Ten years ago, someone furnishing a home or a hotel went to a showroom, flipped through a catalogue or asked a designer. Those still matter. But today almost everyone starts in the same place: a search box, or an AI assistant.
This guide explains where customers and designers look for furniture, what they type, and what you can do so your brand is the one they find.
Where customers look first
When someone needs a new sofa, a dining table or a full fit-out, they usually do some of this before they contact anyone:
- Search Google in their own language, often with the piece, the material and a place, like “mesa de comedor roble macizo Portugal”.
- Ask an AI assistant like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Perplexity: “Which brands make good modular sofas in Italy that ship to Brazil?”
- Browse design magazines, Pinterest-style inspiration and designer sourcing sites for ideas and brand names.
- Look at fair and showroom listings, before or after the big furniture and design events.
- Ask their designer or architect, who in turn checks who is mentioned in design media.
Most of this happens before you ever hear from them. If you're not visible at this stage, you're not on their shortlist.
What they actually type
Furniture searches are very practical. They usually combine three things:
- The piece, with the words their market uses (not always the words you use).
- A detail: material, style, size, colour, or a use such as “for small apartment” or “for hotel”.
- A place: the country they live in, where they want it made, or “delivery to”.
A German customer looking for a Portuguese dining table might type “Esstisch Eiche massiv Portugal”. A Brazilian designer might type “fornecedor de móveis sob medida para hotel”. A US buyer might type “Italian modular sofa shipping to US”.
Some of these searches have fewer visitors than broad ones like “sofa”. But each visitor is closer to buying a high-value piece or placing a large trade order. Ranking first for ten of these searches can be worth more than thousands of random visitors.
Why many furniture brands are invisible
When I check furniture websites, the same problems come up again and again:
- One language only. Customers who search in Spanish, Portuguese, German or French never see the site.
- No page for what a customer searches for. Everything is on one “Collections” page, or pieces have only a photo and a name, so Google has nothing specific to show.
- Missing basic facts. No clear materials, dimensions, lead times, delivery countries or trade terms. Customers and AI assistants can't confirm the brand is a fit.
- Nobody mentions them. No features in design media, no directory profiles, no fair listings, so Google and AI have little reason to trust them.
- Slow or broken on phones, where many people first open a link, especially with large photos.
How to be the brand they find
You don't need to fix everything at once. These steps make the biggest difference, in this order:
- Choose your top two or three markets. Countries where you already sell or where demand is growing.
- Find the words customers there use. Research what people actually search for, in their language, in each market.
- Create a page for each main piece or collection and market. Each page answers what a customer from that country wants to know: materials, dimensions, finishes, lead time, delivery, trade options.
- Make the facts clear. Location, delivery countries, certifications and contact details, written plainly and the same everywhere online.
- Get mentioned on trusted sites. Design magazines, directories, associations and fair listings in your markets.
- Check AI assistants. Ask ChatGPT and Gemini the questions your customers ask and see who gets named. That shows you where you stand.
How long it takes
SEO is not instant like an advert. Most furniture brands start to see new visitors and the first enquiries from abroad after three to six months. The results keep building after that, and unlike ads, they don't stop when you stop paying.
If you want to know where your brand stands today, I can check for free how you appear on Google and in AI assistants in your top three countries. Request a free website check.