AI Overviews: New Biz Threat or Opportunity?

What Are AI Overviews and Why Should Builders Care?

Whether you believe in it or not, online visibility is even more critical than it's ever been. But AI and Google are changing the online search arena yet again, which could be a golden opportunity if you jump on it soon, or a business killer if you shrug it off.

There are 2 things happening right now. The first is Language Learning Modules (LLM’s) like ChatGPT, Claude.ai (you can't forget Grok) and others are scanning the internet to present the most ideal answers to questions users are asking.

And not wanting to give up its dominance, Google has been frantically retooling itself to support what it calls the new AI-first era. Alongside launching its own LLM, Gemini, you may have noticed search results shifting. Instead of the familiar stack of top websites to click through, those links are now pushed further down the page to make room for Google’s new “AI Overviews.”

You may have noticed lately if you filled its search bar with something like “best commercial deck builder in Tacoma,” Google’s AI now serves up an instant summary paragraph at the top of the page. Just like LLM’s, it instantly scans and pulls information from multiple websites and resources across the internet to create a little pre-packaged answer at the top of the search results page.

While it may sound handy for the searchers, it poses a serious problem (or opportunity) if you are hoping to get your website clicked on.

A recent user experience study found that:

• When AI Overviews appear, website clicks drop by as much as 66% on desktop and 45% on mobile.
• 70% of people don’t read past the first third of the answer.
• Even if your company is mentioned, that doesn’t guarantee someone will click or call.
  

It’s kind of like being in a group photo where your name’s tagged but your face is cut off. You’re technically there, but no one’s really seeing you.

Here's the Good News: Most of Your Competitors Haven’t Caught On

As we all know, the building industry isn’t exactly known for embracing change. Most builders are still stuck in “set it and forget it” mode when it comes to their website, Google Business Profile or digital presence.

But you can use that to your advantage. If you’re willing to make a few smart, simple changes, you can stand out while the rest of the field is snoozing through the AI revolution.

How to Get Found in the AI Overview Era

Fix the Foundation: Your Website

If you haven’t optimized your site in a while, now is the perfect time to bring it up and make some necessary tweaks. AI search tools like Gemini favor clear, detailed content, so rewrite your services and case studies to spell out what you do, who you do it for, and the benefits you deliver. The more descriptive you are, the easier it is for both prospects and machines to recognize your value.

Answer Real Questions

Remember when you would type a few simple keywords into Google, Bing, or Yahoo and then add more words to narrow things down? Searches looked like “Kitchen remodeler Auburn” or “Roofer near me.”

Today people are having full conversations with AI tools. Instead of short keywords, they type questions like: “Is it better to start a kitchen remodel in the spring or the summer?” or “What’s the best roofing material for wet climates with a budget of $30,000?”

Your website should be ready to answer questions like these. Keep your content honest, straightforward, and helpful. If your blog (or “news and updates” page has been sitting idle, this is exactly what it’s for. You want to build a library of answers based on the real questions your clients ask. The more useful content you create, the more likely it is that AI tools and search engines will pull from your site, giving you more visibility and more qualified prospects.

Format for Skimmers (and Robots)

Nobody’s reading long blocks of text. Use short paragraphs, bullets, headers, and summaries. Bonus: Google’s AI likes this structure too.

Use Schema Markup (a.k.a. Nerd Tags)

Sometimes the most valuable stuff on your website is what you can’t see on the surface. Schema is a type of code that quietly tells search engines and AI tools exactly what your content means. It helps them read your service pages, team bios, FAQs, and reviews with more accuracy, which improves how you show up in results. 

Your prospects may never see it, but search engines and LLMs love it - and that can make the difference between being buried or being found.

Keep Content Fresh

Search bots scan through millions of websites every day. If they land on your website that hasn’t been updated in a while, they jump to the split second conclusion that it's not as important as its rivals and skip over it to find others to index.

That’s why it's so important to keep the content on your website fresh and relevant. Even if you uploaded a ton of content last month you have to keep the fly wheel spinning.

Go back and update older blog posts, project pages, or service descriptions with new photos, recent examples, or current details. Even a few updates a year signal to Google and AI tools that your business is active and rank worthy.

Highlight your latest projects, showcase your team, mention clients you’ve worked with, or feature new technology and equipment. This makes your site more interesting for prospects while giving LLMs richer content to pull from when people ask detailed questions.

A little regular refresh goes a long way. It helps you show up higher in search, look more credible, and stay top-of-mind with the clients you want to win.

Embrace the AI

If you’re a builder, then building is your superpower. You plumb walls, move dirt, manage crews, make and deliver the materials to keep the project running. But you never got into this field to deal with websites or marketing plans.

But the world is changing fast. AI is here, and it’s already changing how customers find contractors, vendors, and partners. You can resist it and hope for the best. Or you can use it to get a leg up on everyone else who’s still pretending it’s 2012.

If you want to talk about how to make your brand work harder for you in this new AI-first world, let’s chat.

Written by Rusty George, with almost zero help from Artificial Intelligence. Well, maybe he used one little app to check his grammar, but hey - he's only human.

Rusty George leads a branding, website design and marketing agency serving Seattle and Tacoma area construction companies, developers, subcontractors, manufacturers, material fabricators and suppliers. His goal is to help the building industry become more attractive to the skilled workforce of the future. Reach out to us at any time if you ever would like to talk about taking advantage of AI Overviews to bring in more inbound busienss leads.