Your customers are not searching the way they did two years ago.
They’re not typing a query into Google, clicking the first result, and making a decision. That journey is gone. Today, someone looking for a marketing agency in Salt Lake City might start on Google, check TikTok for reviews, browse Reddit for honest opinions, ask ChatGPT for recommendations, look you up on LinkedIn, watch a YouTube video, and then circle back to your website before ever reaching out.
That’s not an exaggeration. Research shows the average person engages with 7 or more platforms daily and spends over 4 hours across different search surfaces. Google Search itself only accounts for about 30 minutes of that.
If your entire marketing strategy is built around ranking on Google, you’re only showing up for a fraction of the time your audience is actually searching.
What Is Search Everywhere Optimization?
Search everywhere optimization is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of optimizing your business to show up on Google alone, you build visibility across every platform where your audience searches, researches, and makes decisions.
That includes Google, but it also includes TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, Pinterest, AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity, podcast platforms, and review sites.
The concept isn’t complicated. The execution is where most businesses get stuck.
Why This Matters for Utah Businesses Right Now
If you’re running a business in Salt Lake City, Tooele, Provo, or anywhere along the Wasatch Front, you might think this only applies to big national brands. It doesn’t.
Your local customers are using the same platforms as everyone else. When someone in Draper needs a plumber, they might Google it. But they also might search TikTok for “plumber recommendations Salt Lake City” or ask in a local Facebook group or check Reddit threads about Utah home services.
When a startup in Silicon Slopes is evaluating marketing agencies, they’re not just looking at your website. They’re checking your LinkedIn presence, reading your Google reviews, looking for you on YouTube, and maybe even asking an AI chatbot who the best marketing agencies in Utah are.
If you’re invisible on those platforms, you don’t exist in their decision-making process. It doesn’t matter how well you rank on Google if your potential customer made their decision on TikTok before they ever opened a browser.
The Old Way vs. The New Way
The old way of doing SEO in Utah was straightforward. Research your keywords, optimize your pages, build some backlinks, rank on Google, get traffic, get leads. That worked for years. We built campaigns on that model. It was predictable and reliable.
The new way requires thinking bigger.
Instead of asking “what keywords should we rank for on Google,” you start by asking “where is my audience actually spending their time, and what are they searching for on those platforms?”
Those are two very different questions. And they lead to two very different strategies.
The old way gives you one traffic source. The new way gives you a presence everywhere your customer looks before they decide to buy.
How to Build a Search Everywhere Strategy for Your Business
Here’s how we approach this for our clients at HitSelect. This isn’t theory. This is the actual process we walk through with Utah businesses.
Step 1: Figure Out Where Your Customers Actually Are
Before you start creating content for every platform, you need to know which platforms your customers are actually using.
The simplest way to do this? Ask them.
Talk to 5 to 10 of your recent customers and ask them one question: “Walk me through how you found us and what you looked at before reaching out.”
You’ll hear things like “I saw you on Instagram first, then Googled your name, then checked your reviews.” Or “Someone recommended you in a Facebook group, so I looked you up on LinkedIn.”
That gives you a real map of where your customers are spending time, not a guess based on what’s trending.
For Utah businesses specifically, we see a few patterns come up consistently. Google and Google Maps are still major for local search. Facebook groups are huge in Utah communities. Instagram and TikTok are growing fast for local business discovery. LinkedIn matters if you’re B2B or targeting the Silicon Slopes tech crowd. And AI chatbots are starting to influence decisions more than most people realize.
Step 2: Think in Topics, Not Just Keywords
Traditional SEO trains you to think in keywords. “Utah marketing agency.” “Salt Lake City SEO services.” “PPC advertising Utah.” Those still matter. But for a search everywhere strategy, you need to think bigger.
Instead of just targeting the keyword “Utah SEO services,” think about the conversation behind that keyword. What is someone actually trying to figure out?
They might be wondering how to get their website ranking locally. Or whether SEO is worth the investment for a small business. Or how long it takes to see results. Or whether they should do it themselves or hire an agency.
That’s not one keyword. That’s an entire topic with dozens of angles. And each angle can become a piece of content tailored to a specific platform.
A blog post answering “how long does SEO take for a small business in Utah” for your website. A 60-second video explaining the same thing on TikTok. A LinkedIn post sharing a real client timeline. A Reddit comment in a Utah business thread giving honest advice. A YouTube video walking through a real SEO audit.
Same topic. Multiple platforms. Different formats. That’s search everywhere optimization in practice.
Step 3: Create Content That Works on Each Platform
This is where most businesses fall apart. They create one piece of content and paste it everywhere. Same caption on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and TikTok. Same blog post reformatted as a video script.
That doesn’t work because each platform has its own language, format, and audience expectations.
Here’s how we think about platform-specific content:
Google and your website. This is still your home base. Long-form content, service pages, blog posts optimized for the keywords your audience is searching. Focus on local SEO for Utah-specific terms. Make sure your Google Business Profile is dialed in.
TikTok and Instagram Reels. Short, raw, vertical video. No polished production. Real people talking about real things. Show your process, share quick tips, give behind-the-scenes looks at your business. This is where our Embedded Creator program shines for brands that don’t have someone who wants to get on camera.
YouTube. Longer video content. Tutorials, walkthroughs, case studies, and explainers. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and videos have a shelf life of months or years. A well-optimized YouTube video can drive leads long after you publish it.
LinkedIn. For B2B businesses and professional services in Utah, LinkedIn is where your decision-makers are. Share insights, lessons learned, and honest takes on your industry. Build your personal brand and your company brand at the same time.
Reddit and Facebook Groups. These are where people ask for real recommendations. You can’t just advertise here. You have to show up as a helpful human being. Answer questions. Share your expertise without pitching. Build trust over time. When someone in a Utah business group asks “does anyone know a good marketing agency,” you want three other people to tag you before you even see the post.
AI Chatbots. This is the newest search surface and it’s growing fast. When someone asks ChatGPT “who are the best marketing agencies in Utah,” the answer is based on how much your brand shows up across the web. The more you’re mentioned on different platforms, in directories, in press, on podcasts, and in published content, the more likely AI tools are to recommend you.
Step 4: Repurpose Everything
Creating content for 6 platforms doesn’t mean creating 6 times the content. It means building a system where one idea becomes multiple pieces.
Here’s an example of how we do this:
You film a 10-minute YouTube video about how SEO works for Utah small businesses. From that one video you pull 3 short clips for TikTok and Reels. You write a blog post covering the same topic in more depth for your website. You turn the key takeaway into a LinkedIn post. You answer a related question on Reddit using the same talking points. And the blog post with the embedded video strengthens your Google rankings.
One idea. Six platforms. Maybe two hours of total work once you have the system in place.
The businesses that treat content creation as a system instead of a one-off task are the ones that can actually maintain a search everywhere presence without burning out.
Step 5: Track What’s Actually Working
The mistake most businesses make is measuring everything by website traffic. If a TikTok video gets 50,000 views but only sends 200 people to your website, was it a failure?
Not if 30 of those people later Googled your brand name and reached out. Not if your brand awareness in the Salt Lake City market went up. Not if people started recognizing your name in local business groups.
Search everywhere optimization requires tracking beyond just Google Analytics. Pay attention to brand search volume (are more people Googling your business name?), direct traffic, social engagement, DMs and inquiries from social platforms, and how people say they found you when they reach out.
We ask every lead that comes through “how did you hear about us?” and we track those answers. That data is worth more than any analytics dashboard because it tells you the real customer journey, not just the last click.
Why AI Makes This Even More Urgent
AI chatbots are quickly becoming a major search surface. People are asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI features for recommendations, comparisons, and advice. And these AI tools are building their answers from what they find across the entire web.
If your business only exists on your website and Google search results, AI tools have limited information to work with. But if your brand shows up on LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, in press mentions, podcast appearances, and industry directories, you’re giving AI models a much richer picture of who you are and what you do.
Multi-platform presence isn’t just a marketing strategy anymore. It’s how you train the internet (and the AI models crawling it) to recognize your brand as an authority.
For Utah businesses, this is still early. Most of your local competitors are not thinking about this yet. Which means the ones that start now will have a significant advantage over the next 12 to 24 months.
You Don’t Have to Do All of This Alone
If this feels overwhelming, that’s normal. Most businesses don’t have a team dedicated to each platform. Most business owners are already stretched thin keeping their operations running.
That’s exactly what we help with at HitSelect. We build search everywhere strategies for Utah businesses that cover SEO, social media, video content, paid advertising, and AI visibility all under one roof. Whether you need a full strategy or help with one piece of the puzzle, we’ll find the gaps and build the plan.
If you don’t have someone to create video content, our Embedded Creator program handles that. If you need coaching on how to show up on social media, we do that too. If your SEO needs work, your ads need auditing, or your AI visibility is nonexistent, we’ll identify what’s missing and start closing the gaps.
Want to see where your business stands across search?
Try our self-serve audit tool and get a snapshot of your current marketing presence in about 10 minutes.
