David Pead, CBE Marketing Network
The fourth and final session curated by the CBE Marketing Network at UK Construction Week examines one of the fastest-moving and most uncertain areas currently facing built environment marketers: the rapid reshaping of search, visibility and audience behaviour online.
As AI-generated search results, platform algorithms and zero-click behaviour increasingly influence how information is discovered and consumed, marketing teams are being forced to rethink long-established assumptions around SEO, content, attribution and digital performance.
AI, search and zero-click: what is keeping marketers awake at night?
Wednesday 13 May | 14:30–15:15
Marketing & Procurement Stage
Chaired by Kate Perrin, Marketing Director at Barbour ABI, the session brings together client-side and agency perspectives from across the sector to explore how organisations are responding in practice.
The discussion will focus on the changing ways specifiers and clients research companies, products and technical information online, and what happens when users increasingly receive answers directly from AI tools or platform summaries without ever clicking through to a website.
That shift has significant implications for visibility, lead generation and how marketing value is measured.
The session will also explore how organisations are adapting their content strategies as AI systems become more influential in shaping search behaviour and surfacing information.
Charlotte Hilton, Senior Digital Marketing and Communications Manager at Sika UK, and Penny Howell-Jones, Marketing Director at Siderise, will discuss how major manufacturers are responding to changes in technical search behaviour, specification journeys and digital discovery.
Ryan Jones, Managing Director at SLG Agency, and Amelia Spence, Managing Director at Fabrick Agency, bring the agency perspective, advising clients on how AI is reshaping content strategy, search performance and digital priorities.
The conversation is expected to move well beyond generic discussions about AI productivity tools and instead focus on the wider structural implications for marketing across the built environment.
Topics will include:
- AI-generated search summaries and zero-click behaviour
- the growing importance of structured and machine-readable content
- how organisations maintain visibility when audiences never reach their websites
- the challenge of attribution when engagement increasingly happens through AI tools and “dark funnel” channels
- and whether traditional SEO models are beginning to lose relevance
The discussion will also examine the risks associated with AI interpretation of technical information, particularly for safety-critical and compliance-led products where accuracy is essential.
For marketers trying to understand how AI and changing search behaviour will affect visibility, influence and digital strategy over the next few years, this is likely to be one of the most closely watched discussions of the programme.
To hear directly from those shaping marketing across the built environment, you can register to attend UK Construction Week here.
Part of a wider programme
This session is one of four curated by the CBE Marketing Network at UK Construction Week:
From brand to pipeline: how marketing is driving revenue and growth in construction
Exploring how marketing is aligning with commercial teams to influence pipeline and performance
Building marketing capability in construction
Examining how client and agency relationships are evolving in a changing market
Trust and credibility under scrutiny
Looking at compliance, sustainability messaging and evidence-based communication in a more regulated environment