Peter Edquist is vice president of business development at Duda, where he works with strategic enterprise partners throughout the Americas. He has spent about a decade in the website-building industry and nearly three years at Duda. The company provides a white-label website platform used by more than 20,000 digital agencies and several hundred software platforms, including organizations serving local advertisers.
In this sponsored Q&A, E&P asked Edquist how AI discovery is changing local search, what small businesses need from their marketing providers and how publishers can package scalable services without losing their most valuable advantage: the local relationship. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
E&P: What are local advertisers struggling with most today?
EDQUIST: Their biggest challenge is that they have too much on their plates. They have the work they do every day, but they also have to figure out how to grow offline and online. It is harder to get found, and many small businesses are working with several providers just to manage what they need. They are time poor. They want phone calls, leads and more business, but they usually do not have enough hands to manage every marketing channel themselves.
E&P: When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini or another AI tool to recommend a local business, what helps determine which businesses appear?
EDQUIST: The two most important words are trust and accuracy. That was true in traditional search, and it is even more important in AI search. These systems need reliable information to pull from. Confidence increases when a business’s phone number, address, hours, expertise and other details appear across multiple sources and those sources agree. The business also needs useful content that clearly explains what it does. AI tools bring those signals together to decide which answers are accurate and relevant.
E&P: How should a publisher explain AI visibility to an advertiser who wants immediate return on investment?
EDQUIST: Start with something the business owner already understands: search is changing. Everyone has heard of ChatGPT, and many people already use AI tools to find answers. The message is simple: customers are looking in a different way, so the business needs an online presence those systems can find and trust. Then show the advertiser how it is appearing. Reporting can reveal whether the website is being found, how often the business appears in different prompts and where improvements are needed. Visibility into performance creates confidence, satisfaction and retention.
E&P: What outcomes should publishers emphasize?
EDQUIST: Small businesses are not asking for a website simply because they want a website. They want calls, leads and customers through the door. The service should connect the online presence to those business outcomes. The reporting layer matters because it makes the work visible, but the conversation should remain focused on whether the business is being found and whether that visibility is creating opportunities.
E&P: How much of the website and digital-marketing work should a publisher manage?
EDQUIST: There is no single model that fits every publisher or advertiser. Some business owners want control; many simply want a website that works and do not have time to build, maintain or learn the technology. A publisher can provide a white-glove service and manage the website and related campaigns, or it can provide tools that allow the customer to handle more independently. The right choice depends on the publisher’s strategy, the value it wants to provide and the way the service fits with the rest of its advertising offering.
E&P: What have Duda’s partnerships with publishers taught you about building this business at scale?
EDQUIST: A multi-product strategy leads to more growth, higher average revenue per customer and better retention. A website alone is not enough, and a single advertising product is not enough. The services need to work together. Publishers also need one place to manage the operation. Ten or 20 individually managed websites can quickly become difficult to maintain. The platform should make it easy to build and manage many sites, reuse the business information the publisher already has and keep that information current. AI and automation can streamline production while the publisher keeps the advertiser relationship.
E&P: What should a publisher do during the first 90 days of testing this opportunity?
EDQUIST: Begin by asking whether the current offering is modern and relevant. If the publisher offers only a website or only Google advertising, that is not enough. The services should be coordinated and packaged in a way that is very easy to understand. The advertiser should know what it will receive and how results will be shown. The sales representative also needs a simple story to tell because not every representative will be an expert in websites, AI or digital marketing. Clear packaging makes the value easier to sell and easier for the advertiser to trust.
E&P: What is the most important thing publishers should understand about AI discovery?
EDQUIST: People are looking for answers, not simply pages to click. Publishers are already seeing the effects of AI summaries and assistants on their own traffic, and local businesses face the same shift. Their information and expertise need to appear in the answers consumers receive. Machine and agent traffic will continue to grow, which makes accurate content and a strong online presence more important. The publishers that succeed will help advertisers adjust to that change instead of treating websites, search and reporting as separate products.
E&P: Why are publishers particularly well positioned to provide these services?
EDQUIST: Relationships and local relationships are more important than ever. For many small businesses, the local publisher may be their primary marketing connection. Publishers have spent years, sometimes decades, building that trust. They do not need to build every technology themselves. Duda works behind the scenes as a white-label partner, allowing the publisher to remain the trusted provider while adding services in one coordinated package. The opportunity is to use the relationship the publisher already has and continue adding value to it.
About Duda
Duda supplies the platform. The news organization brings the brand, market knowledge and trusted relationships. Together, those capabilities can help publishers create new revenue, improve advertiser retention and give local businesses better tools to prosper in an increasingly competitive digital marketplace.
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