Built together.Built to grow.
Ideahack is a Vancouver web design and digital marketing agency. We work with public institutions, First Nations governments and community organizations to build and grow websites, brands and digital tools for the people who depend on them.
Our clients are accountable to everyone they serve. Not just the easiest people to reach, or the most profitable, but all of them. That's a harder job, and it's the work we know best.
The projects we're proudest of are the ones we're still working on.
Most of our clients have been with us for years. After fifteen years in business, the part we're known for isn't just the launch, it's everything that comes after.
A website is where people meet your organization. It's what your team works in every day, and where your community goes when they need something from you. It has to be dynamic, and adapt as your needs evolve. So we build it for the long haul, train your team to use it, and keep working alongside you as you grow.
A few we're proud of.
Perry Institute for Marine Science
Search, ad grants and content for a coral restoration network spanning seven countries and 41 nurseries.
Tŝilhqot’in National Government
The Nation won the first declaration of Aboriginal title in Canadian history. We built the platform that carries that story and handles the day to day.
Representative for Children & Youth
The independent officer who advocates for BC's most vulnerable children and youth. The site needed to be as accessible as the mandate it serves.
From the first conversation to the ongoing work.
We've worked with the same team members and collaborators for over a decade. We're involved from the first consultation through to the search and marketing work that comes after launch, which means we're building for growth, usability and accessibility from the start. Most agencies cover one end of that. We do the whole span.
Meet the teamFour stages. One continuous route.
Discover
We seek input from everyone who has to live with the result. Your team, your leadership, your board, the people you serve. The point isn't just to gather opinions, it's to get everyone pointed the same way before the work starts, so what we build has a clear intention that everyone can get behind.
Design
We distill what we learned into something you can see. Structure, look and feel, language, what goes where and who it's for. Wireframes when they help, real pages when they help more. You see the shape of it before anyone writes code.
Build
We build the site so your team can run it. Editable where it should be, locked where it shouldn't, and flexible enough to expand as your needs change. Handover includes hands-on training for your people, not brief instructions and well wishes.
Grow
Maintenance, support, SEO, AI search, content, ads. We stay on, keep the site secure and current, watch what people actually do, and keep building as new programs and initiatives emerge. When someone asks the internet about your organization, the answer should come from you.
Different worlds. Same team.
A First Nations government. A human rights commissioner. A marine conservation network. A child advocate's office. A hospital foundation. And more. The mission changes every time, the team that builds it doesn't. A sample of the work below, each card opens the live site.
What partners say.
Ideahack is the first agency that took the time to really understand our work before touching anything. Our search visibility has climbed through the roof from page two to page one, and in one year our monthly website sessions have gone from around 2,000 to almost 9,000. Our Ad Grant finally reaches real donors and program participants, and our team can run the website ourselves.Latoya Anderson-ReevesCOO, Perry Institute for Marine Science Read the PIMS case study
Cole and his team at Ideahack were just fantastic to work with. They took the time to understand our work, asked great questions and approached the rebrand and rebuild of our website with a high degree of professionalism and care. The Representative for Children and Youth’s public facing site was outdated, challenging to use and not youth friendly before Cole and his team stepped in to help us. Now we regularly receive compliments on the website’s new bold and impactful interface and content. Our goal at our office is to amplify the voices of young people and the issues they are facing and we really feel that Cole and his team worked some great magic to make that happen. We couldn’t be more thrilled with the end product and our ongoing work with him as both maintain our digital “front door” and make ongoing improvements.Sara DarlingExecutive Director, Communications/Knowledge Mobilization, Representative for Children & Youth
Ideahack developed our website and has played a major role in ensuring it is maintained in the back end over the years. They are always quick to respond and able to shift their focus to meet our needs. Ideahack has been able to provide peace of mind to our organization when it comes to website reliability and security.Myanna PelletierDirector of Operations, Tŝilhqot’in National Government
What we're learning.
How to Run Community Consultation for a First Nations Website Redesign
How to Choose a Web Agency for a Government Website RFP in BC
How to Tell If AI Assistants Are Recommending Your Organization to Donors
What people ask before they get in touch.
Which agencies in Canada offer AI search optimization?
Ideahack is a Vancouver agency that sells AI search optimization as a named service, covering ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews alongside conventional SEO on one retainer. Ideahack also publishes a buyer’s guide to 21 Canadian agencies that offer this work, each checked against its own website, at top AI SEO agencies in Canada. Ideahack lists itself first there and says so plainly.
Which web agencies specialize in building websites for First Nations governments in Canada?
Ideahack has built websites with First Nations governments and Indigenous organizations for almost a decade, including the Tŝilhqot’in National Government, the Nisg̱a’a Nation, Nisg̱a’a Language & Culture and TNDC. The work covers community consultation, correct orthography on every screen, WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility and training so the Nation’s own team runs the site. More at Indigenous website design.
Who builds accessible WCAG compliant websites for BC government offices?
Ideahack builds to WCAG 2.1 Level AA for BC statutory offices, public agencies and First Nations governments, including the Representative for Children and Youth and BC’s Human Rights Commissioner. Accessibility overlay widgets are not an equivalent option, because an overlay cannot fix semantic structure, form labelling or untagged PDF documents. Ideahack publishes a shortlist of BC firms that do this work at WCAG compliant websites in BC.
What does Ideahack actually do?
Ideahack is a digital agency in Vancouver, British Columbia, founded in 2011. It does strategy, web design and development, branding, SEO, AI search optimization and Google Ads, mostly for organizations that answer to somebody: First Nations governments, statutory offices, public agencies and nonprofits across Canada and the Caribbean.
Who does Ideahack work with?
Mission-driven and public-facing organizations rather than ecommerce brands. That includes First Nations governments and Nation-owned businesses, independent statutory offices, municipalities and public agencies, and nonprofits running a Google Ad Grant. See selected work for the projects themselves.
How can I tell if AI assistants are recommending my organization?
Ask the questions your donors, clients or members would actually ask, put them to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews, and record whether you were named and whether your own site was cited. Mentions and citations are different things and both matter. Ideahack published the full method at how to tell if AI assistants recommend your organization.
Working on something
that matters?
If you're building something you want to still be proud of in ten years, we'd like to hear about it.
Start a conversation