Brian Dean Search Everywhere Optimization Playbook

// When should you use the Search Everywhere Optimization Playbook?

Use this skill whenever you are building or auditing an SEO or content strategy for a product or service. It is especially relevant when organic traffic feels stagnant, when you are launching into a new market, or when you suspect your audience is finding competitors through channels you are not present on.

// What do you need before starting Search Everywhere Optimization?

• Product or service descriptionrequired
  What you sell and who it is broadly intended for.
• Existing customer data or interviews
  Any knowledge of how current customers found you — survey responses, onboarding answers, sales call notes, or anecdotal feedback.
• Current platform presence
  A list of platforms where your brand currently publishes or appears (Google, YouTube, Reddit, Amazon, newsletters, Substack, etc.).
• Primary competitors
  One to three competitors you can use as a benchmark to spot platform gaps.

// What are the core principles behind Search Everywhere Optimization?

// How do you apply the Search Everywhere Optimization Playbook step by step?

1. 1

   Identify who is actually searching for your product

   Start with existing customers. Ask them directly: 'How did you find us?' and 'What did you do before deciding to buy?' Look for surprising patterns — unexpected audience segments or use cases you had not anticipated. These patterns often reveal the highest-value content opportunities. If you have no customers yet, use competitor reviews and Reddit threads to infer buyer identity.

2. 2

   Map the full Discovery–Comparison–Action journey for your buyer

   For each stage, answer: What question is the buyer asking? Where are they asking it (which platform)? What type of content do they expect to find there? Remember that AI tools like ChatGPT are used at all three stages, so include them as a platform. The output of this step is a journey map showing platforms and content types for each stage — not a generic funnel.

3. 3

   Audit your brand's current presence against the journey map to find gaps

   Place your brand on the journey map and mark every platform where you currently appear. Circle every platform where you are absent but your customers are present. These gaps are your priority targets. Look especially for high-traffic, low-competition platforms like niche newsletters, Substack communities, or emerging subreddits relevant to your category.

4. 4

   Prioritise the top two to three gap platforms and assign content formats

   Do not try to fill every gap at once. Pick the platforms where your customers are most concentrated and where you can realistically produce quality content. Match the content format to the platform norm — video for YouTube, written posts for Reddit, curated insights for newsletters. Avoid importing your existing content format wholesale onto a new platform.

5. 5

   Create stage-specific content for each priority platform

   Discovery stage: publish educational content that helps someone understand a problem or explore solutions — not product pitches. Comparison stage: publish content around category terms (e.g. '[tool type] tools', 'alternatives to [competitor]') that explains how different options work and positions your brand honestly in the landscape. Action stage: publish product pages, real-world case studies, and concrete examples of results your product delivers. Each piece must match the intent of the stage it serves.

6. 6

   Execute, measure platform-level presence, and iterate

   Track brand mentions and rankings on each priority platform — not just Google rankings. After 60 to 90 days, resurvey new customers to check whether the platforms you invested in now appear in their discovery paths. Double down on what is working; deprioritise platforms that are not generating pipeline.

// What does Search Everywhere Optimization look like in practice?

// What mistakes should you avoid with Search Everywhere Optimization?

• Staying 100% focused on Google while ignoring the platforms your customers actually use throughout their buying journey.
• Letting AI generate and publish content at scale with no human oversight — producing volume without the strategic platform-specific thinking this framework requires.
• Trying to be everywhere at once instead of identifying and dominating the top two or three platforms where your specific customers search.
• Creating the same content format across all platforms rather than adapting format and tone to each platform's native expectations.
• Skipping the customer interview step and assuming you already know where your audience searches — the Exploding Topics investor segment example shows this assumption is frequently wrong.
• Publishing only Action-stage content (product pages) while ignoring Discovery and Comparison content, which means your brand is invisible until buyers already know what they want.

// What key terms should you know for Search Everywhere Optimization?

Search Everywhere Optimization

Brian Dean's reframe of traditional SEO: the practice of ensuring your brand appears on every platform where your audience searches — including YouTube, Reddit, Amazon, AI tools like ChatGPT, newsletters, and more — not solely on Google.

Discovery stage

The first phase of the buyer journey, where someone is first hearing about a concept, problem, or category of solutions. Educational content that explains problems and explores solutions performs best here.

Comparison stage

The second phase of the buyer journey, where someone is evaluating specific tools or products against each other. Content targeting category keywords (e.g. '[tool type] tools', 'alternatives to X') and honest landscape overviews performs best here.

Action stage

The third phase of the buyer journey, where someone is ready to make a purchase decision. Product pages, case studies, and concrete result examples perform best here.

Platform gap

A platform where your customers are actively searching for solutions but your brand currently has no presence — identified by overlaying your current distribution against the Discovery–Comparison–Action journey map.

// FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS