Answer engine optimization (AEO) agency in Toronto.
Space & Story is a Toronto answer engine optimization agency. We build and run websites that ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity can read, check and quote, and we publish the price: builds from CA$5,000 with the AI-search setup included, then plans from CA$300 a month, month to month.
Founded by Mahmoud Halat, winner of the $100K grand prize at Lovable Shipped, a software-building competition, against 5,800 builders.
By Mahmoud Halat, founder · Updated
Get the free 24-page auditAEO, GEO and AI SEO: one job, three names
Agencies sell the same work under several names. All of them mean making your business the one an AI answer names when a customer asks for what you sell.
If you searched for AEO in Canada and found border pages, that is the Authorized Economic Operator status for importers and exporters. This page is about search.
| Name | What it means |
|---|---|
| AEO | Answer engine optimization. Getting named and quoted when ChatGPT, Google's AI answers, Perplexity or Copilot answer a question. |
| GEO | Generative engine optimization. The same work, named after generative AI. First Page Sage's 2026 pricing study treats AEO and GEO as one market. |
| AI SEO / LLM SEO | Search engine optimization aimed at AI answers as well as blue links. Most of the groundwork is the same: pages a crawler can read, one page per question, facts that match everywhere. |
| ChatGPT SEO | AEO for one assistant. ChatGPT search reads the open web, so the same pages and the same third-party mentions do the work. |
What we do, in order
- Let the AI crawlers in: robots.txt, server-rendered pages and no blocks at the CDN, so OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Google can read every page without running JavaScript.
- One page per buyer question: your services, your prices or price ranges, your towns, each answered in the first two sentences.
- One set of facts about you: the same name, address, phone, licences and profiles on your site, in your structured data and on the directories AI answers read.
- Off-site mentions on the Authority plan: the lists, directories and publications that AI answers cite when they leave you out.
- Measurement: a baseline before work ships, then a monthly report of AI crawler and assistant visits, Google and Bing search, and leads.
What AEO costs with us, and elsewhere in Toronto
In First Page Sage's study of 1,146 agency quotes, published October 7, 2026, a starter AEO retainer for a small business runs $1,800 to $4,200 a month (median $2,950), usually with a 3-month minimum. Green Lotus, a Toronto agency, lists AEO and SEO from $2,990 a month on a 4-month commitment (checked November 1, 2026).
We price it differently: the AI-search setup is in every build, and every plan includes the monthly AI-traffic report.
| Story | $5,000 | Up to 15 pages, a custom design, the copy written for every page |
|---|---|---|
| Engine | $9,000 | 200+ pages generated from your own data: every service, model and town you have real work to show for |
| Studio | $15,000+ | Custom software on top: booking, a store, a portal |
| Local | $300 | Hosting, upkeep, Google Business Profile, a post a month |
|---|---|---|
| Growth | $700 | Four posts a month, links from other sites, competitor tracking |
| Authority | $2,000+ | Press and research beyond your own site |
Prices in Canadian dollars, plus HST. Plans are month to month with no setup fee, and you own the code, the content and the domain. No one can promise that an AI answer will name you, and we don't.
Results on the sites we run
We run our own clients' sites on Cite-Met, our hosting and measurement platform, so these numbers come from the same logs and Search Console accounts every month.
Questions Toronto owners ask about AEO
How much does an AEO agency cost in Toronto?
Most agencies quote by proposal. Published figures put a small-business AEO retainer at $1,800 to $4,200 a month (First Page Sage, October 2026), and Green Lotus in Toronto lists AEO and SEO from $2,990 a month on a 4-month commitment. Our builds start at CA$5,000 with the AI-search setup included, then CA$300, CA$700 or CA$2,000+ a month, plus HST.
Can you guarantee ChatGPT will recommend my business?
No, and be wary of anyone who does. AI answers change from run to run. What we can do is make your site easy to read and check, put the same facts about you everywhere AI tools look, and measure how often you are named against a baseline taken before the work starts.
Is AEO different from SEO?
It builds on it. Google says its AI features need nothing beyond the usual SEO basics, so a page Google can't index won't be quoted there. AEO adds answer-first copy, one page per buyer question, consistent facts across the web and mentions on the third-party pages AI answers cite.
Do I need a new website for AEO?
With us, yes: our price starts with a build, because most of the gains come from how the site is made. If you want an agency to work on the site you already have, a retainer elsewhere is the better fit, and /compare/aeo-cost lists firms that sell that.
Do you work outside Toronto?
Yes. Most clients are in the Greater Toronto Area, and we build for businesses in Barrie, Hamilton and London, Ontario, plus remote projects across Canada and the US.
See what AI answers say about you
Our free 24-page audit checks how often six AI tools mention you, compares you with your closest competitor, and lists what to fix. It comes back within 24 hours. No card, no call.
Send me the audit