Quick Summary: Our Strategic Shift to AI-Ready Marketing

The Challenge: Like many Vermont businesses, we’ve noticed a shift in 2024-2025: despite active Google Ads, social media posts, and a strong Google Business Profile, inquiries have slowed.
The Question: We asked ourselves the hard question: Is the local economy cooling down, or has the way clients find architects fundamentally changed? Or both? How can we tell?
The Realization: We believe it's the latter. "Old School" SEO (keywords) is dying. Clients are now using AI to find answers, and traditional websites are getting bypassed.
The Solution: We are pivoting to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) while maintaining an SEO friendly backbone. We are re-engineering our site to "speak" clearly to AI tools, ensuring Arocordis Design remains visible to the next generation of homeowners.

The Sound of Silence: Diagnosing the Drop in Inquiries

For a boutique architecture firm like us, the "canary in the coal mine" is the inbox. Recently, we noticed a trend that gave us pause. Despite maintaining our Google Ads spend, keeping our Google Business Profile updated, and sharing our work on social media, the project inquiries weren't coming in at their usual pace.

It is easy to jump to the scary conclusion: Is the Vermont economy turning downward? Are homeowners pulling back on renovations and new builds? What is going on this year? We know there is not enough housing in Vermont of all kinds. See this summary from the VHFA.

But when we looked closer at the data, we realized the demand for housing and renovation in Washington, Lamoille, and Orange Counties is still there. Although construction is softening as compared to a year ago slightly at -1.9%. from the US Bureaut of Labor Statistics, it’s not a significant number. So the demand and people haven't disappeared—but the way they search for us has.

The Hypothesis: It’s Not the Market, It’s the Mechanism We realized we might be relying on a playbook from 2015 to win work in 2025.

Then: You typed "Architect Montpelier" into Google and clicked the first link.

Now: You ask Siri, "Who specializes in aging-in-place renovations near me?" or you ask ChatGPT, "Summarize the pros and cons of building new vs. renovating in Vermont."

If our website is built only for the "Old Way," those AI tools ignore us. We aren't losing clients to the economy; we are losing them to the "Zero-Click" search results where AI answers the question without sending the user to our website like they did before. Given the market uncertainties we see every day and AI related meta trends we knew we needed to get curious and dig deeper.

What is the difference between SEO and GEO? To fix this, we are moving from Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).

Traditional SEO was about convincing a computer we had the right keywords.

New GEO is about convincing an Artificial Intelligence that we have the authoritative answer.

We are partnering with tools like SEOSpace, a dedicated auditor for Squarespace, (they host our website) to ensure our technical foundation is flawless. But more importantly, we are restructuring our content. You will start seeing "Quick Guides" and "Bottom Line Up Front" summaries on our posts. We are formatting our expertise so that when an AI scans the web for "Vermont Modern Farmhouse Trends," it recognizes Arocordis Design as the expert source it should cite.

Why transparency matters to our clients and trade partners?

We are sharing this "behind the scenes" look because it reflects how we approach Architecture. Whether we are designing a Net-Zero energy rustic modern home or rebuilding our marketing strategy, we believe in using the best available data to solve the problem.

We don't just hope for the best; we architecturally design and engineer a solution. By following the same process in designing a home and working with our customers, of being curious, asking questions, seeking connections and answers we will reinvigorate how we connect online. Design is by its very nature a messy but creative process whether a home or a website. That is why we love being an architect. We are transparrently optimistic at heart.

Want to follow our experiment?

We are treating this website like a living laboratory. Over the coming months, we will be updating our Project Portfolio and Arocordis blog with these GEO principles. We invite you to stick around and see if our hypothesis is right. Come on back every once in a while. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Google Business Profile, Houzz, and Pinterest where this experimental mindset will carry over and connect to.

If you are looking for an architect who values innovation—in building science and business strategy—we’d love to start a conversation. Contact us today.

A note: Google Gemini was a partner in writing this blog post.