Terms of service

1. Who we are, and what you are agreeing to

This website is operated by Digital Handshake Media, a marketing agency based in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. By using this website you agree to these terms. If you become a client, the written scope of work we sign with you governs the engagement, and where it conflicts with this page, the signed scope wins.

Information on this website is general and educational. It is not marketing, legal, financial or regulatory advice for your specific situation, and it does not create a client relationship.

2. What we provide

Local search marketing services, which may include Google Business Profile optimization, geo-grid visibility measurement, citation building and NAP correction, on-page and schema work, local content, and AI and answer engine optimization. The specific deliverables, timeline and fees for your engagement are set out in your written scope, not here.

3. What we do not guarantee. Read this one

We do not guarantee any specific search ranking, map position, traffic volume, lead volume, conversion rate or revenue outcome. We will not agree to a ranking guarantee if asked, and no statement by any representative of ours overrides this clause.

Search rankings are determined by systems operated by Google, which we do not control and cannot influence directly. Outcomes are affected by the searcher’s physical proximity to your business, competitor activity, your review profile, your website, algorithm changes, and factors that are not disclosed by the operator of the algorithm. Google’s own published guidance advises businesses to be wary of any provider that guarantees rankings.

Nothing on this website, in any proposal, or in any conversation constitutes a representation or warranty as to the performance, efficacy or results of our services within the meaning of section 74.01 of the Competition Act or any equivalent legislation. Where we cite outcomes achieved for other clients, those are historical results for that client in that market, and they are not a prediction of yours.

4. What we do commit to

• Performing the scope of work set out in your written agreement.
• Establishing a dated baseline measurement before work begins, so that later reporting can be checked against something.
• Giving you direct access to the measurement platform rather than a summary of it.
• Reporting honestly, including when results are behind expectations, and diagnosing why rather than repeating the same work at higher volume.
• Telling you at the assessment stage if we do not believe your objectives are achievable for what you can spend.
• Not making changes to your Google Business Profile name, address, phone number or primary category without your approval.

5. What we need from you

Results depend materially on client participation. You agree to provide, on a reasonable and timely basis:

• Access to the accounts required to do the work, at the access level requested.
• Accurate business information, including hours, service areas and contact details.
• Authentic customer reviews collected without incentive, gating or fabrication.
• Photographs and media where the scope calls for them.
• Review of, and response to, recommendations and draft content we send you.

Where these are not supplied, timelines move and outcomes are affected. We will say so in writing at the time rather than raising it afterwards.

6. Exclusivity

We work with one client per industry, per defined area. Where exclusivity forms part of your engagement, your written scope defines how the industry and the area are drawn, and for how long it applies. Exclusivity does not survive the end of an engagement unless the scope says so expressly.

7. Fees, term and cancellation

Fees, billing frequency and term are set out in your written scope. Initial engagements are typically scoped as a 12-week roadmap and continue month to month afterwards unless otherwise agreed. Fees are for work performed, not for a result, consistent with section 3. Invoices are due on the terms stated in your scope. We may pause work on materially overdue accounts after written notice.

8. Your accounts, your assets

You own your Google Business Profile, your website, your domain, your content, your customer data and your tracking data: during the engagement and after it. We claim no ownership over any of it and we do not hold assets hostage. On request at the end of an engagement we will remove our access, and hand over any documentation, reporting history and content we produced for you under the scope.

We retain ownership of our own internal methods, templates, checklists and tooling. Publishing our method on this website does not transfer ownership of it, and does not restrict you from following it.

9. Third-party platforms

Our work depends on platforms we do not control, including Google, and on tools provided by third parties. Those platforms change their rules, features and algorithms without notice to us. We are not liable for the acts, omissions, outages, policy changes or enforcement decisions of any third-party platform, including suspension or removal of a business profile where that decision is made by the platform.

10. Regulated industries

We work with clients in regulated professions, including dentistry, medicine and law. We write within the advertising constraints of those professions as a matter of practice, and we route published copy to you for approval first. We are not your regulatory adviser. You remain responsible for compliance with your college, law society, board or regulator, and for the final approval of anything published in your name.

11. Confidentiality

Each of us will keep the other’s non-public business information confidential and use it only for the purposes of the engagement. We will not identify you as a client publicly, or publish your results in a case study, without your written permission. Personal information is handled under our Privacy Policy.

12. This website

The content of this website is ours. You may read, quote and share it with attribution. You may not republish it wholesale, resell it, or present it as your own. You agree not to use this site unlawfully, to scrape it at a volume that degrades it for others, to attempt to circumvent its security, or to submit false information through its forms.

13. Disclaimers

This website is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. We do not warrant that it will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free, or that information on it is complete or current. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement in respect of this website. Nothing in this section limits any statutory consumer right that cannot lawfully be excluded.

14. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the services or this website is limited to the fees you paid us in the three months immediately before the event giving rise to the claim. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential loss, including lost profits, lost revenue, lost data or loss of goodwill, even if advised of the possibility. Some jurisdictions do not permit certain exclusions; in those jurisdictions our liability is limited to the maximum extent the law allows.

15. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify us against third-party claims arising from content or information you supply to us, from your breach of these terms, or from your failure to comply with a law or professional regulation applicable to your business.

16. Termination

Either of us may end an engagement in accordance with the notice period in your written scope. Obligations incurred before termination survive it, as do sections 8, 11, 14 and 15. On termination you remain liable for fees for work performed up to the termination date.

17. Governing law

These terms and any engagement are governed by the laws of the Province of British Columbia and the federal laws of Canada applicable in that province. The courts of British Columbia have jurisdiction, and each of us submits to that jurisdiction.

18. General

If any provision is held unenforceable, the rest remains in force. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. Your written scope together with these terms and our Privacy Policy form the entire agreement between us on their subject matter, superseding earlier proposals and conversations. We may update these terms by posting a revised version with a new effective date; the version in force when your scope was signed governs that engagement.

19. Contact

Digital Handshake Media · Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Email omar@digitalhandshakemedia.com · Phone 778-200-8644

See also our Privacy Policy, published pricing, and why section 3 says what it says.