Jason Barnard: Traditional SEOs Are Finally Catching Up – and I’m Delighted

The shift from keyword tactics to entity understanding is happening

For over a decade, I’ve been working on a question most SEOs weren’t asking: How do we teach machines to understand a brand? Not just rank it. Not just list it. Understand it so they represent it accurately in search results, Knowledge Panels, and now in the answers given by AI like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Bing Copilot.

Back in 2012, it felt fringe. I was reverse-engineering Google’s brain while most were still chasing backlinks. I called it “brand-focused algorithmic education.” Now it’s becoming SEO 2.0.

A podcast that proves we’ve reached a turning point

The new podcast (launched today) “Generative Search Optimization in the AI Era: Decoding SEO 2.0” from Guy and Gail Goole is a milestone. These are SEOs who get it. They’re talking openly about entity-based indexing, generative engine optimization, and AI-driven brand recommendation—exactly the direction we’ve been heading at Kalicube® since 2015.

They’re making the conversation accessible for SEOs, marketers, and business owners who may have felt left behind. And that’s vital. The shift to AI-first visibility is for everyone.

A Kalicube Certified Agency is behind it—and that matters

The “Generative Search Optimization in the AI Era: Decoding SEO 2.0” podcast is sponsored by Three Steps Digital Brand Management, a Kalicube Certified Agency trained to implement The Kalicube Process™ as a service. 3 Steps have got the tech, the data, and the strategic depth to back it up.

What Guy and Gail Goole are calling SEO 2.0 isn’t just the future. It’s now.

Seeing this conversation go mainstream is personal for me. I’ve spent years pushing for a smarter, more strategic, brand-driven approach to digital visibility. Now, traditional SEOs are picking up the torch, running with it, and lighting the way for others.

I couldn’t be happier.