Yes, SEO is still worth it. But if you’re paying for it, you ought to know what you expect it to do. I want the right people to find your business, see enough to decide whether you’re a good fit, and have a clear way to take the next step. A first-page ranking can help with that. So can a mention in an AI answer. The work is only worth the investment if it helps move a real customer toward a decision.
A conversation on Ratio’s No Code Wizardry Show got me thinking about why people still visit websites. If I’m replacing a pair of hair clippers, a quick summary might be all I need. If I’m choosing a company to build something my business will depend on, I want to see its work, understand how it operates, and get a feel for who I’ll be dealing with. The more I stand to lose by getting the decision wrong, the more I want to see for myself.
That’s where I think much of the discussion about SEO and AI goes astray. People talk about searches as if they were all the same. A person looking up the definition of a term and a person looking for a contractor to work on their house may both start on Google. Only one of them needs to decide whom to let through the front door. If you run that contracting business, your marketing ought to be built around what that customer needs to know.
Your website is your place of business online
I think of your website as your brick-and-mortar location on the internet. Social media is more like setting up a booth at a trade fair. There are already people walking past, and you can meet customers you might never have met otherwise. I’ve seen businesses make plenty of sales that way. But the organizer decides where your booth goes, who walks past it, and what it costs to get a better spot next time. When somebody wants to come back and look at everything you offer, they need to know where to find you.
A website gives you a place to send them. You decide how to explain your services, which work to show, and whether the next step is a phone call, a quote request, a booking, or a purchase. A customer can visit after you close for the day and answer questions that would otherwise sit in your inbox overnight. A referral can check whether you do the kind of work their friend told them about. Someone who saw one product on social media can see what else you make and buy it without waiting for a reply.
That’s why Website Design and Website Hosting & Support sit at the center of what I do. A site takes ongoing care. Your services change. Your best examples get better. A form breaks, or you discover that customers keep calling to ask something you thought the website already explained. Keeping the site current is part of running the business it represents.
The same principle applies to Email Marketing. When people give you permission to email them, you have a direct way to tell them what’s new, answer a seasonal question, or bring them back to something on your site. A social post can introduce you. An email list gives people who already know you a way to stay in touch. I want businesses to have both a place customers can return to and a way to keep that relationship going.
What changed when Ramon could sell from his own website
When I first started working with Ramon Valdez Fine Furniture, his site was informational. It gave people a place to see his work and learn about him, but social media was where he got most of the action. People were interested. The problem was that interest could come from anywhere, and there was no single place to send someone who was ready to buy.
We added ecommerce and started pointing interested buyers to the website, wherever the conversation began. Now people could see what was available, learn about a product, and buy it there. Ramon had an easier way to handle sales, and customers had a more professional experience. The website became an ongoing sales channel in its own right. That was a major change for his business, and it depended on having a site that could do the job.
It also gave other people a way to evaluate him. International woodworking magazines could see the work behind the name before inviting him to write. Manufacturers could review what he did as they considered him for spokesperson roles on recurring podcasts they sponsored. The site also helped him document some of the creations he went on to trademark. The craftsmanship was always his. Having a professional place to show it gave people something they could look at, share, and come back to.
Ramon’s example matters here because he currently gets those benefits without running a dedicated SEO campaign. His story shows what the website itself made possible. If I had started by trying to get more people to a site that couldn’t take an order, I would have left the biggest opportunity on the table. Before you buy more visibility, look at what a customer can actually do once they find you.
What AI changes about search
Sometimes the answer on the search page is enough. Pew Research Center examined browsing activity from 900 U.S. adults in March 2025 and found that users clicked a traditional result on 8% of Google visits with an AI summary, compared with 15% of visits without one. They clicked a link inside the summary itself on just 1% of visits with a summary. That’s a snapshot of what those users did across many kinds of searches. It gives me a reason to take fewer clicks seriously and to look at the kind of search behind the numbers before deciding what they mean for a particular business. Pew Research Center’s study
Imagine someone asking how often a commercial parking lot needs to be restriped. They may get a general answer and go on with their day. Now imagine a property manager looking for someone who can restripe a busy lot without closing it during business hours. They need to know who serves their area, whether the crew can work around tenants, and how to get an estimate. An AI answer might give them a few names. A service page that shows similar work and explains the scheduling process gives them a reason to call one of those names.
Google says its generative search features draw on its core search ranking and quality systems, and that established SEO practices still apply. I take that to mean the fundamentals deserve your attention. Make sure the pages you want people to find can be indexed. Put useful details in text a visitor can read. Link related pages together. Give people evidence from work you’ve actually done. A page can be eligible for Google Search and still miss out on any given AI Overview. I care about giving the right page a fair chance to appear and making it useful when somebody gets there. Google’s guidance on generative AI features in Search
What I’d do first with a limited budget
I’d get a website in place. If you sell a few things on weekends and you’re still finding out how much demand there is, a simple site on a free or low-cost DIY platform may do the job. Tell people what you make, show good photos, and give them a reliable way to order or contact you. If the business has to support you, your employees, or a steady stream of customers, I’d invest in a site designed by someone who understands marketing. Ask them to explain what a visitor should be able to do on each key page and how you’ll know whether they’re doing it.
For a business that qualifies, my next move is to claim and verify its free Google Business Profile. That gives you a place to manage how your business appears on Google Search and Maps and a chance to show up in the local pack, the group of nearby businesses Google may display for a local search. Fill out the profile accurately and keep it current. Use the service areas you actually cover and the hours when someone can reach you. If customers need an appointment or you go to them, describe the business accordingly. Google’s Business Profile guidance
From there, I’d spend on the search market you can actually serve. Local SEO makes sense if you need nearby customers to find you. A company working across Farmington, Aztec, and Bloomfield can explain where it goes, what jobs it takes, and show work that gives people in those communities a reason to call. National SEO makes sense when you can deliver outside your local market. For a company that ships specialty products or provides a service remotely, the stronger search opportunity may be a specific problem it solves for a particular buyer, wherever that buyer lives.
I’d also be selective about Content Marketing. Start with the questions customers ask before they spend money. What affects the cost? How long will the work take? What should they have ready before they call? If I hear a question repeatedly, I want to answer it somewhere I can send the next person. An article like that can help a customer who finds you on Google, give you something useful to send after an inquiry, and save time on your next call.
Where Business Brain fits
I built Business Brain to help with AI visibility. The work starts by documenting what your business does, whom it serves, where it works, and how someone can take the next step. Then we look at where those details appear and where they need to be clearer or more consistent. When you change a service, expand to a new area, or update how people book, those facts need attention again.
Think about a company that has stopped doing residential work and now serves commercial properties. Its new homepage says so, but the old service page and directory profiles still invite homeowners to call. A prospective customer could find either version. An AI answer could pick up the outdated version too. The work I want to do is make the current information clear at the sources people and search tools can actually find. Each platform decides what to show, so I judge the work first by whether the public information is accurate and useful.
If the site and business information are already in decent shape, I can work on Business Brain alongside Local or National SEO. If the site barely explains what you sell or the quote form doesn’t work, that’s where I’d spend the first dollar. Then I’d measure progress by the things that help you run the business. Are you getting inquiries for the work you want? Do people know enough to have a productive first conversation? Are more customers booking, requesting quotes, or buying? Rankings, clicks, and AI mentions can help explain what changed. The business results tell you what was worth doing.
A checklist for deciding what to do next
- Open your website on your phone. Can a first-time visitor tell what you offer, who it’s for, and how to take the next step?
- Test your main call to action yourself. Submit the quote form, make a test booking, or go through checkout.
- If you’re eligible for Google Business Profile, verify it and compare its contact details, hours, and service areas with your website.
- Pick one real customer question and answer it on the most useful page. Add an example from your work where you can.
- Run two AI searches. Ask what the tool knows about your business, then ask who it would recommend for your service without naming you. Record the date, the tool, the sources it cites, and anything it gets wrong.
- Choose Local or National SEO based on where you can serve customers. Start with the services you want more inquiries for.
- Decide what you’ll count over the next few months. Track qualified calls, quote requests, bookings, or purchases alongside search impressions and clicks.
If you’re unsure which item deserves your attention first, bring me the challenge. Tell me what you’re selling, how people find you now, and where you think you’re losing them. We can talk through what makes sense for your business in a free consultation.
