My SEO secret? Show up everywhere

If you’re still doing SEO the way you did in 2020, you’re already behind.

The big mistake I see right now: people picking sides. Some marketers are going all-in on AI search and ignoring Google. Others are pretending AI search doesn’t exist.

Both are wrong.

The reality is simple: SEO in 2026 = traditional SEO + AI search optimization.

Google still gets 13.7 billion searches per day. And here’s the kicker: 95% of AI citations come from content less than 10 months old. If your content is old and untouched, you’re invisible.

Here’s the new playbook.

1. Think “Search Everywhere,” not just Google
Attention is fragmented.

Your customers are searching on YouTube, Reddit, LinkedIn, Instagram, Amazon, app stores, and AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity.

If you only optimize your website, you’re leaving 50–75% of the opportunity on the table.

The goal is simple: show up everywhere your audience searches.

2. Turn one idea into many pieces of content
Every major piece of content should be converted into multiple assets.

For example:

• Start with a pillar blog post

• Turn it into a YouTube video

• Repurpose it into LinkedIn posts

• Cut the video into short-form clips

• Answer related questions on Reddit or Quora

One strong idea can easily turn into 30+ pieces of content across platforms. Distribution is now as important as creation.

3. Freshness is now a ranking factor everywhere
The old SEO playbook was:

Publish once. Rank forever. That doesn’t work anymore.

The new playbook:

• Publish consistently (3–5 pieces per week)

• Refresh top content quarterly

• Update stats, examples, and FAQs

• Re-promote across channels

AI systems reward recent, relevant content.

4. Use AI workflows—but keep humans in the loop
AI should handle the heavy lifting.

Use it to:

• Repurpose content across platforms

• Find emerging keyword opportunities

• Generate programmatic pages at scale

But don’t publish raw AI output.

Humans still need to:

• Fact-check

• Add insights and personality

• Optimize for user intent

That’s how you avoid the flood of AI slop.

5. Play the long game
SEO has always been a compounding game.

Month 1–3: Build the foundation.
Month 4–6: Start seeing traction.
Month 7–12: Compounding kicks in.

The person who shows up consistently for a year beats the person who goes hard for two weeks.

And the metrics are evolving, too. It’s no longer just rankings and traffic.

Now we measure:

• AI mentions across platforms

• Brand sentiment in AI results

• Share of voice vs competitors

Because in the AI era, visibility across platforms matters more than a single ranking.

Learn more by watching this video.

If you want help implementing this strategy, my team at Single Grain built a service specifically for it. It’s called Search Everywhere Optimization (SEvO), and it helps brands show up across Google, AI search engines, and the platforms where customers actually spend time.

To smarter growth,
Eric Siu

P.S.

1 - If you want to grow faster using the power of AI, my agency Single Grain is offering free marketing plans to qualified Leveling Up newsletter subscribers, check it out here.
2 - We’re hiring AI-forward performance ad creative strategists, AI-forward SEOs and paid media people, AI short form creators, AI automation interns, and more. If you’re interested, apply at our Careers page.
3 - We launched ClickFlow to help automate and scale SEO.
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