The Future is SEO 2.0: How to Win with Integrated SEO & Omni-Channel Search Everywhere Optimisation

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Designed for digital marketers, SEO professionals, and business owners, our “SEO 2.0: How to Win with Integrated SEO & Omni-Channel Search Everywhere Optimisation” white paper has been created for those who need to understand how the search landscape has changed and what strategies are required to succeed in 2026 and the years ahead.

Created by our very own SEO agency with decades of combined experience added into the mx, you’ll be introduced to our new SEO 2.0 Framework, which provides a holistic model for achieving visibility across all discovery platforms. From traditional search engines to AI answer engines, LLMs (ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity), social media platforms, Q&A communities (Quora and Reddit), and community forums, we’ll explain what modern search discovery means, backed by extensive research, official data, and real-world examples.

Editor’s Note [22.12.25]: This white paper represents a significant refresh of our original article titled, “The Integrated Approach to SEO and Digital Marketing,” first published on 11 June 2015 and last updated on 7 October 2024. What began as a foundational guide to integrated digital marketing has been completely reimagined for the AI world we now live in. This 2025 update expands the original concepts of branding, content creation, SEO, and social media integration into a full SEO 2.0 framework that addresses the fragmented discovery ecosystem we now operate in. New sections include AI Overviews, LLM-based search engines, the transformation of SERP real estate, Search Everywhere Optimisation, and a comprehensive glossary of emerging terminology including GEO, AEO, AIO, and LLMO.

What is Digital Marketing & How Does it Relate to SEO?

Lets start with the basics. Digital marketing, in its purest form, is the promotion of products and services through digital channels. For years, this was understood through the lens of silo’d strategies, where components like branding, content, SEO, paid advertising, and social media worked in isolation.

As early as 2015 we identified that this disjointed silo’d approach was ineffective, not just for SEO but digital marketing as a whole. Our goal was to create a seamless user journey, driving traffic from various channels to a high-converting central hub (the website) using an integrated approach to SEO and digital marketing.

What’s changed since 2015 is that the “spider diagram” of marketing, once centered around the the website, has become a complex, multi-dimensional scenario where the user journey is no longer linear. Discovery doesn’t just lead to your website; it happens within walled gardens like TikTok, in the conversational interfaces of LLMs and AI chatbots, and across a fragmented landscape of community platforms. This white paper builds upon our core principles of integrated digital marketing and develops them into a full framework that we call “SEO 2.0”.

Is SEO Dead?

The statement, “SEO is dead,” has been a recurring headline in the digital marketing industry for over a decade. It’s a powerful claim that generates clicks and sparks debate, but it fundamentally misses the point.

As covered in our “Death of SEO” report, the phrase “SEO has died” appeared nearly 5,000 times between 2016 and 2020 alone according to Ahrefs, nearly two full years before the launch of ChatGPT.

AI Means The Death of SEO? Not So Fast – Let’s Look At How AI is Shaping The Future of SEO

Today, a simple Google search for the term yields tens of thousands of results, illustrating a persistent anxiety about the future of SEO.

This section tackles the debate head-on. We will explore the compelling data that fuels the “death of SEO” narrative before providing a clear and evidence-based rebuttal that SEO isn’t dead; instead the concept of ‘search’ is something far more complex, strategic, and integrated where the need for optimisation has never been more critical.

The Argument for the “Death of SEO”

The anxiety surrounding SEO isn’t surprising. We’ve seen fractured seismic shifts in technology and user behaviour, leading to a quantifiable erosion of the traditional search model, which has led to questions like below:

“With AI-generated results taking centre stage, will the standard ten blue links (organic search results), which have already been demoted below sponsored results, local results, ‘people also ask’ results, and so on, be pushed out of existence?”

The primary evidence supporting this concern can be grouped into several main categories.

The Decline of Traditional Search Engine Volume

The most significant macro-trend is the projected decline in the use of traditional search engines as the primary gateway to the internet.

Authoritative research from Gartner predicts that by 2026, traditional search engine volume will decrease by a staggering 25% as users increasingly turn to AI chatbots and other virtual agents for answers.

This isn’t a distant forecast; it’s a near-term reality that demands immediate strategic attention and the implications of this shift are profound. For over two decades, Google has been the de facto starting point for the internet. Businesses have built entire marketing strategies around the assumption that if they could rank on Google, they could reach their customers. That assumption is now being challenged at a fundamental level.

The Rise of the Zero-Click SERP

Even when users do turn to Google, their behaviour has fundamentally changed.

The SERP is no longer a simple list of links; it is a complex and ever-changing answer engine in itself. The proliferation of features like AI Overviews, Featured Snippets, and “People Also Ask” boxes means that users can often get the information they need without ever clicking through to a website. This phenomenon, known as “zero-click search” has a direct and severe impact on organic traffic.

Impact Area	Key Statistic	Implication
AI Overview Impact (Not Cited)	Organic CTR plummets by 65.2% year-over-year	Failure to be cited in an AI Overview is tantamount to being invisible.
AI Overview Impact (Cited)	Brands earn 35% higher organic CTR and 91% higher paid CTR	Being cited in AI Overviews provides a significant competitive advantage.
Zero-Click Searches (Mobile)	Over 60% of mobile Google searches end without a click	Optimising for rankings alone is a failing strategy.
Publisher Impact	One publisher reported an 89% drop in CTR	The economic model for content creators is under direct threat.
AI Traffic Conversion	AI search traffic converts at 5x the rate of traditional organic (14.2% vs 2.8%)	The traffic that does come through from AI is exceptionally valuable.

These data points create a compelling case that the old model of SEO focused primarily on achieving a high rank in the “10 blue links” is indeed dying. Relying on this single channel for visibility and traffic is no longer a sustainable strategy.

AI-Generated Content & Misinformation

The rise of generative AI has created another challenge: a flood of AI-generated content that is polluting search results.

As our “Death of SEO” article notes, the amount of AI-generated and fake content that has flooded Google since the introduction of generative AI in 2022 has been unprecedented. This has led to a wave of misinformation, SEO spam, and deceptive search results that often prioritise engagement over accuracy.

The result has been an erosion of user trust in search results. Users are now often met with AI-fabricated articles, fake images, and misleading summaries, making it harder than ever to distinguish fact from fiction. This environment makes the principles of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) more important than ever, as both users and algorithms seek out genuinely reliable sources.

The Rebuttal: SEO is More Alive Than Ever

The argument that SEO is dead is a fallacy based on a narrow and outdated definition of the term. SEO has not disappeared; it is simply that the concept of search has taken on a whole new meaning.

The fundamental principles of SEO remain unchanged and are, in fact, more important than ever:

• Understanding User Intent: Identifying what a user truly wants when they type a query.
• Creating Value: Delivering the most accurate, comprehensive, and helpful content to satisfy that intent.
• Establishing Authority: Proving to both users and algorithms that you are a trustworthy source of information.

What has changed is the “where”, and to a lesser degree, the “how”.

The playing field has expanded from a single stadium (Google) to a vast, interconnected ecosystem of discovery platforms. The user journey is no longer linear. A query that once started on Google might now begin on YouTube, be refined in ChatGPT, and end with a purchase based on a recommendation in a Reddit forum.

The Omni-Channel Imperative or Search Everywhere Optimisation

For most of us, this means an omni-channel approach or form of integrated digital marketing isn’t just the future, it’s a necessity right now.

The practice of optimisation must evolve from Search Engine Optimisation to Search Everywhere Optimisation.

This is the foundation of our integrated SEO philosophy. It’s a recognition that your audience is distributed and your strategy must be too. SEO is no longer just about Google. It’s about being the answer, everywhere.

For a complete guide to SEO terms and the many different names used to describe search optimisation techniques in 2026, see below:

From SEO to GEO: The Ultimate AI SEO Guide (AI Mode, AI Overviews, RAG, AIO, AEO & LLM SEO)

The AGI Caveat

It is worth acknowledging the most extreme version of the “death of SEO” argument, which centres on the potential development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). If this were to happen, true AGI would have the ability to learn in real-time, crawl the web, and update its own knowledge base continuously. In such a scenario, the need for a traditional search engine index, and by extension SEO, could theoretically disappear.

However, this remains a speculative future.

The current generation of AI tools, including ChatGPT and Google Gemini, are not AGI. They rely on training data, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) from web indexes, and partnerships with search engines. For the foreseeable future, the principles of creating discoverable, authoritative, and well-structured content will remain the key to visibility.

The real conversation should be around adaptation. The businesses that will win in this new era are those that embrace the complexity, understand the new user journey, and invest in a truly integrated strategy that ensures their brand is visible at every possible point of discovery.

The New SERP: Understanding the Changes in Google’s Real Estate

The Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) of today is barely recognisable from the simple, ordered list of a few years ago.

The prime “real estate” that was once dominated by ten organic blue links has been systematically carved up, redeveloped, and repopulated by a host of dynamic features that change based on search intent. These features are designed to provide answers directly on the SERP, often removing the need for a user to click through to a website at all.

For businesses and marketers, understanding this new landscape  is a fundamental requirement for survival.

The Dominance of AI Overviews (Formerly SGE)

At the top of the new SERP hierarchy sits the AI Overview. This feature, which evolved from Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) experiment, provides a synthesised, narrative answer to a user’s query by combining information from multiple web sources. It is the most significant change to the SERP in over a decade.

From SGE to AI Overviews

The switch to AI Overviews began in May 2023 when Google introduced the Search Generative Experience (SGE) as an experimental feature in Google Labs.

This marked Google’s first public foray into generative AI within its primary search interface. By May 2024, Google officially rebranded SGE as “AI Overviews,” making it a more integrated and widely available feature.

As of December 2025, Google announced that AI Mode, powered by Gemini 3 Flash, is now the global default for AI-enhanced search experiences

Key Statistics on AI Overviews

Metric	Statistic
Global Prevalence	AI Overviews appear in approximately 18% of all global Google searches
Informational Queries	Appear in over 30% of informational queries
Long-Tail Queries	Queries with 8+ words have a 57% chance of triggering AI Overviews
User Reach	Used by more than 1 billion people globally
Usage Increase	AI Overviews drive a 10%+ increase in queries for search types that show them

The Impact on Visibility

The impact of AI Overviews is twofold:

• For brands cited within the overview, it provides an unparalleled level of authority and visibility, acting as a powerful endorsement that can drive higher-quality clicks.
• For those not cited, it creates a significant barrier, pushing their organic listings further down the page and drastically reducing the likelihood of a click.

This creates a “winner-take-all” dynamic where being cited is essential.

People Also Ask (PAA) & Featured Snippets

Before AI Overviews, Featured Snippets and PAA boxes were the original and primary drivers of the zero-click search phenomenon. They still remain critical components of the modern SERP and are often the source of information for AI Overviews themselves.

Featured Snippets

Featured Snippets are boxes that provide a direct, concise answer to a query, extracted from a single web page.

They often appear for question-based searches (e.g. “what is integrated SEO?”) and can take several forms:

• Paragraph Snippets: A block of text, typically 40-60 words, that directly answers the query.
• List Snippets: A bulleted or numbered list, often used for “how-to” or “best of” queries.
• Table Snippets: A table of data, often used for comparisons or specifications.

People Also Ask (PAA)

PAA boxes are accordion-style boxes that present a list of related questions to the user’s original query. Clicking on a question reveals a short, snippet-style answer, again extracted from a web page.

PAA boxes are a powerful tool for understanding user intent and identifying related topics for content creation. They also represent a significant opportunity for visibility, as each question answered is a chance to capture a user’s attention.

The Local Pack & Map-Based Results

For any query with local intent, the Local Pack is one of the most prominent features on the SERP. It typically displays a map and a list of three local businesses, along with their contact information, reviews, and a link to their website.

When the Local Pack Appears

The Local Pack is triggered by queries that include a geographic modifier (e.g. “plumbing supplies Birmingham”) or by queries where Google infers local intent based on the user’s location (e.g. “plumbing supplies near me” or even just “plumbing supplies”.

For local businesses, ranking in the Local Pack is often more important than ranking in the traditional organic results, as they are typically featured high on the page and capture users with high purchase intent.

Key Ranking Factors for the Local Pack

Ranking in the Local Pack is determined by a different set of factors than traditional organic SEO.

Key factors include:

• Google Business Profile (GBP) Optimisation: A complete and accurate GBP is essential.
• Relevance: How well the business matches the user’s query.
• Distance: The proximity of the business to the user’s location.
• Prominence: The overall online reputation of the business, including reviews, citations, and links.

Shopping Results, Product Carousels & Merchant Feeds

For transactional and commercial queries, the SERP transforms into a rich, visual shopping experience. This is driven by Google’s Merchant Center feed and includes several distinct features.

Shopping Ads (Product Listing Ads)

These are visually-driven ads that display a product image, price, and store name at the very top of the SERP. They are highly effective for capturing users with immediate purchase intent.

Product Carousels & Knowledge Panels

For product-specific queries, Google often displays a Knowledge Panel with detailed product information, including specifications, reviews, and price comparisons from multiple retailers. Scrollable product carousels can also appear within the organic results.

The Importance of Product Feeds

To appear in Shopping results, businesses must submit a product feed to Google Merchant Center. This feed contains detailed information about each product, including title, description, price, availability, and images. Optimising this feed is a critical component of e-commerce SEO.

Media: The Integration of Video, Image & News Carousels

Google’s algorithm is increasingly multimodal, recognising that a text-based link is not always the best answer to a query. As a result, the SERP is now heavily populated with content from other Google properties and media types.

Video Carousels (YouTube)

A significant portion of SERPs now include a carousel of videos, almost exclusively from YouTube. For “how-to” queries, product reviews, and many informational searches, video is often the preferred format. This makes YouTube SEO a critical component of any comprehensive search strategy.

Image Packs

For queries where visual information is important (e.g., “kitchen design ideas,” “fence panel styles”), Google displays a block of images from Google Images. Optimising images with descriptive filenames, ALT text, and surrounding context is essential for capturing this traffic.

Top Stories (News Carousel)

For newsworthy topics, a carousel of articles from Google News-approved publishers appears at the top of the SERP. For brands that produce timely, newsworthy content, this is a valuable source of visibility.

The reality is that the “10 blue links” are no longer the primary focus. Visibility now depends on a brand’s ability to appear within these various features. This requires a multi-faceted strategy that goes beyond traditional on-page optimisation and embraces structured data, answering questions, local SEO, video content, and a deep understanding of how to become a citable source for Google’s AI.

Where Discovery Happens Now: The Omni-Channel Search Ecosystem

Success in 2026 requires a fundamental shift in mindset where we must stop thinking about “search” as a single destination and start seeing it as a distributed ecosystem.

Your customers are no longer starting their journey in one predictable place. They are asking questions, discovering products, and forming opinions across a wide array of platforms, each with its own rules of engagement and algorithms for discovery.

Traditional Search Engines like Google & Bing

Despite the fragmentation, traditional search engines remain a dominant force.

Google still processes the vast majority of global search queries and is the starting point for many user journeys. According to Statcounter, Google holds over 90% of the global search engine market share. However, its role has clearly changed from a directory of websites to an answer engine in its own right.

Google’s AI Initiatives: A Closer Look

Understanding Google’s various AI initiatives is crucial for modern SEO. The terminology can be confusing, so here is a clarification:

Feature	Description	Status
SGE (Search Generative Experience)	Google’s earlier Search Labs experiment name for generative AI in Search (announced May 2023).	Predecessor to AI Overviews
AI Overviews	AI-generated summaries that appear inside Google Search for some queries.	Live, appearing in ~18% of global searches
AI Mode	A more complete “AI search mode” for handling complex questions with follow-ups. Uses query fan-out technique.	Rolled out broadly in US by May 2025, 100M+ monthly active users
Deep Search	A deeper research mode inside AI Mode that can issue hundreds of searches and generate a fully-cited report.	Announced at Google I/O 2025

Optimisation for Google and Bing is still critical, but the strategy must now focus on visibility within their rich features (AI Overviews, Local Packs, etc.) rather than just the organic blue links.

AI Answer Engines: The Rise of ChatGPT, Perplexity & Gemini

This is the most disruptive new category in the discovery ecosystem. Platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s own Gemini are becoming the first port of call for users seeking complex answers and synthesised information. The data on their growth is staggering.

AI Search Market Share (December 2025)

Platform	Market Share	Key Statistics	Strategic Importance
ChatGPT	61.3%	800M weekly active users; 5.8B monthly visits; 81% AI chatbot market share	The market leader, shaping user expectations for conversational AI. Being cited here establishes broad authority.
Microsoft Copilot	14.1%	33M active users globally	Integrated into the Bing and Microsoft enterprise ecosystems, crucial for B2B and professional visibility.
Google Gemini	13.4%	2B monthly users globally; powers AI Overviews reaching 1B+ users	Directly powers Google’s AI Overviews, giving it massive reach. Success here is directly tied to Google SERP visibility.
Perplexity	6.4%	22M+ monthly active users; 30% of users in senior leadership roles	Known for its focus on accuracy and rigorous citation, making it a key target for establishing factual, data-driven authority.

The Value of AI-Referred Traffic

While the narrative of declining clicks can seem bleak, the data reveals a powerful counter-narrative where traffic that originates from AI search can be exceptionally valuable.

An analysis of over 12 million website visits found that AI search traffic converts at 5 times the rate of traditional organic traffic (14.2% vs. 2.8%). This dramatic difference is attributed to user intent.

A user arriving from an AI-generated answer has already had their initial, informational queries satisfied. They are further along in their decision-making journey, more educated on the topic, and clicking through for validation or to take a specific action.

Optimising for these platforms is a a practice known as Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) or LLM Optimisation (LLMO), which requires a different approach. It’s less about keywords and more about creating clear, well-structured, and highly authoritative content that is easy for AI models to parse, trust, and cite.

Social Discovery: Why YouTube & TikTok are the New Search Bars

For a significant and growing segment of the population, particularly younger demographics, social media platforms are the primary search engines. This is especially true for discovery, inspiration, and product research.

TikTok: The Gen Z Search Engine

A staggering 40% of Gen Z now prefer using TikTok over Google for search . This statistic, which originated from Google’s own internal research, sent shockwaves through the industry. TikTok’s algorithm excels at surfacing relevant content based on user interests, making it a powerful engine for discovery, particularly for topics like restaurants, travel, fashion, and product recommendations.

YouTube: The World’s Second-Largest Search Engine

YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine. According to Pew Research Center, 84% of U.S. adults use YouTube, and 90% of Gen Z are regular users. It is the go-to platform for “how-to” content, product reviews, and visual explanations. If you are not creating video content, you are invisible to a huge portion of your potential audience.

Social Media Usage Statistics (2025)

Platform	U.S. Adult Usage	Key Demographic	Primary Use Case
YouTube	84%	All demographics	How-to, reviews, entertainment
Facebook	68%	Older demographics	Community, news, local
Instagram	51%	Younger demographics	Visual discovery, shopping
TikTok	37% (up from 21% in 2021)	Gen Z, Millennials	Discovery, entertainment, search
LinkedIn	30%	Professionals	B2B, career, industry news

Optimisation on these platforms (Social Media Optimisation) involves understanding their unique algorithms, using relevant hashtags, creating engaging and shareable content, and leveraging their native analytics to understand what resonates with your audience.

Community Platforms: Reddit, Quora & Forums as Discovery Hubs

When users want authentic, real-world opinions and niche expertise, they turn to community platforms. These are the digital campfires where genuine conversations happen, and they are a goldmine of user intent data.

Reddit: The Front Page of the Internet

Often called “the front page of the internet,” Reddit is a collection of thousands of niche communities (subreddits). It is a primary source for product recommendations, troubleshooting advice, and unfiltered reviews. Notably, Reddit is one of the top-cited sources in Google’s AI Overviews, accounting for 2.2% of all citations—more than any other single domain . This makes a presence there doubly valuable.

Quora & Niche Forums

Quora is a question-and-answer platform where users can tap into the knowledge of experts and enthusiasts. Answering questions related to your industry on Quora can establish your brand as a helpful authority. Similarly, for almost every industry or hobby, there is a dedicated online forum. Participating authentically in these communities can build trust and drive highly qualified, high-intent traffic.

Top Citation Sources in AI Overviews

Source	Percentage of AI Overview Citations
Reddit	2.2%
YouTube	1.9%
Quora	1.5%

Success in this ecosystem requires a shift from broadcasting to participating by adding value to conversations, not just advertising. By understanding and optimising for each of these four quadrants, businesses can build a truly resilient and effective Search Everywhere strategy.

The Overlap: Where Search Engine Algorithms & AI Intersect

A common misconception in the current discourse is to view traditional search engine algorithms and new generative AI models as separate, competing technologies.

In reality, they are deeply intertwined. The signals that Google has been prioritising for years to improve its classic search results, including signals for quality, authority, and trustworthiness, are the very same signals that new AI models are being trained to look for when they decide which sources to cite and amplify.

The Pre-Generative Era: AI for Ranking & Interpretation (2013-2022)

For nearly a decade, Google leveraged increasingly sophisticated AI systems to refine its traditional search results. These technologies were designed to understand the nuance of human language and improve the relevance of the “ten blue links.”

Year	Google AI System	Primary Function	Impact on SEO
2013	Hummingbird	Moved beyond keywords to understand the meaning (semantic intent) of a query.	Marked the beginning of semantic search; keyword stuffing became less effective.
2015	RankBrain	A deep learning system to interpret ambiguous or novel queries and relate them to broader concepts.	Became the third most important ranking factor; rewarded content that satisfied user intent.
2018	Neural Matching	Introduced to understand fuzzier concepts in queries and pages.	Moved beyond simple keyword matching to connect search intent with relevant content.
2019	BERT	A major breakthrough in understanding the context of words within a sentence.	Made search more conversational; rewarded natural language content.
2021	MUM	Enabled understanding of information across different formats (text, images, video) and languages.	Signalled the move towards multimodal search and content.
2022-2024	Helpful Content Updates	AI systems designed to reward people-first content while filtering out low-quality, SEO-first content.	Reinforced the importance of E-E-A-T and genuine value creation.

These systems were all designed to help Google better understand and rank content. They taught the algorithm to value meaning over keywords and to reward content that demonstrated true expertise. This laid the perfect foundation for the generative era.

E-E-A-T as the Foundation for Both Algorithm & AI Trust

Google’s quality framework of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) is perhaps the most important concept in modern SEO.

While not a direct “ranking factor” in a technical sense, it is a model that encapsulates the signals Google uses to identify high-quality, reliable content. It is also the single most important factor in becoming a citable source for AI.

Understanding E-E-A-T

Component	Definition	How to Demonstrate
Experience	Does the content creator have first-hand, real-world experience with the topic?	Include personal anecdotes, case studies, original photos/videos, and evidence of direct involvement.
Expertise	Does the content creator have the necessary knowledge and skill in the topic?	Display credentials, qualifications, author bios, and demonstrate deep subject-matter knowledge.
Authoritativeness	Is the content creator or website a recognised authority on the topic?	Build a reputation through industry recognition, awards, citations from other authoritative sources, and a strong backlink profile.
Trustworthiness	Is the content accurate, honest, and reliable?	Cite sources, provide clear contact information, have a secure website (HTTPS), and maintain a positive online reputation.

The E-E-A-T and AI Citation Connection

AI models are explicitly designed to combat misinformation and “hallucinations.” They do this by prioritising sources that demonstrate strong E-E-A-T signals.

Data shows that content with clear, verifiable expertise signals is 4.2 times more likely to be cited by AI systems . This is because AI models are trained to identify and surface trustworthy information.

The signals of E-E-A-T including author credentials and citations are the very signals that AI uses to determine trust.

How Structured Data (Schema) Feeds Both Search & AI Models

Structured data, implemented via Schema.org markup, is the practice of adding code to your website to explicitly tell search engines what your content is about. It translates human language into a machine-readable format.

The Role of Schema in Traditional SEO

Schema markup can lead to the generation of “rich snippets” in the SERPs (e.g., star ratings, prices, event dates), which can significantly improve click-through rates. It helps Google understand the context and relationships between entities on your page.

The Role of Schema in AI SEO

Schema is a direct line of communication to AI models. It allows you to spoon-feed them precise information about your products, services, organisation, and content. By clearly defining entities and their attributes, you make it incredibly easy for an AI to understand your information and use it to construct an answer. Rich schema implementation is strongly correlated with a higher likelihood of AI citation.

Key Schema Types for AI Visibility

Schema Type	Purpose	AI Benefit
Organisation	Defines your brand’s digital identity.	Helps AI confidently identify and differentiate your brand.
Product	Details for every product (name, description, brand, SKU, price, availability, rating).	Enables AI to provide accurate product information in answers.
FAQPage	Marks up frequently asked questions and their answers.	Provides ready-made answers for AI systems to cite.
Article/NewsArticle	Provides context about publication date, author, and content type.	Helps AI assess the recency and authority of content.
Person	Defines authors and experts associated with your content.	Supports E-E-A-T signals by linking content to credible individuals.
HowTo	Marks up step-by-step instructions.	Provides structured, extractable content for instructional queries.

The Role of Citations & Links as Universal Authority Signals

Backlinks have been a cornerstone of SEO since its inception. They act as votes of confidence from one website to another. In the AI era, this concept of third-party validation is more important than ever, but it has expanded beyond simple links.

The Expanded Web of Trust

AI models look for a broader “web of trust.” This includes not only traditional backlinks but also:

• Citations: Mentions of your brand, people, or research on other reputable websites, even without a link.
• Entity Consistency: Consistent information about your brand (name, address, phone number, etc.) across the web.
• Presence in Authoritative Datasets: Inclusion in trusted sources like Wikipedia, industry directories, and academic papers.

The Data on Rankings & AI Citations

There is a direct and measurable link between traditional rankings and AI visibility.

Data shows that 76% of all citations in Google’s AI Overviews come from pages that already rank in the top 10 organic results. This demonstrates that strong SEO performance makes a page eligible for consideration by generative models., meaning you cannot skip the fundamentals.

The path to success in this new digital world is not to abandon the principles of good SEO, but to double down on them. The work done to build topical authority, demonstrate E-E-A-T, and structure data for machine readability pays dividends in both traditional rankings and AI visibility.

SEO 2.0: The Integrated SEO & Organic Marketing Framework

The old, linear approach of optimising a webpage and building links in a silo is no longer sufficient. Success in 2026 demands a holistic, integrated, and continuous approach.

Our SEO 2.0 Framework is a model to help build a resilient and authoritative omni-channel brand presence.

As can be seen below, is not a linear checklist but a continuous improvement loop. It is built upon a solid Strategic Foundation and the unwavering principles of E-E-A-T, and it operates through four interconnected execution pillars: Research, Technical, Content, and Authority.

The Strategic Foundation Layer

Before any optimisation can begin, a solid strategic foundation must be in place.

This is the bedrock upon which the entire framework rests, ensuring that all SEO and marketing efforts are aligned with core business objectives.

• Business Vision, Goals & Knowledge: What is the ultimate goal of the business? What is its unique value proposition? What internal knowledge and data can be leveraged?
• Business Intelligence (BI): Who are the customers? What are their pain points? What are the market trends and competitive landscape?
• Marketing Strategy: How does search fit into the broader marketing mix? What is the overall brand message and positioning?
• Information Architecture (IA): How is the website and its content structured to meet user needs and facilitate intuitive navigation?
• User Experience (UX) & Design: Is the website designed to provide a seamless, engaging, and effective experience for the user on any device?

Without this foundational alignment, any SEO effort is simply a shot in the dark. The SEO 2.0 framework insists that search strategy must be derived from and fully integrated with business strategy.

The E-E-A-T Prerequisite

Layered on top of the strategic foundation is the non-negotiable bedrock of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). As established in the previous section, E-E-A-T is the common thread that runs through both traditional search algorithms and modern AI models. It is the universal language of credibility on the web.

Every tactic and strategy executed within the four pillars of the framework must be viewed through the lens of E-E-A-T, e.g. Does this content demonstrate real-world experience? Is it written by a credible expert? Does it build our brand’s authority? Does it enhance user trust? If the answer to any of these questions is no, the tactic should be reconsidered.

In our SEO 2.0 model, E-E-A-T must be prerequisite for every action.

The Four Pillars of SEO 2.0

The next layer is for delivery where we have four interconnected pillars that form a continuous cycle of research, technical implementation, content creation, and authority amplification.

The key is integration where no pillar operates in isolation. Insights from research inform the technical foundation, which enables the content to perform, which is then amplified to build authority, which in turn provides new data for research.

Pillar 1: Omni-Channel Research

Effective strategy begins with deep understanding and the research pillar is about gathering intelligence from across the entire omni-channel ecosystem to inform every subsequent action. It moves beyond traditional keyword research to build a comprehensive picture of the market, competitors, and customer journey.

Business & Market Analysis

This foundational step involves using Business Intelligence (BI) tools and market research to understand the total addressable market, key customer segments, and emerging trends. It answers the question: “Where are the business opportunities?” This includes analysing internal sales data, customer feedback, and industry reports to identify the most valuable areas to focus SEO efforts.

Competitor & AI Citation Research

This involves two distinct activities. First, traditional competitor analysis to see who ranks for key terms on Google. Second, and more importantly, it involves AI Citation Research: using tools and manual queries to identify which competitors and sources are being cited by AI Answer Engines like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews for your most important topics.

This answers the question: “Who is winning the authority game right now?”

How to Conduct AI Citation Research:

Step	Action
1	Identify your top 20-50 most important keywords and topics.
2	Query each topic in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google (to trigger AI Overviews).
3	Document which sources are cited for each query.
4	Analyse the common characteristics of cited sources (content format, length, structure, authority signals).
5	Identify gaps where your brand is not being cited but should be.

Persona & AI Prompt Research

This involves not only understanding your target audience’s demographics and pain points but also researching the actual language they use when interacting with AI. This includes analysing common questions, conversational queries, and the types of prompts they use in platforms like ChatGPT. This answers the question: “How does our audience ask for help?”

Topical Authority Planning for Universal SEO

This is the capstone of the research phase. It involves synthesising all the gathered intelligence to map out the core topics and sub-topics your brand needs to own to be seen as an authority. This plan informs the entire content strategy, ensuring that you are comprehensively covering the subject matter required to achieve integrated SEO, ensuring visibility across all search formats and platforms.

Pillar 2: Technical Foundation for Omni SEO

A sophisticated content and authority strategy is useless if the technical foundation is weak. This pillar ensures your website is perfectly optimised for both human users and the multitude of algorithms and AI crawlers that will be accessing it. The goal is to create a technically flawless foundation for Omni SEO.

Modern Site & for Users & AI

This involves creating a logical, hierarchical site structure that is easy for both users and crawlers to navigate. Key elements include a clear menu structure, logical URL patterns, and the use of hub-and-spoke models for core topics. The goal is to create a clear “information architecture” that mirrors the topical authority plan from the research phase.

Advanced Schema for AI & Search

Creating advanced schema involves implementing a comprehensive structured data strategy using Schema.org to explicitly define your brand, products, services, authors, and content for machines. This includes Organisation, Product, Service, FAQPage, Person, and HowTo schema, among others.

Crawl Budget & Index Control

This ensures that search engine and AI crawlers can efficiently find and process your most important content. It involves using tools like robots.txt and XML sitemaps to guide crawlers, ensuring that valuable “crawl budget” isn’t wasted on low-value pages like filtered product listings or duplicate content.

Core Web Vitals & Performance

Site speed and user experience are fundamental trust signals. This involves optimising for Google’s Core Web Vitals:

Metric	Full Name	What It Measures	Target
LCP	Largest Contentful Paint	Loading performance	< 2.5 seconds
INP	Interaction to Next Paint	Interactivity	< 200 milliseconds
CLS	Cumulative Layout Shift	Visual stability	< 0.1

Pillar 3: Content for Search Everywhere Optimisation

Think of content as the fuel for SEO 2.0, well any form of marketing really.

This pillar is about creating and optimising content that is designed to perform across the entire Search Everywhere Optimisation landscape, from traditional SERPs to AI answers and social platforms.

On-Page SEO for E-E-A-T

This involves applying best practices of on-page SEO to every piece of content, but with a specific focus on signalling E-E-A-T. This includes clear author bios with credentials, citing sources and linking to authoritative studies, and showcasing real-world experience through case studies and original data.

PAA & Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)

This is the practice of structuring content to be easily citable by AI. It involves several key techniques:

Technique	Description
Answer-First Approach	Begin articles with a direct, concise summary of 40-60 words that immediately answers the primary user query.
Clear Headings	Use clear, descriptive H2 and H3 headings that often mirror the structure of user questions (e.g., “What is…?”, “How do you…?”).
Chunking	Use short paragraphs, bullet points, numbered steps, and tables to break down complex information into digestible chunks.
FAQPage Schema	Implement FAQPage schema to mark up questions and answers for easy extraction.

Video Search Optimisation (YouTube SEO)

Recognising YouTube as the second-largest search engine, this involves creating a dedicated video content strategy.

Key optimisation tactics include:

• Optimising video titles, descriptions, and tags with relevant keywords.
• Creating engaging, keyword-rich thumbnails.
• Using transcripts and closed captions to make the content accessible to search crawlers.
• Encouraging engagement (likes, comments, shares) to signal quality to the algorithm.

Visual Search Optimisation (Lens & Image SEO)

This involves optimising images for discovery in Google Lens and image search. Google Lens now processes over 20 billion visual searches per month.

Key tactics include:

• Using descriptive, keyword-rich filenames (e.g. oak-fence-panel-6ft.jpg instead of IMG_1234.jpg).
• Writing comprehensive ALT text that describes the image content.
• Ensuring images are high-quality, mobile-friendly, and load quickly.
• Embedding relevant structured data (e.g. Product schema for product images).

Pillar 4: Authority & Presence in an Integrated SEO Model

The final pillar is about amplifying your content and building your brand’s authority across the web. In a modern Integrated SEO model, this goes far beyond traditional link building. It’s about building a web of trust and a strong brand presence wherever your audience spends their time.

Building Third-Party Citations

This means actively seeking mentions of your brand, experts, and research on other authoritative websites, even without a direct link. This can be achieved through digital PR, sponsoring research, or contributing to industry reports. The goal is to build a consistent “entity footprint” across the web.

Community Engagement (Reddit, Quora)

This involves authentically participating in relevant communities on platforms like Reddit and Quora. It’s not about spamming links, but about providing genuine value, answering questions, and establishing your brand and its people as helpful experts. Given that Reddit is the most-cited source in AI Overviews, this is a high-value activity.

Digital PR & High-Authority Outreach

This is the practice of creating newsworthy content, data, or stories and pitching them to journalists and editors at high-authority publications to earn media coverage and authoritative backlinks. This is one of the most effective ways to build both brand awareness and domain authority.

Strategic Link Building

While the nature of authority has broadened, traditional link building is still valuable. This involves a strategic and targeted approach to acquiring high-quality, relevant backlinks from respected websites within your industry. The focus should be on quality over quantity, prioritising links from sites with high topical relevance and strong E-E-A-T signals.

Case Study: An SEO 2.0 Audit

Theory is one thing, but application is what matters. This section details a real-world audit and analysis conducted for one of our clients.

For over two years we had achieved phenomenal success, helping them to reach position 1 in organic search results for national keywords with hundreds of thousands of monthly UK searches. Then came the gradual decline in rankings, clicks and sales.

This section showcases how the SEO 2.0 framework was used to diagnose the situation, identify critical gaps in their digital strategy and provide a clear, actionable roadmap for regaining their rankings.

The Challenge: Declining Visibility in a Crowded Market

The client, a well-established UK retailer was facing a troubling trend that only seemed be be impacting rankings in some cases but more so traffic and clicks across their product ranges, despite having strong brand recognition and topical authority.

What we noticed was that more agile competitors were starting to outrank them for valuable commercial keywords, dominating the rich features of the SERP, and capturing a growing share of the market.

We needed to understand why traditional SEO efforts were failing and what they needed to do to reclaim their market leadership online.

Visibility in SERP Features

Our audit began with a deep dive into the SERP for high-value keywords where we noticed three things:

1. Some keywords were ranking as strong as ever, but Google Search Console was reporting a drop of 20-80% in clicks.
2. Other keywords were simply declining in ranking month-by-month.
3. When looking in Semrush, a few competitors appeared to be overtaking.

What we found was very revealing.

SERP Feature	Competitor Strategy
AI Overviews & PAA	More visibility from “how-to” articles, installation guides, and FAQ sections.
Image & Video Packs	Higher quality lifestyle images, project galleries, and video content.
Citations	Greater mentions on local and national media/press and third-party citations.

The three features above represented a key difference for some searches, but not all.