About Me

No Teams. No Outsourcing. Just 25+ Years of Real Experience.

I’m Marc-Andre Cournoyer, and I’ve been in the trenches of SEO and web design since 1999 – back when Google was just getting started and most people thought “search engine optimization” was some kind of mechanic’s job.

I work alone, sometimes with help from my wife or direct family members. That’s it. No employees. No contractors in the Philippines. No offshore teams. No junior staff learning on your dime.

Why? Because I’ve learned the hard way that when you share your strategies, techniques, and hard-earned knowledge with employees, they eventually leave and become your competition – or worse, they use your methods incorrectly and damage client relationships.

Every strategy, every line of code, every optimization – it all comes from me personally.

From Enterprise to Small Business (And Why I Made That Choice)

I wasn’t always a solo operation.

Years ago, I ran a large marketing agency. We worked with some of the biggest brands in North America:

  • Ford
  • Mercedes-Benz
  • Pepsi
  • Air Canada
  • RE/MAX

The budgets were massive. The campaigns were complex. The office was impressive. And honestly? It looked great on paper.

But here’s what I learned working with enterprise clients:

Big companies move slow. Decisions take months. Approvals require 17 signatures. Good ideas die in committee meetings.

Big companies have layers. You’re rarely talking to the person who actually makes decisions. Everything goes through account managers, project managers, marketing directors, and VPs who’ve never built a website in their lives.

Big companies care more about reports than results. They want fancy PowerPoint presentations that look good in boardrooms. They want charts and graphs and data visualizations. They care less about whether the phone is actually ringing.

Don’t get me wrong – I learned a ton working at that level. Managing million-dollar campaigns teaches you things you can’t learn anywhere else.

But I realized something important:

Small businesses actually appreciate the work.

When you help a local contractor get more leads, they remember you. When you help a small ecommerce store triple their revenue, they’re genuinely grateful. When you help a family-owned restaurant show up in local searches, you’re directly impacting their livelihood.

So in 2015, I made a choice.

I shut down the big agency. I stopped chasing enterprise contracts. I stopped trying to impress corporate clients with fancy presentations.

I decided to focus on small and medium-sized Canadian businesses who actually need help and appreciate results.

I still work with larger businesses occasionally – but only when they’re willing to work directly with me and care more about results than corporate politics.

 

The Truth About Working Solo

Most agencies will tell you that bigger is better. More employees means better service, right?

Wrong.

Here’s what actually happens at most agencies:

You talk to a salesperson who promises you the world. They’re great at selling, terrible at SEO.

Your project gets assigned to whoever’s available. Could be someone with 10 years experience. Could be someone who started last month. You have no idea.

That person leaves. Now someone completely new is handling your account. They have no context. They start over. You’re paying for their learning curve.

Nobody actually cares about your results. They care about retention rates, monthly recurring revenue, and keeping you paying long enough to hit their quotas.

When you work with me, none of that happens.

You get me. The same person who worked on campaigns for Mercedes-Benz and Air Canada. The same person who’s been doing this since 1999. The same person who responds to your emails and answers your calls.

I actually care if it works. Because if it doesn’t work for you, you’ll leave. And word spreads fast in Canadian business communities. My reputation is everything.

I protect my methods. I’ve spent 25+ years developing strategies, techniques, and approaches that work. I’m not teaching them to employees who’ll leave in two years and use them to compete against me.

Does working solo mean I’m more expensive? Sometimes.

Does it mean I can’t take every client who contacts me? Yes.

Does it mean I have to turn down projects when I’m at capacity? Absolutely.

But it also means you get 25 years of undiluted expertise, not diluted by inexperienced employees or outsourced contractors.

 

How I Actually Work (No Corporate BS)

I’m Brutally Honest

If your market is too competitive for your budget, I’ll tell you.

If your website is a disaster and needs to be rebuilt, I’ll tell you.

If another agency is already doing good work for you, I’ll tell you to keep them.

If SEO isn’t what you need right now, I’ll tell you what you should focus on instead.

I’d rather lose a sale than waste your money on something that won’t work.

I Don’t Promise Miracles

Anyone who guarantees you page 1 rankings is lying.

Google has over 200 ranking factors. Their algorithm changes constantly. Nobody controls it except Google.

What I CAN promise:

  • I’ll work my ass off
  • I’ll use strategies that have worked for 25+ years
  • I’ll be transparent about what’s working and what isn’t
  • I’ll adjust when things aren’t performing
  • You’ll get my genuine expertise

But I won’t promise specific rankings or traffic numbers. That’s not how this works.

I Work in Weeks and Months, Not Days

Real SEO takes time.

Anyone promising you page 1 in 30 days is either targeting keywords nobody searches for or using tactics that will get you penalized.

My typical timeline:

  • Month 1-2: Foundation work (technical fixes, optimization, setup)
  • Month 2-4: Start seeing initial improvements
  • Month 4-6: Significant ranking improvements
  • Month 6-12: Dominating your local market

Is this slower than what other agencies promise? Yes.

Is it realistic? Absolutely.

I Don’t Outsource. Ever.

Every line of code, every optimization, every strategy – it’s all me.

I don’t outsource content writing to the Philippines. I don’t outsource link building to India. I don’t outsource technical work to Eastern Europe.

100% of the work happens in Canada, by me personally.

Why does this matter?

Quality control. I know exactly what’s being done because I’m the one doing it.

No language barriers. Everything is written by a native English speaker who understands Canadian business culture.

No time zone issues. I’m in your time zone. I answer emails during your business hours.

Security. Your website credentials never leave Canada. Nobody halfway around the world has access to your business.

I Actually Use My Phone

Call me at 2 PM on a Tuesday – I’ll probably answer.

Email me at 9 PM on a Saturday – I’ll probably respond within a few hours.

I’m not a corporate agency with office hours and phone trees and “please hold for the next available representative.”

I’m one person who actually cares whether your business succeeds.

 

Hard Truths About SEO (That Most Agencies Won’t Tell You)

After 25+ years and 500+ websites, here’s what I know for sure:

1. Most SEO agencies are full of shit. They sell dreams wrapped in fancy reports. They show you traffic increases from bot visits. They rank you for keywords nobody searches for. They keep you paying while delivering nothing.

2. Real SEO is simple (but hard work). There are no secrets. No magic tricks. No hidden strategies. It’s technical optimization, quality content, legitimate links, and consistent effort. That’s it.

3. Speed matters more than most people think. A slow website kills your rankings AND your conversions. Nobody waits 5 seconds for a page to load anymore.

4. Content quality matters more than content quantity. One genuinely useful 2,000-word guide beats ten shallow 300-word blog posts every single time.

5. Local SEO is different than national SEO. What works in Toronto doesn’t necessarily work in Thunder Bay. Understanding local markets matters.

6. Google rewards consistency, not tricks. Do good work consistently for 6-12 months, and you’ll dominate. Try to shortcut it, and you’ll get slapped.

7. Most businesses need basic SEO, not advanced tactics. You don’t need complex multi-tier link building strategies. You need your technical SEO fixed, your content optimized, and legitimate local citations. Start there.

8. Reviews matter more than most people realize. Especially for local businesses. Your Google Business Profile reviews directly impact your rankings in local search.

9. Mobile optimization isn’t optional anymore. Over 60% of searches happen on mobile devices. If your site isn’t mobile-perfect, you’re losing half your potential customers.

10. SEO without conversion optimization is useless. Getting traffic means nothing if your website doesn’t convert visitors into customers. They work together.

 

Why I Focus on Canadian Businesses

I work from Canada, for Canada.

I understand Canadian markets. I know the difference between Vancouver and Victoria, Toronto and Thunder Bay, Montreal and Quebec City. I understand bilingual requirements in Quebec. I know which directories matter in Calgary and which are wastes of time in Halifax.

I understand Canadian business culture. American SEO strategies don’t always work here. Canadian consumers behave differently. Canadian competition is different. Canadian regulations are different.

I care about Canadian businesses. When I help a Canadian business succeed, that money stays in Canada. Those jobs stay in Canada. That success builds Canadian communities.

I’ve worked with clients in all 10 provinces. I understand the unique challenges of different regions. I know what works in competitive urban markets and what works in smaller communities.

If you’re a Canadian business, you deserve someone who understands Canadian markets – not an American agency applying American strategies and hoping they work.

 

My Philosophy on Business

I believe in:

Honesty over sales. I’d rather tell you the truth and lose the sale than lie to get your money.

Results over reports. I care if your phone rings more, not if the report looks impressive.

Quality over quantity. I’d rather have 20 clients getting great results than 100 clients getting mediocre service.

Long-term relationships over quick profits. Most of my clients have been with me for years. That doesn’t happen by accident.

Doing it right over doing it fast. Real SEO takes time. I won’t cut corners to show quick results that disappear in three months.

Transparency over mystery. I explain what I’m doing and why. No smoke and mirrors. No hiding behind jargon.

Education over dependency. I want you to understand SEO, even if that means you eventually don’t need me anymore. Educated clients make better decisions.

I’m not trying to build the biggest agency in Canada. I’m not trying to get acquired by some holding company. I’m not trying to franchise or scale to 100 employees.

I’m trying to do really good work for Canadian businesses and sleep well at night knowing I delivered value.

That’s it. That’s the business model.

 

The Tools I Use

I’ve invested over $200,000 in professional SEO tools and software:

  • SEMrush (Enterprise)
  • Ahrefs (Agency)
  • Screaming Frog (SEO Spider)
  • Rank Math Pro / Yoast Premium
  • GSA Search Engine Ranker (used responsibly)
  • RankerX
  • Money Robot
  • Advanced analytics platforms
  • Premium WordPress licenses (Elementor Pro, Divi, Oxygen, Bricks, GeneratePress Pro)
  • Custom Laravel scripts for analysis and automation
  • Dedicated WHM/cPanel server infrastructure

You get enterprise-level tools without enterprise-level pricing.

Most small agencies use free tools and charge you premium rates. I’ve invested in the best tools available because they help me deliver better results faster.

 

A Bit About Me (The Non-Business Stuff)

When I’m not optimizing websites or building WordPress sites:

I’m spending time with my wife and family – who occasionally help with projects when needed (and who have learned more about SEO than they ever wanted to know).

I’m probably working on some new SEO experiment or testing some strategy just to see if it works.

I’m keeping up with the endless Google algorithm updates, industry changes, and new technologies (because this industry never stops evolving).

I’ve been doing this since 1999, and honestly? I still find it fascinating. The day I get bored with SEO is the day I’ll stop doing it.

But that day hasn’t come yet.

 

Should You Work With Me?

You should work with me if:

✅ You want someone who actually knows what they’re doing (25+ years experience)
✅ You value honesty over slick sales pitches
✅ You want to work directly with the person doing the work
✅ You’re willing to invest in real SEO that takes time
✅ You’re a Canadian business (or serve Canadian markets)
✅ You want transparency about what’s being done and why
✅ You’re tired of agencies that overpromise and underdeliver

You should NOT work with me if:

❌ You want guaranteed page 1 rankings in 30 days (impossible)
❌ You want the cheapest option available (I’m not)
❌ You want a huge agency with account managers (that’s not me)
❌ You need someone available 24/7 (I sleep sometimes)
❌ You’re not willing to invest at least 6 months (real SEO takes time)
❌ You want someone who’ll just say yes to everything (I’ll tell you when your ideas are bad)