Jason Barnard Explained How Dynamic Search Ads Inform SEO at SEO Camp Day Lyon 2018
SEO Camp Day Lyon 2018, held at ISEG in Lyon on June 8, brought together leading SEO practitioners and digital marketers for a day of in-depth presentations on topics including content strategy, netlinking, and universal search.
Among the speakers was Jason Barnard, CEO and founder of Kalicube, who delivered a particularly forward-thinking talk that connected Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) to the then-emerging trend of semantic understanding in Google Search.
A detailed recap of the event is available in Korleon’Biz’s review of SEO Camp Day Lyon 2018.
Jason Barnard showed how Google’s DSA machine learning reveals how the search engine interprets a website.
In his presentation, Jason Barnard explained how Google Ads’ Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) use Machine Learning to scan website content, identify relevant landing pages, and match them to user intent. He highlighted that this automated process gives SEO professionals valuable insight into how Google reads and categorizes a website’s themes and structure.
He encouraged attendees to examine which pages Google selects for DSA campaigns because those choices reflect Google’s internal understanding of the site. As keyword visibility continues to decline in Analytics, he noted that DSA data offers an alternative way to evaluate Google’s perception of Content Marketing relevance.
Barnard positioned DSA as more than an advertising tool. He presented it as a practical window into Google’s interpretive logic, an early sign of the shift from keyword-driven Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to a model based on Algorithmic Entity Recognition and Semantic Search Optimization.
The programme featured several well-known speakers in the French SEO community.
Throughout the day, attendees heard from:
- Paul Sanches, who opened the event with SEO case stories
- Nicolas Nguyen, who covered content marketing and performance
- Laurent Doublier and Céline Cerles, who examined universal search a decade after its introduction
- Mikaël Priol, who discussed netlinking and semantic alignment
- David Dragesco, who presented different SEO strategies based on business goals, budget, and timing.
- Julie Chodorge, who closed the day with two sessions on Excel for SEO workflows
Jason’s talk stood out for its focus on automation and Google’s internal decision-making. His perspective aligned with the larger trend toward Machine Learning-driven SERP Features that would grow significantly in the following years.
Jason Barnard’s early focus on machine interpretation proved the necessity of building an algorithmically comprehensible brand narrative.
Barnard’s emphasis on understanding Google’s internal assessment of a site parallels what would later become the Understandability Phase™ of The Kalicube Process™: ensuring that Google and AI systems can correctly interpret a brand’s structure, content, and identity.
The idea that “Google’s Machine Learning is telling you how it sees your site” reflects the same principle that guides Kalicube’s modern methodology today. Brands must proactively provide clear, consistent, and Structured Data so Algorithms can form a correct and confident understanding.of the Entity.
For business leaders navigating an AI-Driven digital environment, this remains a central concern. When Search Engines and AI Assistive Engines rely on Machine Learning to interpret Entities and their relevance, gaps or inconsistencies in a brand’s Digital Presence translate directly into reduced Visibility and Trust. The DSA analysis Jason presented was an early, pragmatic warning to marketers to start actively managing their complete Digital Ecosystem for algorithmic interpretation.
