounting SaaS & Technology Education & Training Wholesale & Distribution Transportation & Logistics Travel & Tourism Non-Profit & Associations Healthcare & Medical Construction & Trades E-commerce & Retail

About Arete

The pursuit of excellence, by name.

Arete is an ancient Greek word for excellence — the act of living up to a thing's highest potential. We chose it because it's the standard we hold every project to.

Since 2007 we've grown from a small Toronto studio into an award-winning agency with offices in Toronto and Ottawa, more than 1,000 projects delivered, and clients across Canada and the US. We stay deliberately focused: senior expertise on every build, honest advice about what to do first, and work judged on the outcomes that matter — leads, calls, and revenue.

We don't chase volume or vanity metrics. We partner with a considered set of B2B companies and treat their growth as the only scoreboard worth watching.

Est. 2007Toronto + Ottawa1,000+ projects30+ awards

ARETEEST. 2007EXCELLENCE/ar·e·tay/

ἀρετή

excellence — the act of living up to one's full potential

As reviewed on

★★★★★

"They understood our business, not just our website. The redesign paid for itself in new enquiries."

— Don B. · Manufacturing

★★★★★

"Professional, responsive, and genuinely strategic. The site finally reflects the quality of our work."

— Dikshit S. · Professional Services

★★★★★

"From SEO to design, they delivered on every promise. Our organic traffic and leads both climbed."

— H.C. · Retail / E-commerce

Awards & Partnerships

Recognized, rated, and accredited.

Plenty of agencies claim to be award-winning — we're happy to show the receipts, and the platforms we're accredited with.

Awards & Ratings

30+ Industry Awards Clutch 5.0★ Google 5.0★ DesignRush Top GoodFirms Verified

Technology Partners

Shopify Partner Shopify Plus WordPress WooCommerce Google Partner Meta Business

Free · Monthly · No noise

The Arete Brief.

B2B web design, SEO, and AI-search insights — pulled from the work we do for real Canadian and US companies. One email a month, genuinely useful.

2,000+ subscribers

Monthly cadence

Free always

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FAQ

B2B Web Design & SEO — Questions Answered

Short, straight answers — the same ones we give AI search engines.

Arete Soft Labs is a B2B web design and digital marketing agency in Toronto and Ottawa. We design and build websites and online stores, and grow them with SEO, AI-search optimization, and paid media — focused on generating qualified calls and quote requests.

AI search optimization — also called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) or Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) — structures your website so AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews cite it when answering buyer questions. We offer it as a dedicated service within Arete Search.

It depends on scope — from a focused redesign to a full custom build with SEO and ongoing marketing. We give you a clear fixed quote after a short discovery call.

Yes. We build custom WordPress, Shopify, Shopify Plus, and WooCommerce stores, and choose the platform around your goals rather than a default.

B2B clients across manufacturing and industrial, professional services, legal, finance and accounting, SaaS and technology, education and training, and wholesale and distribution — most in the $1M–$10M revenue range.

We have offices in Toronto (1 Yonge Street) and Ottawa (502 Langelier Avenue), and serve clients across Canada and the United States.

Start a Project

Let's fill your pipeline.

Tell us about your project and we'll come back with honest, specific next steps — usually within one business day.

How we scope: after a short discovery call we send a clear, fixed quote built around your goals and timeline — no vague packages, no surprises.

647-812-5125 hello@aretesoftware.ca

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