I recently saw Stephen Kenwright speak at a small Sistrix event in Leeds about strategies for exploiting Google’s brand bias, and a lot of what he said still feels as fresh today as it did over a decade ago when he first started promoting this theory.
Right now, the search experience is changing more than in the last 25 years, and many SEOs are citing that brand is the critical focus for survival.
Some might say (Stephen included) that this is what SEO should always have been about.
I spoke to Stephen, the founder of Rise at Seven, about his talk and about how his theories and strategies could translate to a world of large language model (LLM) optimization alongside a fractured search journey.
You can watch the full interview with Stephen on IMHO below, or continue reading the article summary.
Google’s Brand Bias Is Foundational
Brand bias isn’t a recent development. Stephen was already writing about it in 2016 during his time at Branded3. What underlines this bias is the trust users have in brands.
“Google wants to give a good experience to its users. That means surfacing the results they expect to see. Often, that’s a brand they already know,” Stephen explained.
When users search, they’re often subconsciously looking to reconnect with a mental shortcut that brands provide. It’s not about discovery; it’s about recognition.
When brands invest in traditional marketing channels, they influence user behavior in ways that create cascading effects across digital platforms.
Television advertising, for example, makes viewers significantly more likely to click on branded results even when searching for generic terms.
Traditional Marketing Directly Influences Search Behavior
At his talk in Leeds, Stephen referenced research that demonstrates television advertising creates measurable impacts on search behavior, with viewers 33% more likely to click on advertised brands in search results.
“People are about a third more likely to click your result after seeing a TV ad, and they convert better, too,” Stephen said.
When users encounter brands through traditional marketing channels, they develop mental associations that influence their subsequent search behavior. These behavioral patterns then signal to Google that certain brands provide better user experiences.
“Having the trust from the user comes from brand building activity. It doesn’t come from having an exact match domain that happens to rank first for a keyword,” Stephen emphasized. “That’s just not how the real world works.”
Investment In Brand Building Gains More Buy-In From C-Suite
Even though this bias has been evident for so long, Stephen highlighted a disconnect from brand-building activities within the industry.
“Every other discipline from PR to the marketing manager through to the social media team, literally everyone else, including the C-suite is interested in brand in some capacity and historically SEOs have been the exception,” Stephen explained.
This separation has created missed opportunities for SEOs to access larger marketing budgets and gain executive support for their initiatives.
By shifting focus toward brand-building activities that impact search visibility, they can better align with broader marketing objectives.
“Just by switching that mindset and asking, ‘What’s the impact on brand of our SEO activity?’ we get more buy-in, bigger budgets, and better results,” he said.
Make A Conscious Decision About Which Search Engine To Optimize For
While Google’s dominance remains statistically intact, user behavior tells us that there has always existed a fractured search journey.
Stephen cited that half of UK adults use Bing monthly. A quarter is on Quora. Pinterest and Reddit are seeing massive engagement, especially with younger users. Nearly everyone uses YouTube, and they spend significantly more time on it than on Google.
Also, specialized search engines like Autotrader for used cars and Amazon for ecommerce have captured significant market share in their respective categories.
This fragmentation means that conscious decisions about platform optimization become increasingly important. Different platforms serve different demographics and purposes, requiring strategic choices about where to invest optimization efforts.
I asked Stephen if he thought Google’s dominance was under threat, or if it would remain part of a fractured search journey. But, he thought Google would be relevant for at least half a decade to come.
“I don’t see Google going anywhere. And I also don’t see the massive difference in LLM optimization. So most of the things that you would be doing for Google now … are broadly marketing things anyway and broadly impact LLM optimization.”
LLM Optimization Could Be A Return To Traditional Marketing
Looking toward AI-driven search platforms, Stephen believes the same brand-building tactics that work for Google will prove effective across LLM platforms. These new platforms don’t necessarily demand new rules; they reinforce old ones.
“What works in Google now, broadly speaking, is good marketing. That also applies to LLMs,” he said.
While we’re still learning how LLMs surface content and determine authority, early indicators suggest trust signals, brand presence, and real-world engagement all play pivotal roles.
The key insight is that LLM optimization doesn’t require entirely new approaches but rather a return to fundamental marketing principles focused on audience needs and brand trust.
Television Advertising Creates Significant Impact
I asked Stephen what he would do if he were to launch a new brand and how he would quickly gain traction.
In an interesting twist for someone who has worked in the SEO industry for so long, he cited TV as his primary focus.
“I’d build a transactional website and spend millions on TV [advertising]. If I did more [marketing], I’d add PR.” Stephen told me.
This recommendation reflects his belief that traditional marketing channels create a significant impact.
He believes, the combination of a functional ecommerce website with substantial television advertising investment, supplemented by PR activities, provides the foundation for rapid brand recognition and search visibility.
Before We Ruined The Internet
To me, it feels like we are going full circle and back to the days prior to the introduction of “new media” in the early 90s, when TV advertising was dominant and offline advertising was heavily influential.
“It’s like we’re going back to before we ruined the internet,” Stephen joked.
In reality, we’re circling back to what always worked: building real brands that people trust, remember, and seek out. The future requires classical marketing principles that prioritize audience understanding and brand building over technical optimization tactics.
This shift benefits the entire marketing industry by encouraging more integrated approaches that consider the complete customer journey rather than isolated technical optimizations.
Success in both search and LLM platforms increasingly depends on building genuine brand recognition and trust through consistent, audience-focused marketing activities across multiple channels.
Whether it’s Google, Bing, an LLM, or something we haven’t seen yet, brand is the one constant that wins.
Thank you to Stephen Kenwright for offering his insights and being my guest on IMHO.
More Resources:
- The Truth About LLM Hallucinations With Barry Adams
- Google’s AI Search Journeys Are Reshaping SEO With Cindy Krum
- Google Discover, AI Mode, And What It Means For Publishers: Interview With John Shehata
Featured Image: Shelley Walsh/Search Engine Journal
