The Marketer’s Guide to Search Everywhere Optimization

Let's be honest. SEO used to be a lot simpler. You picked your keywords, optimized your site, and (hopefully) climbed the rankings on Google. That was the model — one channel, one goal, one metric that mattered with entire teams and budgets organized around it.

But that only worked when people started and ended their search journey on Google. I think we can all hold hands and agree that that's not the case anymore.

Google is certainly still a primary player, but generational trends and new, user-friendly technology have people asking questions everywhere – on TikTok, consulting ChatGPT, checking Maps, browsing Reddit, and scrolling Instagram.

They gather context, compare experiences, and validate trust long before your site's homepage even loads.

People aren't looking for a list of links. They're looking for quick, clear, relevant answers.

That's why I've stopped thinking about SEO as a channel and started thinking about it as part of something much broader. As the community debates whether SEO is dead, I think of it as an evolution to Search Everywhere Optimization.

This isn't about gaming a single algorithm. It's about making sure your brand shows up the right way — with the right data, the right content, and the right signals — everywhere people search, discover, and engage. That's a true brand strategy.

Search doesn't live in a box anymore. It's now in your social feed, on a map app, in a conversation with AI, or on a comment in a Reddit thread. People search when it makes sense to them, not where brands expect them to.

They use:

• Google and Maps to check proximity, hours, or availability

• ChatGPT and Gemini to compare options or get personalized answers

• TikTok and Instagram to see real visuals and real reactions

• Reddit to find out what's actually true — no filters, no fluff

It reminds me of what happened with streaming. We all swore we were done with cable — no more bundles, just freedom and choice. But now we have countless different subscriptions based on whatever show or series we're chasing. Each comes with its own interface, algorithm, and content rules. Discovery didn't get simpler. It got more fragmented and personalized.

Search has taken the same turn. People don't go to one place for answers. They go wherever feels most useful, most trusted, and now most human in the moment.

That's why we created Same Search, Different Results. It breaks down how identical questions get answered differently depending on the platform, and why brands need to show up across all of them.

To build a strategy that works, you need to understand the types of search people actually use today — and more importantly, how they ask across each one.

Search is no longer just transactional. It's contextual. It's conversational.

People aren't just typing "best pizza NYC" anymore — they're asking:

• "Where should I grab dinner tonight if I'm in Soho and want something casual but good?"

• "What's a dog-friendly hotel in Boston that won't cost a fortune?"

• "Which urgent care centers are open past 9 and actually have good reviews?"

Those questions happen beyond a search box and land on traditional, AI, and social platforms. The person shapes the question, and the platform determines the content that wins in the answer.

Here's how each type works:

You can't afford to optimize for just one. Today's visibility means being ready for all three, with the content, structure, and trust signals to match.

Each of these platforms reads intent differently. Your brand needs to appear on all of them because your customers already are.

Search Everywhere Optimization is not a tactic. It's a strategic response to how people discover and validate brands today.

Visibility used to be owned by the SEO team. Now, it's shared across every function that touches the customer journey — from content and operations to social and support.

The challenge is, most brands aren't structured to support that kind of alignment:

If these teams aren't aligned on how people search and how your brand should respond, you end up with gaps, inconsistent answers, confusing experiences, and missed opportunities to show up where it matters.

Search Everywhere Optimization gives your brand a reason to pull these teams into one connected visibility strategy.

When these systems operate in silos, you're left with inconsistent brand signals. That hurts trust, undermines discoverability, and limits your ability to compete in search, especially AI-driven results.

1. Audit your visibility

Look beyond your rankings. Evaluate how your brand appears — or doesn't — across AI tools, map apps, social feeds, and review platforms. Are you present, accurate, and cited as a source? Use a tool like Scout to benchmark your visibility across traditional and AI-powered experiences.

2. Unify your brand data

Teams managing hours, menus, and services in silos leads to inconsistencies. Those inconsistencies get amplified across platforms. Use a structured system like a knowledge graph to keep your brand information complete and aligned.

3. Align on shared visibility goals

Visibility isn't one team's job anymore. Define KPIs that connect SEO, content, and local operations. Use shared benchmarks to close the gaps. Our AI checklist helps guide this alignment.

4. Rethink content for intent-driven discovery

Content should reflect how people ask questions, not just what you want to rank for. Build content that answers real queries and builds trust. Ask, "Would this copy help someone decide, or just add noise?"

5. Connect reviews to reputation strategy

Reviews are content. They influence people, and increasingly, AI. Use them to inform FAQs, location content, and search strategy. Don't leave them in a silo.**

Yext is the leading end-to-end digital presence platform, designed to connect brands with people at every point in their journey — from discovery to decision and beyond.

Here's how each product helps power Search Everywhere Optimization:

• Use Scout to see where your brand is — and isn't — showing up across AI, social, and search

• Store and structure brand facts using the Knowledge Graph, our centralized data foundation

• Sync that data through Listings across 200+ publishers

• Publish structured, schema-rich local content with Pages

• Monitor and respond to reviews through Reviews to reinforce brand credibility

• Add Search to your site to support AI-native question answering

• Manage your brand presence and connect social efforts to visibility with Social

• Strengthen customer relationships with Relate through consistent and compliant communication This isn't just a tech stack. It's an integrated, connected platform for brand presence, discoverability, and performance.

Search isn't a channel anymore. It's the outcome of every signal your brand sends — from the way your listings are formatted, to how you respond to reviews, to how your content sounds on TikTok or shows up in ChatGPT.

Search Everywhere Optimization is about aligning those signals. It's how you stay discoverable, trustworthy, and competitive in a world where people ask questions in a hundred different ways.

If your brand isn't structured for that yet, now's the time.

Resources for Marketers

Explore Scout →

Download the AI Search Checklist →