Beyond Google: How to put a total search strategy together

Relying solely on Google for search visibility is no longer viable today. 

Search behavior is diversifying, particularly among younger demographics.

Gen Z is increasingly turning to platforms like TikTok, Pinterest, and Reddit for information discovery.

This shift highlights the need for brands to embrace a total search strategy – an approach that integrates multiple search and discovery channels to create a more holistic and resilient search presence.

The risks of Google dependency

Google’s algorithm changes frequently, and core updates can significantly impact website rankings overnight. 

Over-reliance on a single search engine makes brands vulnerable to fluctuations beyond their control. 

At the same time, a diversified approach allows businesses to mitigate risks while expanding their reach across multiple discovery platforms.

How to develop a total search strategy

To successfully implement a total search strategy, SEO practitioners should follow a structured framework, starting with audience research.

1. Audience research

Before investing in alternative search platforms, you must first identify where your audience spends time online and how they search for information.

Tools and data sources for audience research

• Google Analytics 4 (GA4): Navigate to Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition to analyze current referral sources.

• Similarweb: Gain insights into competitors’ referral traffic and social media engagement.

• SparkToro: Identify which websites, social accounts, and podcasts your audience engages with.

• First-party data and surveys: Gather direct insights from your audience through on-site surveys or CRM data.
• Ad platform data: If you have segmentation data on your current user base, you can scope out potential reach in more detail by setting up (but not activating) campaigns on various platforms.
  • This will allow you to compare audience sizes across platforms.
  • To do this, input targeting variables such as company size, job title, and industry to build an audience segment in the platform – after which you’ll be shown the audience size.

2. Strategy development

Once audience research is complete and you have a clear picture of the platforms your audience uses for brand and product discovery, you can begin to map out your strategy.

The decision over how much effort you’re able to put into each platform will depend on available resources and budget, so it’s a good idea to prioritize the channels that:

• Currently refer a decent portion of traffic to your website (GA4 data).
• Are referring a large portion of traffic to your competitors (Similarweb data).
• Have a large addressable audience (a large number of people in your ideal customer profile) – you can find this number by setting up a shell campaign, as shown above.
• You can service based on current resources. For example, do you have a large bank of videos available? If so, optimizing this content for video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok would be wise.

Creating platform-specific content strategies

The content required for each platform needs to be tailored to user behavior and platform norms. 

Research is critical in identifying content opportunities and topics your audience is actively searching for.

Keyword research for YouTube and Pinterest

You can conduct platform-specific keyword research in many cases. 

For example, there are methods of keyword research on YouTube to identify the most common searches directly within YouTube’s search bar.

Other visual search platforms, such as Pinterest, allow you to conduct in-platform content (keyword) research. 

The easiest way to uncover high-traffic keywords on Pinterest is to use the Pinterest Ads keyword research tool, a free feature within the platform’s advertising section. 

While it’s accessed within the ad creation process, you don’t need to run ads to use it:

• Switch to a Business Account: You’ll need this to access the Ads section.
• Go to Ads > Create Campaign: Select Traffic as your campaign type and proceed.
• Find the keyword section: Enter a broad search term to see keyword suggestions along with search volume.
• Save and organize keywords: Click the + button to build a keyword list, but keep a separate record if you want to retain volume data.

This tool will make it easier to optimize your profile, boards, and pins for greater visibility. 

You can then create content that matches what users are actively searching for, increasing engagement and discovery.

3. Optimization

Once you’re ready, it’s time to start optimizing your content for search on each platform. 

This process will vary based on your platform choices, but let’s focus on an example from TikTok to highlight how to optimize content for its search algorithm.

Optimizing on TikTok takes a much different approach than optimizing for Google. 

On TikTok, you have limited levers to pull, but you can focus on:

• Saying your keywords aloud in the audio.
• Overlaying keywords as text in your video.
• Including keywords in your audio transcript.
• Using relevant keywords in your video caption.
• Incorporating keywords as hashtags.

Just like with traditional search engines, balancing SEO and brand authenticity is crucial. 

Focusing on these foundational strategies will enhance your search visibility and improve content discoverability.

4. Measurement

Success in total search requires a holistic approach to organic search measurement. To do this, focus on the following areas:

• In-platform traffic and engagement metrics: Analyze platform analytics (TikTok Insights, LinkedIn Analytics, etc.). These provide deeper insights than GA4.
• Total search referrals: Tracking visibility outside of traditional search relies on monitoring the volume of referrals each site delivers over time.
  • At a basic level, a total search dashboard in GA4 can be achieved by filtering out specific sources into a singular view to assess performance over time.
  • In-platform data (e.g., Pinterest) is more useful for granular performance insights.

Getting started

It’s clear that influencing customers beyond Google is essential to remain discoverable, adaptable, and competitive in the evolving search landscape.

Now, it’s time to move from theory to practice. 

Start by focusing on the following steps to get things off the ground:

• Conduct an audit of your referral traffic using GA4.
• Identify top alternative platforms based on competitor and customer research.
• Develop platform-specific content tailored to trending topics and searches.
• Start testing and measuring impact beyond Google Search via a total search dashboard.