Commercial building and interior product brands have lots of ways to get their product solutions seen by architects and designers. This can include PR and advertising, exhibiting at trade shows and developing CEUs. But one marketing function that has fundamentally changed is search.
Gone are the days of the traditional google search where brands hope to appear on page 1. Today, AI platforms are reshaping the search experience. This has massive implications for brands and marketers.
To help make sense of what’s happening, Matt Spaulding, President of Spaulding Communications, recently spoke with Mike Dobbs, Head of Search at Dentsu America. Together, they explored how AI is reshaping the search landscape and what commercial building and interior product brands need to do about it.
Here are the highlights from the interview:
How Search Has Changed
For years, Google owned the search experience. Ranking on page one was the ultimate prize. But in late 2022, ChatGPT arrived. Instead of simply offering a list of links, it gave people direct answers. Soon after, Google responded with AI Overviews and introduced its own large language model, Gemini. Today, there are multiple AI tools people can use for finding answers, solving problems and assisting with just about any kind of task.
The result? Search isn’t just about links anymore. It’s about being visible and accurate in the answers AI tools are generating.
Today’s era of search is now referred to as GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization. Marketers need to create strategies to optimize content for AI-powered search engines and answer engines, rather than traditional search results. The goal? To improve the likelihood of your brand or brand content being cited in AI-generated answers from platforms like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. GEO strategies involve directing answers to user questions to help AI systems parse and understand it more easily.
The New Search Landscape
Google is still the number one search tool, with YouTube and Amazon following close behind. But platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude are now part of the mix too.
And here’s the key difference:
- Google is still used mostly for transactional or navigational searches (“Find me the nearest rental car”).
- AI-driven platforms are being used for informational and generative tasks (“Help me draft a press release”).
For brands, this shift means your visibility strategy can’t stop at Google. You need to be part of the broader AI-driven conversation.
Matt Spaulding and Mike Dobbs discuss the future of AI and search and what it means for commercial building and interior product brands. Watch the full video below.
Three Practical Steps for Brands
So, what should marketing professionals working in the commercial building and interiors product industry be doing right now? Mike shared three clear strategies.
1. Strengthen Your Website Content
Think beyond traditional SEO. AI models rely heavily on text. One of the simplest, most effective things marketers can do is to post a robust set of Frequently Asked Questions on their websites.
Ask yourself: what are the natural questions your customers might type—or say or ask—about your products? Do you provide clear, easy-to-read answers? If not, now’s the time to start.
FAQs help ensure AI platforms pull the information you want them to use, rather than relying on competitors or third-party sources that may not tell your story accurately.
2. Engage Where Your Customers Are
AI doesn’t just pull from websites. It’s pulling from social platforms, YouTube, Reddit, TikTok, and more.
Do you have educational videos on YouTube, the second-largest search engine? Are your products being discussed on Reddit? Is your brand present on the platforms where your customers are spending time? If not, that’s a gap in your GEO strategy that will need to be addressed.
Of course, not every brand has the resources to be everywhere. So prioritize. Start with the platforms where your audience is most active and build from there.
3. Leverage PR for Credibility
Earned media generated through public relations still matters a lot, and even more so in age of generative AI. Why? Because AI platforms cite trusted third-party sources in their responses. Two recent studies illustrate this point. Consider:
- A Muck Rack study that analyzed more than 1 million citations from AI-generated responses found that 95% of the links cited by AI are from non-paid sources, and that 27% are from journalistic content.
- The Muck Rack study also shows that the categories of “Corporate Blogs and Content” and “Press Releases” far outweigh the category of “Paid/Advertorial” when it comes to the share of AI-generated responses
- A 2025 Profound study showed that of the top 10 websites Google AI Overviews uses for its citations, LinkedIn ranks 4th behind Reddit (1), YouTube and Quora.
If you want visibility for your brand in the age of generative search, credibility is now the key. And a robust PR program is essential for generating that credibility.
Final Takeaway
Mike states that search today is no longer just about driving clicks to a website or ranking high in a Google search. Brands today need to be visible by generating content that is accurate, clear and associated with credible sites. So where should you start?
- Strengthen your website with natural-language FAQs.
- Be present on the platforms your customers use most.
- Invest in PR to build credible-cited and trusted mentions.
As leadership author John Maxwell states, “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” Brands that embrace this change – and continue to learn from it — will grow and succeed.
What about you? How are you preparing your marketing strategy for the future of AI-driven search?
If you need assistance developing a B2B GEO, PR or marketing strategy, reach out to Matt Spaulding at matts@spauldingcommunications.com
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