Search marketing is democratising…

A phrase I stood upon BrightonSEO stage back in 2022 and declared to all who would listen.

A phrase that came about following an observation I myself experienced. I wanted to understand where I should head for something to eat in Lisbon, my destination should have been a Google search but that wasn’t where I went looking for solutions. Instead? I headed to TikTok and discovered solutions there. My first personal experience of Search Everywhere. In 2025, Search Everywhere™ isn’t just a concept, it’s a cultural shift in how people discover brands, solve problems, and make decisions. Born from real behavioural change (led by Gen Z and Millennials who were sick of the friction they experienced on our websites and a Google SERP) and has since been brought to life by the team at Deviation, it’s our call to arms: if people are searching everywhere, then brands need to start optimising and engineering their discoverability everywhere too.

We coined the term, I trademarked it - a move which cost me my cushty SEO Lead Job, and we’re proud to be building the strategy that defines it.
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So, What is Search Everywhere Optimisation?

Search Everywhere Optimisation is the evolution of SEO into a full-spectrum discoverability strategy.

It recognises that modern audiences no longer rely on a single search engine to find answers, products, or inspiration. It acknowledges that search was a platform but that has now shifted, and search is now very much a behaviour.

In 2025, users explore a mosaic of platforms including TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and even AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude.

This approach means optimising not just for keywords on Google, but for behaviour-driven discovery across social, community, and AI environments. It’s about showing up where attention already lives, creating content that is platform-native, and manufacturing content that shortens the messy middle of decision-making.

Search Everywhere™ is not just about ranking, it’s about being found, followed, and remembered wherever your audience is looking.

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From “SEO” to Discoverability Strategy

For over a decade, SEO was synonymous with Google. But the internet — and how we navigate it — has evolved. Today, discovery happens across a constellation, a search universe of platforms:

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TikTok: The Discovery Engine for the Next Generation
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I remember when I first mentioned TikTok SEO in 2021… I may as well have been laughed out of meetings - the comments on a blog I wrote for the CMA were brutal.

Now though, Tiktok is much more than just viral dances, TikTok has become the place where Gen Z and Millennials actively search for product recommendations, reviews, tutorials, and lifestyle inspiration. It's fast, visual, and driven by authentic creator content, making it one of the most powerful platforms for brand discovery and influence.

Reddit: The Internet’s Conversation Layer

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‍Reddit threads serve as trusted hubs for honest opinions, niche advice, and deep research. Whether it’s comparing skincare routines or discussing the best VPNs, Reddit is where people go for nuanced, crowd-sourced answers… and often where key brand perceptions are formed. Review and Recommendations and understanding use-cases are the go-to search journey considerations here for me.

YouTube: Long-Form Trust Building

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YouTube remains the go-to platform for in-depth content, from product reviews and unboxings to how-to guides and opinion pieces. It’s where audiences invest time, build trust in creators, and move from curiosity to consideration - making it critical for those historical mid-to-lower funnel discovery experiences.

But it’s not just about long-form anymore. ‘Shorts’ has entered the short-form arena in a big way, rivalling TikTok with its vertical, swipeable format. Shorts are being heavily pushed by the algorithm, giving brands and creators a way to tap into rapid reach and visibility, often landing in front of high-intent viewers. It’s also seamlessly integrated into YouTube’s broader ecosystem, meaning a 30-second Short can drive users directly to a channel, a long-form review, or even a product shelf.

I also can’t look past the potential of AI Mode leveraging the content you have consumed on YT and YT Shorts when providing you with solutions to your queries in the near future too!
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Pinterest:  Visual Search for Intent-Driven Inspiration

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Pinterest has always been this untapped behemoth for visual exploration, especially in categories like interior design, fashion, wellness, and events. It captures early intent beautifully and your audiences use it to plan, save, and discover before they ever hit a traditional search engine.

‍Instagram Reels: Quickfire Discovery Meets Social Proof

With Reels, Instagram offers a highly scrollable, algorithm-driven content feed that blends influencer culture with aspirational discovery. It’s a space where brands can tap into trends, connect through aesthetic storytelling, and benefit from community validation within conversations on the feed.

Discord: Community-First Search in Private Channels
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Discord servers are rapidly becoming the hidden search engines of niche communities. What started as a platform for gaming nerds and crypto bros has the potential to drive hyper-niche community engagement for industries like fashion and fitness. Brands can host deep, real-time conversations and feeds can act as high-trust spaces where peer recommendations and word-of-mouth hold huge sway.

Snapchat – The Sleeping Giant of Gen Z Discovery
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Often overlooked, Snapchat has enormous potential as a discovery engine. With 74% of Gen Z actively using the platform and spending serious time on it, its Snap Map feature is a game-changer for service-based and location-driven businesses. Combine that with Snapchat's increasingly clear prioritisation of shopping integrations and commerce-forward features, and it could well emerge as a TikTok rival - especially in local and impulse-led discovery moments.
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AI Tools (ChatGPT, Perplexity) – The New Front Door to Knowledge

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As AI chatbots and summarisation tools become more integrated into daily life, they’re shaping how users explore topics, compare products, and find answers - often without visiting a website at all. Brands must now optimise for machine-readable relevance and inclusion in AI-generated results.

Spoiler: ChatGPT w. Shopify will ABSOLUTELY change the landscape forever!

This is why Search Everywhere™ Optimisation matters. Search is no longer a single-platform activity. It’s a behavioural pattern.

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Why This Shift Is Happening

For me, there are a number of reasons that this shift is happening

1. Audience Behaviour Has Shifted

Younger generations are turning to platforms like TikTok and Reddit before Google. But it’s not just Gen Z - In research conducted by OFCOM,  2 million UK adults admitted to stopping using Google last year - the beginnings of a major shift in this writer's opinion!

It's becoming increasingly obvious to me that audiences of all ages are discovering via short-form video, creator content, and conversational communities.

2. Social & Creator Content Wins

Search experiences are becoming more visual, social, and interactive. Why wade through a 2,000-word blog post when a 30-second TikTok gives you the answer, with personality?

Creators and communities are lowering the barrier to entry too, you don’t need a content team with technical coding knowledge, just a point of view and platform-native execution.

3. Frictionless, Personalised Discovery

Traditional search journeys are full of drop-off points. Social search journeys, on the other hand, are short, snackable, and persistent - with algorithms feeding you relevant content hours, days or weeks later, pulling you back into the loop.

Usually, our brands would have to wait for another search to take place, with algorithms serving content in FYPs based on our previous engagements and signals, these drop offs becoming less obvious - users are constantly reminded of a problem they admitted to facing. 

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What if the “Messy Middle” could become a Flywheel

Today’s journey is fluid, dynamic, and non-linear … It's what Google has termed the “Messy Middle.”

Consumers now loop between trigger, exploration, and evaluation in a cycle that can span minutes or months, until something (or someone) pushes them toward action.

This is where Search Everywhere™ platforms shine, accelerating and enriching that loop at every stage. A TikTok video might spark the initial curiosity. A Reddit thread full of real-user experiences can validate or challenge your assumptions. A YouTube deep dive helps you assess options more thoroughly. A creator’s endorsement on Instagram or Shorts adds the final nudge. Then, later, an LLM like ChatGPT brings the brand name back into your consciousness, reinforcing recall and trust. This new journey isn’t confined to one search engine. It’s powered by this emergent search universe.

The old models gave us 10 blue links to crack this messy middle code.

The new model gives us continuous discovery.. Everywhere.

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The Goal of Search Everywhere Optimisation? 

For me, the ultimate goal of Search Everywhere™ Optimisation is to drive brand search on the platforms where conversion is taking place - its all about making your brand the destination, not just a stop along the way.

In a world where people are discovering products and services through creators, communities, and AI, the most powerful outcome isn’t just visibility. It’s intent.

When someone types your brand name directly into Google, TikTok, or even an AI chatbot, it means you’ve transcended passive discovery. You’ve created enough curiosity, relevance, and trust that the user seeks you out by name.

That’s not just SEO success, that’s a massive brand equity play too.

Every Shorts view, TikTok interaction, Reddit mention, and AI citation contributes to this. These touchpoints don’t exist in silos; they compound over time to plant the seed of brand awareness and nurture it until the moment of need. And when that moment comes? Your brand is the one they remember. The one they search for. The one they buy from.

So yes, Search Everywhere™ Optimisation is about showing up on every platform your audience uses. But more importantly, it’s about owning the moment when curiosity turns into intention - and intention becomes a branded search.

Because in the attention economy we now find ourselves within, demanding attention and being remembered is the highest-ranking signal of all.

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Case Study: How BullyBillows Generated £290K with Search Everywhere™

When premium dog accessories brand BullyBillows partnered with Deviation, they weren’t just looking for more clicks — they were chasing meaningful, revenue-driving discoverability.

In our first 4 months, we helped them generate more than double the revenue from organic search that they achieved in 2024. The key? A Search Everywhere™ strategy that aligned with how real people actually search today.
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‍The Strategy

We began by mapping the search universe around their category. What were people searching? Where were they searching? TikTok, Pinterest, Shorts, Google? And how could we insert BullyBillows into the journey at every stage?

We focused on two core outcomes initially:

Win TikTok Search: Rank creator-led, keyword-aligned intent-rich content for terms like “harness for dogs that pull”

Capture [Brand] & [Brand] + [Term] Queries on Google: Optimise collections like “BullyBillows Leads for Runners”  to convert that social-led curiosity into clicks and purchases

We weren't just chasing traffic… we were engineering discoverability and manufacturing buying journeys across platforms.
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The Results

+116% Revenue Growth YoY Vs the same period last year

+127% growth in branded search volume

+400% increase in Brand + Product Google queries

PS: Before the "percentages are easy to hide poor results" brigade come for us... I feel you! We've all said it BUT that revenue figure is well into 6 figures (£GBP).

Our TikTok content began ranking for high-intent queries within TikTok, driving brand curiosity that users carried over to Google. Then, Google began surfacing BullyBillows’ TikTok and creator content directly in the SERPs - a clear signal that our social search efforts were influencing traditional search visibility as well.
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Why It Worked

We didn’t treat TikTok as just a content feed - we treated it as a search engine.

We didn’t optimise for views - we optimised for intent.

We connected curiosity on social with conversion on search.

By doing this, we turned passive viewers into active searchers, and searchers into buyers.

That’s the true power of Search Everywhere™ Optimisation.

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So, Search Everywhere™?

It’s not about abandoning SEO, SEO IS NOT DEAD!

it’s about expanding it. It’s SEO, Social, AI, PR (More on this from me soon), and Content... unified under one digital strategy, one discoverability strategy.

When people are searching everywhere, you can’t afford to only be optimising for Google.

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