They Won’t Tell You Your Website Is Obsolete

I’m going to tell you something uncomfortable that nobody at Thryv, Hibu or the other Yellowpages spin-off companies wants you to know.

The run of the mill website template they built for you was designed for a version of Google that doesn’t really exist anymore.

Even though your credit card gets dinged for digital marketing fees each month, while trusting they are keeping you competitive, the fundamental way that customers find businesses has changed completely.

It seems overnight.

Your website is optimized for yesterday’s search behavior. Your competitors who’ve moved beyond template-based platforms are being recommended by AI search tools that your potential customers are already using.

The gap between where you are and where you need to be is getting wider every single month.

Every single day actually.

Let me show you exactly what’s happening and why the Thryv, Hibu approach is already obsolete.

The Search Behavior That Thryv & Hibu Was Built For No Longer Exists

When Thryv, Hibu (and before that, Dex Media and other platforms) first started building websites for small businesses, the customer journey looked like this:

Someone needed a service. They opened Google and typed in keywords like “HVAC repair Cincinnati” or “personal injury lawyer near me.”

Google showed them a list of websites ranked by various factors. The person clicked on several websites to compare options.

They evaluated businesses based on website quality, information provided, and reviews. Eventually, they contacted one or more businesses to get quotes or schedule service.

Thryv’s entire platform was optimized for that journey. Their websites were designed to rank well for keyword searches.

They were built to convert visitors who clicked through from search results. They followed all the best practices for traditional Search Engine Optimization.

(Well they were supposed to, anyway).

And for about a decade, that was the approach. And their higher paying customers always surfaced to the top of all the searches.

You could buy your way to the top. The search system could be bribed.

AI has not only moved the goalposts, it has blown up the football field.

How Your Customers Actually Find Businesses in 2026

Here’s what actually happens when someone needs a service today.

They open ChatGPT, Google’s AI search, Perplexity, or one of the other AI tools that are rapidly becoming the default way people find information.

They ask a conversational question like “I need a reliable HVAC company in Cincinnati that does emergency repairs and has good reviews. Who should I call?”

The AI system pulls information from across the internet. It synthesizes that information into a coherent answer. It mentions specific businesses by name.

It quotes their reviews. It explains why those particular businesses are good choices for what the person needs.

The person never opens Google the way they used to.

They don’t need to- their personal AI search robot does all the dirty work.

They never browse through a list of ten websites. They never click on your Thryv-built website to learn about your business.

They get their answer from the AI tool and they contact one of the businesses that got recommended.

That’s the new customer journey, and it’s already the dominant pattern for a huge percentage of searches.

More than 60% of Google searches now end without anyone clicking on any website. ChatGPT processes over one billion queries every single day. Google’s AI Overviews appear in almost half of all informational searches.

As of Feb. 2026, research shows that 71% of American consumers are already using AI search tools to research purchases and evaluate businesses.

The asteroid isn’t headed through space, it’s in our atmosphere and all over our radars.

Why Thryv Websites Fail in AI Search- Yes, It’s Time To Blow Up Your Site

Thryv websites were built using templates designed for traditional SEO. They’re optimized for the old customer journey where someone clicks from search results to your website.

But they’re fundamentally not structured for AI Search.

AI systems require websites that has all content organized in specific ways to understand what your business does, why you’re credible, and when you should be recommended.

The AI bots of ChatGPT and Perplexity and Gemini look for schema markup that explicitly identifies your business type, service area, specializations, and credentials. They evaluate content structure to determine if information can be easily extracted and cited.

They assess trust signals like author credentials, publication dates, customer testimonials, and third-party validation.

The websites are built for humans to browse, not for AI systems to process and cite.

Trying to get AI Search bots to promote your current outdated website is like trying to teach my teenage daughter how to drive a stick shift.

It ain’t going to work.

When someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity to recommend businesses in your category, your current Thryv/Hibu website is invisible.

The AI system can’t understand it well enough to evaluate whether you should be recommended.

It can’t extract the information it needs to cite you as a source. It doesn’t recognize the trust signals that would make it confident recommending you.

So it recommends your competitors instead. At least the competitors who have websites structured for AI understanding. Good news is- not many of your local competitors have a clue about this either.

Yet.

But I do. Been studying this hard since it was first reported. The clients of Mader Marketing are racing toward AI search optimization- and it’s already paid off for most of them.

The Pattern I’ve Seen Before- They Are Slow On The Up-Take

I know exactly how this story ends because I lived through it myself.

When I owned my cleaning company and hired Vivial (Thryv’s predecessor) for marketing, they were consistently six months behind every major shift in digital marketing.

When mobile-first indexing became critical, they were still optimizing primarily for desktop. When voice search started changing query patterns, they were still using tactics designed for typed searches.

When local SEO required a different approach, they were still using generic templates.

Every single time, I watched competitors with better marketing partners adapt faster and capture market share while I was stuck waiting for Vivial to update their platform.

The AI Search shift is following the exact same pattern, except it’s happening faster and the impact is more dramatic.

Thryv’s internal teams are aware that AI Search is changing the landscape. They’re studying it. They’re developing plans to address it.

Eventually, they’ll roll out some kind of AI optimization feature that they can sell to their clients as an upgrade or add-on.

But while they’re moving through their corporate processes, your customers are already using AI tools to make buying decisions.

Your competitors with more agile marketing partners are already optimized for AI Search.

The window of opportunity is closing while Thryv is still in the planning phase.

What Modern AI Search Optimization Actually Looks Like

The businesses that are succeeding in AI Search aren’t using template-based websites from platforms like Thryv or Hibu. They’re implementing strategies based on how AI systems actually work.

They’re adding comprehensive schema markup that tells AI systems exactly what they do, who they serve, where they operate, and why they’re qualified.

They’re restructuring content with clear hierarchies, descriptive headers, and direct answers that AI systems can extract and cite.

They’re building trust signals across multiple platforms, not just on their website. They’re creating citation-worthy content that demonstrates real expertise and experience.

They’re optimizing for what researchers call the E-E-A-T framework: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

These are the signals that AI systems evaluate when deciding whether to cite and recommend a business.

Most importantly, they’re not trying to do this with templates.

They’re using customized approaches that highlight what makes their specific business unique and credible in ways that AI systems can understand and communicate.

This is exactly the kind of old-school Madison Avenue creativity that Mader Marketing brings to every client. We’re not selling you a template that works for thousands of businesses.

We’re building a presence that teaches AI systems why YOUR business specifically should be recommended.

The future of digital and online marketing is human, personal, real businesses. And AI can and will find them and place them at the top of searches.

So- to this point in time- if you have worked hard and done the right thing in the real, analog world we all live in- AI will reward you.

But- you must understand how to design your online website and messaging for AI to discover you.

On the other hand, if you have been gaming the old SEO system by stuffing keywords and paying for phony backlinks- you will soon have to pay the piper.

The Real Cost of Staying with the Yellowpage bunch

The most expensive decision you can make right now is to stay with Thryv, Hibu, etc. and hope that they eventually catch up to where the market already is.

Every month you wait is another month where your competitors are being recommended by AI tools while you’re invisible.

Every month is another month of lost leads that you can never recover. Every month makes the gap harder to close because your competitors are building authority and citation frequency in AI systems while you’re standing still.

Research shows that businesses optimized for AI Search are seeing 40% to 60% more qualified leads than businesses using traditional SEO alone. In my company- that number is more like 50% to 70%.

If that represents $100,000 in annual revenue for your business, the cost of waiting six months is $50,000 that you’ll never get back.

And you’re paying Thryv monthly fees the entire time for a website that’s optimized for search behavior that no longer exists.

Why I’m Being So Direct About This

I started Mader Marketing specifically because I experienced what happens when you trust a platform that moves too slowly during a major transition.

I watched my cleaning business lose ground to competitors while Vivial took months to adapt to changes I could see happening in real time.

I felt the frustration of paying for marketing services that were already obsolete. I learned the hard way that platform companies optimize for their operational efficiency, not for your competitive positioning.

That’s why I’m being direct about what’s happening with Thryv and AI Search. You deserve to know the truth about what you’re paying for and what you’re missing.

Thryv isn’t an evil company. They serve thousands of clients and they’ve built systems that work at scale.

Think of them like the Home Depot of small business digital marketing, and think of Mader Marketing , as Scott’s Hardware Store on Plum Street.

We have 30 clients- they have 30,000.  (Probably much more).

We are uniquely positioned at the right time with the right personal, partnership approach.

What You Should Do Next

You don’t need to make any dramatic decisions today. But you do need to understand where you actually stand.

If you want to understand your specific situation more clearly, I offer a complimentary 30-minute AI Search Readiness Assessment for business owners who are currently using Thryv, Hibu or similar platforms.

I’ll show you exactly where you stand in AI Search results right now. I’ll show you what your competitors are doing differently.

I’ll show you what it would actually take to become citation-worthy in the AI systems that your customers are already using.

No pitch. No pressure. You’ve got my word.

Just honest evaluation based on what I’ve learned from implementing AI Search optimization for dozens of small businesses who left platforms like Thryv because they needed a partner who could move faster.

Your current website isn’t keeping you competitive anymore.

The question is whether you’re going to recognize that and take action before your competitors have already captured the market share you’re losing right now.

The asteroid is up there, times running out.