2026 SEO 2.0 - Search EVERYWHERE Optimization
BE FOUND EVERYWHERE THAT MATTERS!Â
By Tim Shane, Chief Executive Artistic Producer and President of State of Search. April 2026
We have been doing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) since the dawn of the publically available internet (around the mid 1990’s). That was before “Google” and before Yellow Pages and online directories. We have been succeeding and learning from our failures for over 30 years.
Looking back to 2016, tt has been over 10 years now that we have been telling people that Google never wanted to be a “Search Engine”. It wanted to be an “Answer Engine”.
To be relevant in today’s world, you need to be available “EVERYWHERE” your audience and customers are looking, asking, scrolling and deciding. Â
At Shane-Arts, we master four domains and find most things are possible when these work together. Â
ORGANIC vs PAID
ON-PAGE vs OFF-PAGE
Many come to us having tried “SEO” and it did not work because they did not master all four, or they are paying for “SEO” and not sure what is being done. We do our best to master these four domains and provide the best pricing.
We often find that people may do one or two of these well, but need help balancing the other aspects.
ORGANIC vs PAID
There is an order to things. We find that if you start with organic and figure out what works, grows and evolves naturally, then when you put money behind it, it tends to work better over the long term. The results are easier to manage and predict.
Many want instant gratification, or we may watch a TikTok about someone’s success which makes it seem so easy and they do Paid instead of Organic. It is possible to be successful doing Paid before and simultenously with organic, but many do not understand the risks involved nor manage the expectations properly. It may yield some high risk short term wins, but often results in a very expensive educational experience.
Organic Investment
We often hear that just because someone is paying for something, they may interpret that as “Paid” instead of organic. Many organic strategies may cost money, time and effort. For example, Yelp offers “page enhancement options”which can greatly influence organic results on Google, Apple, Voice Search and AI Agents, but when you take those digital assets and pay for placement under “Sponsored Sections”, then it is considered PAID.Â
Sometimes business owners make their own Facebook, Instagram, Wix, TikTok or Verify their “Free Listing” on Yelp or Google. If you are not paying, somebody is. It could be your competitor. It is important to understand how your organic feeds the other factors.  Â
Many organic strategies required time and effort, which some often find is more costly than rising price per click on the current thriving platforms. Â
When you work with Shane-Arts, our default go-to strategy is to CREATE. We avoid incentives on spending more without reliable trusted data to back it up and we build trust by delivering results through Trust, Truth and Transparency.  Â
PAID SEARCH
If you are NOT paying for the product, YOU ARE the product. As humans, our senses are trained in a certain way from programming from experience, education and environment. For Every Action, there is a reaction. Paid Search is the disruption of that process where you can pay to get into the person’s mind through their senses.Â
Episodic Television shows and social algorithms are desgigned to get your attention, and then show you a sponsored ad. You may also notice the less you pay on some platforms, the more you are transparently sold to. In the USA, there are laws that require “Paid” messages to be disclosed. That is why you may see “Sponsored”, “Ad” or “Special Advertising Section”. I say “may” see becuase sometimes you need to look to see it.Â
We view this process as a balance of art and science. If it is used responsibilty, it can earn trust and be rewarded with your desired out come. Using paid search responsibly can be empowering.Â
Paid search is usually seperated from organic content and labled as such. If nobody is paying it is a section that is either left blank, or it may contain an advertisement for advertising to let you know this area is available.Â
At Shane-Arts, we understand having someone’s attention comes with responsibility. Getting the audience in the right head space is part of our craft.    Â
ON PAGE vs OFF PAGE
ON PAGE SEO is usually things that can be done within your souvreign control. Do you have engaging and valuable content? Is it’s digital architecture designed to be accessible to everyone? Is it accessible to machines and AI as much as the visually or hearing impaired? Is your audience mostly interacting from mobile devices? Is your site hosted on a fast, secure and future proof server?
On Page SEO is it is more Art and less exact science. Our combined experience on our team usually has multiple solutions to every challenge. It is a continual process, especially with the paradigm shifts of the past few months.
At Shane-Arts, we have our own tools and resources that we use to benchmark against the tools that are the industry standard. Even with all our advantages, routine On-Page SEO check ups and updates should be performed.  Â
OFF PAGE SEO is vital with the rise of AI and if ignored can bury your brand so your ON PAGE SEO may not even matter. The Trust signals from things like your Verified Google Business Profile, Yelp, BBB, Trustpilot. The days of submitting your name, address, phone and Email citiations to hundreds of directories are numbered. You need to spend time optimizing those profiles just like your On-Page SEO. Having people review you on multiple trusted platforms and talk about you on social channels has also become an Off Page SEO Ranking Factor. While there are many factors that fall into this sector, we have successfully been ranking thousands of clients in competitive markets for their desired keywords for multiple decades. Â