03/12/2026
I was invited to the Google Canada Business Summit in Toronto. Here’s what it means for small business websites.
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I care about what helps a real business get found, match online credibility to in-person credibility, and ultimately win the trust of new customers. That is why the Google Canada Business Summit was worth travelling to Toronto for.
On February 25 and 26, 2026, I joined an invite-only group of business owners, digital creators, and tech community leaders in Toronto for Google Canada’s first Business Summit. The event was built around AI, digital growth, and the future of small and medium businesses (SMBs) in Canada. I came home with a clearer view of where search, websites, and AI are heading next.
Why this summit stood out
A lot of business events are long on buzzwords and short on value. This one was not.
The summit was structured as a two-day gathering, with a welcome event on February 25 and a technical day on February 26 at Google Canada Headquarters on King Street East in Toronto. Google framed it as a forum for business leaders from across the country to meet, collaborate, take part in AI skilling workshops, and hear from leaders on the future of technology and business.
Google Canada shared that 71 business leaders and leading community builders were in attendance from 28 cities across Canada. The group included businesses from lifestyle, beauty, home, food, beverage, hospitality, health, wellness, media, education, entertainment, gardening, and agriculture. It was not a narrow tech crowd. It was a real cross-section of Canadian business.
That matters because the digital changes happening right now are not just for software companies.
They affect the local bakery.
The doctor's office.
The home service company.
The vet clinic.
The farm business.
The creator.
The retailer.
The professional firm.
They affect the businesses I build websites for every week.
What Google made clear
The strongest message of the summit was simple. AI is not some side trend anymore. It is becoming part of everyday business.
Google Canada has said that generative AI could boost Canada’s economy by $230 billion and save the average Canadian worker more than 175 hours per year. Google has also continued to invest in AI skills and training in Canada through programs, courses, and workforce initiatives aimed at helping people and businesses use these tools in practical ways. 
Those are big numbers. But the summit did not feel like a grand theory exercise. It felt practical.
Session by session, the speakers pushed a grounded message. Use AI to save time. Use it to think better. Use it to market better. Use it to learn faster. Use it to remove friction from repetitive work. But do not confuse a tool with a strategy.
AI can speed up tasks. It can help draft. It can organize. It can summarize. It can brainstorm. It can personalize. It can analyze source material. But it does not replace clear thinking, clear offers, or a clear website.
In fact, the rise of AI makes digital clarity more important.
The sessions that mattered most
The morning sessions centered on how small businesses can use Google AI tools in real work.
Natasha Walji, Managing Director of Google Customer Solutions Canada, spoke about the shift into an AI era and framed it as one of the most important technology shifts of our time. Her talk tied Google’s long AI history to the current moment, but the part that mattered most for business owners was the practical advice.
Her message was not “be impressed by AI.” Her message was “start using it.”
She walked through examples like using Gemini to draft a reply to a difficult customer thread, summarize a long email chain, tailor marketing messages, create assets, and research complex questions with sources attached. She also emphasized a line that stuck with me: Business owners are not competing against AI, they are competing against other business owners who are learning how to use AI well.
That is blunt. It is also true.
Laura Pearce, Country Marketing Director at Google Canada, focused on marketing and creativity with AI. Her talk showed how AI can help remove friction from campaign work, asset creation, and content production. But what I found more important was her framing around use cases. Start with a real problem. Do not just throw AI into the business because it is trendy. Solve something specific. Refresh stale website content. Create better product imagery. Have it help you build out ad campaigns faster.
Sofia Remtulla, Google Cloud AI Specialist, presented on NotebookLM and learning in the age of AI. This was one of the most practical and more technical demos of the day. She showed how a business owner can upload source documents, ask questions against them, get answers with citations, and generate useful outputs like summaries, briefing notes, project justifications, and overviews.
That direction is important. The future is not just “search something online.” It is increasingly “bring your documents, your data, your notes, your plan, and ask better questions.” You can create your own walled garden inside of a Notebook in NotebookLM to lessen the hallucinations that have plagued earlier versions of LLMs.
The part that matters most for websites
This is where the summit connected most directly to the work I do at Duford Digital. For all the AI talk, Google’s advice kept circling back to fundamentals.
Own your Google Business Profile.
Fill it out properly. Add photos. Collect reviews.
Make sure your website loads fast.
Answer customer questions clearly.
Create rich, useful content.
Think about what people are actually searching for.
That was one of the strongest themes of the day, and it lines up almost perfectly with how I already approach websites.
A website still needs to do the basics well:
It needs to tell people who you are.
It needs to tell them what you do.
It needs to tell them where you work.
It needs to make your business look current, credible, and real.
It needs to load quickly.
It needs to answer common questions.
It needs to make the next step obvious.
AI has not replaced that. AI has made it more urgent.
Why? Because search behavior is changing.
Google has said that AI-powered search experiences are leading people to ask longer, more detailed questions, while search itself continues to evolve with new types of queries and discovery patterns. Google also points small businesses toward AI tools that help them work more efficiently and improve how they connect with customers. 
That means your online presence has to do more than rank for a short phrase.
It has to be understandable. To people, yes. But also to machines. That means structure matters, as well as page speed, photos, addresses, and everything else that helps a machine understand what your business does and for whom.
What I took away as a web strategist
I did not leave Toronto thinking every business now needs a complex AI stack. I left thinking the gap is about to widen between businesses that are digitally clear and businesses that are digitally messy.
The businesses that will benefit most from Google’s AI era will usually not be the ones making the loudest claims. They will be the ones with strong foundations.
A clear site.
A complete business profile.
Useful content.
Fast pages.
Real trust signals.
A sensible workflow.
A willingness to learn.
The summit reinforced for me that a website is no longer just a brochure. It is a credibility system. It is one of the main places where trust gets built or lost. And it must be built for machines as well as humans, as the information from your website will be referenced by AI systems without potential clients actually visiting the website itself.
As AI changes how people search, compare, and decide, credibility becomes even more valuable. If your site is thin, dated, slow, vague, has old information, or is hard to use, that problem is getting more expensive. If your site is clear, useful, full of well structured data, and otherwise well cared for, that asset is getting stronger.
Why this matters for Canadian businesses
Google has been pushing hard on AI skills in Canada, not just products. Its public messaging over the past two years has focused on AI as an economic and productivity lever for Canadians, along with practical training for workers and small businesses. That includes public claims about AI’s economic upside, formal AI learning programs, and small business-focused guidance through Grow with Google. 
That tells me something important. Google does not see this as niche. It sees AI adoption as a mainstream business issue. And that means small business owners need a sane path forward.
For most businesses, that means getting your digital basics right, using AI where it saves time, spending more time developing your human judgment and taste, and building a clear online website for your brand that supports trust at every step.
What this means for Duford Digital clients
At Duford Digital, I build and improve websites for businesses that need to look as established, trustworthy, and easy to work with on the internet as they are in-person in their local areas. I care about structure. Usability. Search visibility. Local credibility. Maintenance. The everyday details that help a site pull its weight.
The Google Canada Business Summit reinforced that this is the right work. Strong websites are still central. Speed, clarity, and completeness increasingly matter. AI can support a business, but not rescue a weak foundation. And businesses who learn and adapt will have an edge.
That is exactly the kind of edge I want to help my clients build. An edge built on clarity, trust, and smart digital systems.
My view on where this is going next
I think the next phase of web strategy in Canada will be shaped by three things.
First, AI-assisted search will keep changing how people ask questions and evaluate businesses. Google’s public positioning already points in that direction, with AI layered into search and business tools. 
Second, businesses will need stronger source material. Thin pages will struggle. Vague pages will struggle. Generic pages will struggle. The businesses that explain their work clearly and publish useful, well-structured information will be easier to trust and easier to surface.
Third, the winners will use AI as a helper, not as a substitute for judgment. Google’s own small business AI guidance focuses on efficiency, customer connection, and growth, not replacing the owner’s thinking. Human taste becomes a differentiator.
Final thoughts
I came home from the Google Canada Business Summit energized. Not because I think every shiny new tool deserves attention. Because I think the businesses that get the basics right are about to benefit even more.
The future of digital marketing is not about doing everything. It is about doing the right things clearly.
That means a strong website and credible digital presence. You'll need useful content and strong systems that support your digital work. Thoughtful use of AI and a willingness to keep learning will be key.
I am grateful I got to be in the room.
And I am even more grateful to bring those lessons back to the businesses I serve.
