How to Level Up Your Search Strategy
Imagine you have a newborn. They’ve been home for weeks and you’re exhausted and overwhelmed as you cradle them through another sleepless night. Desperate for relief, you pick up your phone and search, “How to help my baby sleep.”
The first result is an AI-generated list with generic advice pulled from the web. You click a couple links but don’t have the time to deep dive. You notice something about white noise machines and wonder how much they cost so you pull up the Amazon app to browse. There’s a problem, though — all the options look identical. How do you choose? Your social media algorithm saves the day with relatable reviews from real people on real cameras.
Your brain fog dissipates and the choice becomes clear. Your solution will be shipped before your next pot of coffee is brewed. Sweet dreams are on their way.
Millions of people have search experiences like this every day. SXO is the art of reaching them at every point in their journey — traditional search, AI chat, marketplaces, social media and beyond.
What is SXO?
SXO — otherwise known as Search Experience Optimization — is how you answer the question, “Where’s my target audience looking for the things they need and how can I make sure what they find there is me?”
In the digital marketing ecosystem, SXO strategy is a multi-faceted approach to ensuring your brand stays visible and relevant across all the platforms your audience uses to search. This means going beyond a foundation of traditional SEO to optimize for platforms like social media, marketplaces, forums and emerging tools like generative AI search and chatbots.
It’s about creating content that doesn’t just rank — it resonates. By understanding user intent, crafting valuable resources and delivering those resources in the spaces your audience inhabits, SXO ensures that wherever they’re searching, you’re the answer they find.
What is the Difference Between SEO and SXO?
While SEO focuses primarily on ranking on Google, an SXO strategy can include various search platforms — including marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart, social media networks like TikTok and Instagram as well as AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini. It also takes into account other channels like forums, review sites and community-driven platforms where users actively seek recommendations, share insights and discuss solutions to their needs.
SEO optimizes for the traditional search journey. It’s a foundational practice that ensures businesses are visible in the most widely used search ecosystems and delivers long-term value through consistent, reliable strategies. While it’s essential for online visibility, SEO’s primary focus on search engines like Google makes it less agile in addressing the diverse ways people search today.
SXO takes a more holistic, high-level look at search, considering the myriad ways modern users get answers to their questions and how they all connect. As users increasingly rely on social media, voice search, marketplaces and AI-driven tools, SXO adapts to this evolving behavior by ensuring your brand presence extends beyond a single platform. It’s about creating a seamless and consistent experience across all search touchpoints, acknowledging that today’s users might begin a search on TikTok, explore reviews on a forum and finalize a decision on a marketplace or eCommerce site — all in a matter of minutes.
Adapting Your Organic Reach Philosophy to Match the Modern Searcher’s Experience
Two forces are reshaping how businesses achieve organic reach: the shrinking visibility of traditional search results and the rise of alternative platforms. These changes demand a new approach to staying visible in the modern search landscape.
1. Organic Results Are Buried in the SERP
The search engine results page (SERP) has become a crowded, competitive space that continues to push traditional organic results to the margins.
With ads occupying prime real estate and first-page organic links dominated by major e-commerce players, smaller businesses face significant challenges to gaining visibility.
Even features like images linked to on-site content or “People Also Ask” sections — designed to enhance the user experience — often suppress traditional organic links further. This creates an uphill battle for businesses without established authority or robust e-commerce infrastructure to secure traffic from these results.
For these businesses, the traditional “rank higher in Google” approach simply isn’t enough anymore. Instead, the focus must shift to meeting users where they search with a strategy that prioritizes relevance and adaptability.
2. Searchers Are Finding Solutions Elsewhere
The way users search for solutions is evolving rapidly — and it’s happening outside of the traditional search engine experience. Platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram are now key tools for discovery, especially for younger demographics, who often prefer personalized and visually driven content over text-heavy search results.
Additionally, generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are rising in prominence by offering users instant, conversational answers without the need to sift through multiple links. These platforms appeal to modern searchers thanks to faster, more contextually rich results, reshaping their expectations of what a search experience should be.
This migration stems from a desire for immediacy, convenience and relevance. Traditional search engines, though powerful, often feel slower or less tailored when compared to the personalized feeds and instant responses offered by social and AI.
To stay relevant, businesses must meet their audiences where they’re already looking — across the diverse and growing spectrum of modern search platforms. Brands that understand and adapt to these forces can develop strategies to embrace the changing nature of search and maintain visibility in a landscape that isn’t going to stop evolving anytime soon.
What’s the Right SXO Strategy for My Business?
So… what does a successful SXO strategy look like and how can you use one to sharpen your businesses’ digital marketing? It starts here:
- Identifying Your Audience’s Preferred Platforms. The key to connecting with your audience is knowing where they’re searching, wherever it may be. Analyzing user behavior and search patterns is the foundation for meeting them where they already are.
- Assessing Your Current Presence. A successful SXO strategy starts with a detailed audit of how your brand appears across search channels. Pinpointing gaps and inconsistencies uncovers where you’re losing visibility and where adjustments can create an edge.
- Focusing on Content Relevance. Search isn’t just about showing up — it’s about showing up with answers. Crafting content that anticipates user intent and aligns with platform-specific algorithms ensures you’re delivering value where it counts most.
- Building Authority and Trust. Authority is built over time through consistent, credible content and a visible presence across trusted channels. By focusing on quality and reliability, you establish a reputation that search platforms and users can depend on.
- Optimizing for AI and Social Search. With AI tools and social platforms shaping how users find information, optimization means understanding how these algorithms prioritize content. It’s about creating assets that aren’t just optimized for keywords but for themes, context and engagement.
- Monitoring and Adjustment. SXO is not a “set it and forget it” strategy. Tracking user behavior, algorithm updates and content performance keeps you agile — ready to pivot and refine your approach as needed.
Ready to talk to SXO experts about how to better connect with your audience? We’re only a click away.