Entity SEO Secrets 2026: Jason Barnard on Branding Optimization Strategies - Jason Barnard On The James Dooley Podcast
Entity SEO Secrets 2026 - Branding Optimization Strategies (James Dooley Interviews Jason Barnard)
Published by: James Dooley. Host: James Dooley. Guest: Jason Barnard, Founder and CEO of Kalicube®. January 16, 2026
Entity SEO is no longer a niche pursuit. In 2026, it has become the backbone of brand visibility, recognition, and recommendation across search engines and AI-assisted platforms. In the second episode of Entity SEO Secrets 2026, Jason Barnard lays out his refined approach to branding and entity optimisation - a methodology decades in the making that now drives machine confidence and audience trust.
A Career Built on Understanding Algorithms
Jason Barnard’s journey in SEO began in 1998, the year Google was founded. Over the last 27 years, he has witnessed the evolution of search engines from niche tools to powerful decision-making platforms. His core insight, which many SEOs still overlook, is the centrality of brand in digital performance.
Reflecting on his early success with a children’s site, Barnard highlights how Google initially provided traffic, but it was brand strength that sustained exponential growth. “Google kicked off our fame, but that billion page views came from brand,” he explains. What started as 90% reliance on search traffic eventually flipped: 80% of the visibility came from a self-reinforcing brand presence.
The Kalicube Process™: A Framework for Brand Dominance
Central to Jason’s methodology is the The Kalicube Process, a framework he developed to ensure that brands are:
- Understandable - The machine grasps who the brand is, what it offers, and who it serves.
- Credible - The brand is perceived as the authoritative, trustworthy solution in its market.
- Deliverable - AI systems have the confidence to recommend the brand to the right audience.
This three-step process mirrors the funnel from bottom to top: branded search for conversion, comparison for credibility, and discovery for reach. Barnard’s framework, perfected since 2019, applies universally - from companies and products to music albums and films.
Measuring Brand Understanding in the AI Era
One of the most challenging aspects of entity SEO is proving that machines understand a brand. Barnard uses over 25 billion data points collected since 2015 to assess brand recognition in Google’s Knowledge Graph, branded search results, and AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot.
He distinguishes between being seen and being recommended:
- Being seen occurs when a brand appears in search results or AI citations.
- Being recommended occurs when AI actively chooses that brand over competitors in response to a query.
“The AI is a conduit to the people you want to reach,” Barnard says. “Your goal is not just visibility but recommendation.”
From Entity Home to Web-Wide Education
Barnard emphasizes the importance of the Entity Home - the definitive page on a brand or individual’s website (often the About page). It is where machines first learn about:
- Who you are
- What you do
- Who you serve
- Why you are credible
This page should be structured clearly, with schema markup to reinforce the content, ensuring consistency across the web. Each page on the website becomes an educational opportunity for AI, a chance to solidify understanding and increase deliverability.
Beyond AIDA: How Kalicube Complements Marketing Funnels
While traditional frameworks like AIDA still have value, Barnard’s Kalicube Process integrates seamlessly, enhancing funnel strategies at every stage. By aligning understandability, credibility, and deliverability with AI-driven decision-making, brands can ensure they are the preferred choice when discovery leads to recommendation.
The Bottom Line: Brand-Centric SEO
Jason Barnard’s approach makes clear that entity SEO is not just about rankings or traffic metrics. It is about machine confidence and trust, ensuring that AI systems understand, validate, and recommend your brand consistently.
As this episode demonstrates, Entity SEO Secrets 2026 is not a speculative trend. It is the codification of decades of expertise, applied in a world where algorithms are the gatekeepers of visibility and recommendation.
