The Shift Has Begun: How AI is Changing the Online Game

In this first installment of a three-part mini-series, hosts Janet and Meredith explore how AI is fundamentally transforming the way homeowners search for services online and what that means for home improvement contractors trying to generate leads.

The conversation centers around the shift from traditional keyword-based SEO to AI-generated answers in search engines like Google, and the rise of “answer engines” like ChatGPT and Siri. These tools provide immediate, conversational responses, often without users needing to click on any links.

The hosts explain how this change is reducing website traffic, increasing the importance of high-quality, structured content, and forcing businesses to adapt their web strategy to remain visible. They stress that contractors need to create content that not only ranks for keywords but also feeds AI models to be included in these new formats.

The big takeaway is: don’t ignore the shift, start adapting now. A free AI visibility guide is available to help contractors get started, and the hosts tease deeper tactical advice in the next episode.

Want to find out how we can create a custom digital marketing game plan for your contractor business? Schedule a call with us at fatcatstrategies.com.

Transcript

Janet: Welcome to Digital Marketing for Contractors, a podcast for home improvement contractors to help you crush your lead goals and take your business to the next level. Join us each episode as we give you powerful insights and practical tips on the best digital marketing strategies to help you grow your home improvement business. Let's get started. Hello, I am Janet, the founder of Fat Cat Strategies. And today I am joined by my lovely and talented and beautiful colleague, Meredith. She is one of the co owners here at FatCat. And you might remember her from an episode a while back that we did called Digital Mess. But even if you don't remember that, we're so happy to have Meredith with us. 

Meredith: Thank you. Happy to be back. So Janet, what are we diving into today? 

Janet: Oh my gosh. We today are starting a three episode miniseries about the hottest of hot topics in this hot as sh*t summer. And it is AI. That's what's hot. That's what everybody's talking about. Artificial intelligence. 

Meredith: Absolutely. I feel like you cannot turn on the news, get on social media anywhere without somebody talking about or bringing up AI. I know, it's everywhere. So today our goal is to talk through some of the different aspects beyond the headlines. Things like how AI is changing the game for online lead generation and how it impacts consumer behavior and what that means for you, the home improvement contractor. So let's buckle up and let's get started. 

Janet: All right, so let's set the stage here as we dive into talking about the shifting online presence. What are the most noticeable changes that we've seen as an agency who keeps the pulse on the digital landscape? Meredith, what are the changes that we've seen? 

Meredith: Yeah, I think there are quite a few, but there's definitely some major ones that we should talk about. I think one of the biggest things is how AI is reshaping the Google search experience. So basically there's something new called the search generative experience. Think about it. Whenever you're on Google now and you ask a question into search and there's a little snapshot summary that pops up at the top. Do you know what I'm talking about? 

Janet: I do know what you're talking about. 

Meredith: Exactly. So that's a little AI snapshot. And Google is creating that automatically now and it's instantly giving users the answers to the questions that they're asking. So you know, if I'm typing into Google, how much does it cost to replace a roof in Raleigh, North Carolina? I'm going to see that AI generated box at the top now. And that's going to be pulled in from a bunch of different sources online, but it's actually going to give me kind of an idea and a guesstimate of what that price is. And you know, before with regular traditional SEO, we would be looking at search results. So, you know, this overall AI generated Answer at the top of Google is one of the biggest ways that AI is really changing that Google search experience. 

Janet: So if I am a roofer in Raleigh, North Carolina a year ago, if somebody typed in how much does it cost to replace a roof in Raleigh, My company website might have been the very top search result. And what you're saying now is instead of Google offering up users a website to click on, they're offering up an AI generated summary to answer that question. Exactly. So what is the impact of that? 

Meredith: Yeah, I think the the biggest one that you know, everybody listening should take note of is that there's going to be fewer clicks to your website if Google is answering the question for the user. And that AI answer at the top there's not going to be as much of a need for the user searching to, to click through to your website. So that would also. 

Janet: You're saying fewer clicks. Another word we could use for that would be less traffic to your website. 

Meredith: Based on, you know, a lot of the SEO work that you've been putting in. Something else to note is that, you know, what Google AI is pulling from is really high quality content. So something that we've been focusing a lot on as an agency to try to get, you know, as much as we can our, our clients websites in that AI search answer, answer is some high quality structured content. So think FAQ sections, how to explainers that for whatever reason and it speaks to the AI algorithm and it makes it easier for AI to reference the content that you're writing. And so for our clients, if we're adding these FAQ sections or how to, or explainer pages in an effort to be part of that AI summary. I mean I've seen it as a Google user, you get the AI summary and then you get the little link icon. So the idea is that we want our clients websites to be the website that helped AI produce that answer. 

Janet: And if someone searching on Google does click through, they're clicking through to our client site, is that correct? 

Meredith: Exactly, exactly, exactly. Another one I think we, we touched on a little bit before in terms of you know, asking questions when you're, when you're search, searching on Google. I think there's been a, definitely a rise in what we're calling answer engines. Think about this like chatbots voice assistants basically the way that people and you know, your potential customers are searching for information is shifting from, you know, typing into Google to really speaking in more of a conversational message with AI assistants. Think about, I mean everybody has heard of chat, GPT Bing co Pilot, Google Assistant, Alexa. All of these people are starting to refer to now as answer engines. Because, because the whole goal is to give you an immediate complete response instead of just a list of links and resources for you to have to go do the work with. 

Janet: Okay, so what you're saying is like a homeowner instead of firing up a browser and searching on roofing companies in Charlotte, North Carolina. Instead they might go to ChatGPT and ask the question, who's the best roofing company in Charlotte, North Carolina with great reviews. Or they might, if they're on an iPhone, say hey Siri, find me a window replacement contractor nearby. And so those are the answer engines that you're referring to. 

Meredith: Exactly. And you know, yes, SEO, traditional SEO that your agency has been doing, hopefully you know, for however long you've had your website. All of that is still super important. But, but it's just super crucial for us to be aware of how these answer engines are finding and gathering the information. We can't stop these answer answer engines from continuing to gain popularity. They are super helpful in a lot of ways. So what we're focusing on is how to make sure our clients websites are included in those answer engines. Yeah, So I guess in some ways the act of as an agency we provide services. You know, SEO services s Search Engine optimization. That's what the acronym SEO stands for. So the, the exercise is similar in that we take steps to make our clients websites get found by homeowners. 

Janet: But the difference is now we're almost writing for these AI assistants so that we can show up in the list of generated artificial intelligence answers to questions. 

Meredith: Exactly. 

Janet: So I think you were telling me the other day something about zero click searches. What is a zero click search? 

Meredith: So it kind of ties back a little bit to the generative search experience we talked about at the top of the call. But basically users that are getting answers for whatever question they're going to a search engine for without ever having to click a link. You know, whether it's the AI snapshot. the top of the page. Featured snippets. Think about Google Maps. Basically there's all of these instant answers that people can get without ever clicking a link. I think the, the data point is 60% of searches now end before the user ever clicks on a link. So you know, somebody Types in, best H VAC contractor near me, they get a map. If Google guaranteed results or LSA ads come up there's no need to scroll. Right. You could be putting in a ton of effort and time building your website content. But you know, nobody's ever going to click on it if they're getting the answers they need or right off the bat. Yeah, I mean, the search as a tool that we've been using is changing so much and so fast right now that it is crazy. I mean, just to look at that stat that 60% of all searches are now ending without people clicking on anything. I mean, it kind of makes me question, like, what is the future of Google? 

Janet: For sure. I think everybody is asking that right now. We know that Google rolls out new tools new feature features all the time. You know, we're keeping up with it just like everybody else is. But I think there is a level of uncertainty and I think it's also important for people to be looking outside of Google. I think we're going to be talking in next week's episode about some changing tactics, so stay tuned for that. 

Meredith: But you know, Google, Google is going to be Google and stay that main, that main source. But it definitely, for now, change the future for now. But, but if we're not experimenting and going out and looking at other tools and platforms while we can. Right. You know, we, we need to be, we need to be being proactive. Yeah, I mean, it's I guess I'll say it again. Things are saying, changing pretty quickly and pretty dramatically. And I Have kind of wondered over these past six months you know, Google makes money, they make a lot of money and they make a lot of money by selling ads. Right. And one thing that I've kind of wondered is right now, with these generative answers that, that people, that Google is feeding to people when they ask a question at the top of their phone or at the top of their browser, if it's a 60% reduction in click throughs, at some point that has to hit their own Google's own ad revenue. Because if you give people the answer that they need without them having to click on anything, well, Google has made money from clicks. 

Janet: So I guess what we're telling listeners is it's a little bit of a wild, wild west right now. Things are changing really fast. We are all in this industry doing everything we can to keep up with the changes, but the dust has not settled. So you know, what we're seeing is that these new AI answer engines are definitely changing consumer behavior. So, you know, homeowners are moving away from quote unquote, searching and moving towards asking and they expect faster answers and a more tailored approach to their question. And as a whole, consumers are increasingly relying on AI generated recommendations and then they a lot of trust in what they're reading, at least for now. I mean, we'll see if that remains to be the case for. So we've laid the groundwork. Things are changing. We don't exactly know where they're going, but we know, we've seen what's happening. And you know, the future is here. People are searching on things, they're getting answers and they don't have to click on anything. So where does that leave you, our listeners? 

Janet: You've got a home improvement company, you want to generate leads online. Historically, you've optimized your website so that you show up for searches, not for AI questions. You know, what does that mean? So, Meredith, tell, tell the listeners what you know, what should they do with this information? 

Meredith: Yeah, I think first thing is not to panic. If you are doing SEO, that is still incredibly important. SEO has not disappeared. It's not going anywhere, but it is shifting and changing. So one of that, one of the things that it means is that your website, which is, you know, kind of the heart of your online presence needs to continue to evolve in a way that you're answering questions that homeowners and your potential clients would be asking. We're not just trying to rank for keywords anymore. You know, in the Past SEO was about you know, including as many high volume keywords as you can. If you're a roof replacement contractor in Raleigh you know, an older SEO tactic may mean, you know, including that phrase and as much of your website content as possible so that people searching. On that phrase or keyword. Roof replacement Raleigh so your website shows up. And while it's important to have content on your website around whatever your services that you're trying to sell, that's just not longer. That's, that's, that's not enough anymore. The Google AI search generative experience and tools like Chat GPT are pulling answers. They're not just relying on keyword matches. So the algorithm that's being used now is looking for content that clearly and directly responds to questions. Exactly. 

Janet: So if I could summarize what you just said. If you are a business owner and you have a website and you're trying to generate leads, your website now needs to answer questions, not just rank for keywords. And there will all, you know, SEO is evolving and changing and part of it is this AI visibility. So keywords are still important but, but just know that it is changing. And there's an additional aspect that you need to take into account when. Your content needs to feed these AI models or these AI answer engines. You're not just talking to the consumer, you're also talking to robots which talk about feeling like we're in the future. Weird. Exactly. So yeah. So these systems like Google's generative search engine, Bing Copilot, Chat GPT, what they're doing is they're crawling and summarizing and repackaging your website content into an answer format. 

Meredith: Exactly. So if the content on your website is not easily digestible or structured in a way that an AI engine can turn that content into an answer, then your website's going to be skipped. Even if it's technically would be a good resource for say a homeowner looking for a service. But the AI bot doesn't recognize it as such because the content is not structured in a way that helps it formulate an answer like phrase. 

Janet: Wow. So much is changing. So I think one of the biggest risks right now that our listeners that contractors in the home improvement space, one of the biggest risks that you could face right now is just putting your head in the sand. And not doing anything while AI is changing the rules of the Internet for sure. And so doing nothing we are saying is really not an option. It is not as an agency we're changing our tactics. We're constantly experimenting, reading up, testing new strategies all of these things leading towards feeding AI engines. But you know, we're also making sure that it's still good content for humans. But you know, we are constantly moving and acting on it. 

Meredith: So yeah, I think the, the biggest threat is not trying to adopt these changes and leaning into AI. But you know, there's a way to achieve it. And as an agency, we're here to coach and mentor our clients and put new strategies into place. And hopefully as you guys are listening, you're getting some new ideas as well. 

Janet: Yeah. So the big takeaway I think here is this is a three part miniseries. The big message we wanted you to get today is that AI has absolutely changed the way people search. And it's changed the way they interact with the Internet. And that we are absolutely seeing that hit online lead generation tactics and what worked in the past. And it's changing so fast that I can say like this is July when we're recording this, July 2025. We didn't start out this year talking like this. Right. Like we weren't having these conversations in January. Right. We weren't even having some of these conversations in April. Right. So it's changing really fast. You know, all the agencies out there definitely, you know, they've got their eye on things and looking at, you know, how can we adapt our tactics to, to, you know, change with the times and still be able to generate leads. So if you're listening, the takeaway is the game has changed, it's continuing to change and it's changing quickly. Homeowners and potential customers that are looking for your services, the way they're looking is changing and your digital tactics need to change to meet these new conditions if you want to stay visible and viable in your market. 

Meredith: Absolutely. And we are going to be talking about some of those tactics and in the shift that we're taking in next week's episode. But if you are motivated and inspired right now and you want to know how can I go ahead and take action if it is moving so quickly? Well we have a free resource for you guys. If you go to the free resource, if you go to the website I believe this is episode 45. Find that page on the website. We are going to link to it on that podcast page. Its a free download. It should give you guys a better look into some of those tactics. If you want to go ahead and get, take action now. But again, don't forget to stop back in next week and listen to that episode. We would love, yeah, part two. Of this three part series. 

Janet: Okay, so this has been another fun episode. If you got any value out of it we hope that you will subscribe, hit that like button, maybe leave us a review and definitely tell some of your peers about it. And don't forget, next we're going to be continuing this conversation about AI and taking a deeper dive into how you can reevaluate your digital tactics and look at what's working now and what might not be working so well anymore with all of these AI changes. For sure, that is going to be a good one. And I think we've got one of our amazing account managers joining you for that. Exactly. So guys, make sure you tune in next week to hear from Janet and one of our account managers. And as always, thank you guys for joining us for another episode and we'll talk to you soon. Digital Marketing for Contractors is created by FatCat Strategies.