From branding to visibility: A practical playbook for earning citations in AI and Google

Jan 5, 2026 · 33:23 · Webinar & Conference Session
Jonjo Rowlands Founder · Jelly
Matt Moderator · SE Ranking

Key takeaways

Search engine choice depends on keyword intent; navigational and transactional keywords remain Google-dominant, while commercial and informational queries are diversifying across TikTok, ChatGPT, and other platforms.
Google measures site quality through three main factors: anchor text relevance, user interactions (click-through rates), and how often people search for your brand by name.
The Four Ts framework—technical optimization, trust signals, topical authority, and talkability—are essential for earning citations in AI-driven search, with topical authority requiring comprehensive content clusters rather than single landing pages.
Trust signals include third-party reviews, meet-the-team pages with LinkedIn links, and author attribution on all blog posts; testimonials on your own site are worthless to search engines.
Human voice and brand tone are critical in 2026; content must be on-brand and identifiable, as users and AI systems are becoming increasingly aware of ChatGPT-generated content patterns.

Chapters

Introduction and SEO Evolution
Basics of Search: Keywords and Intent
Multi-Engine Search Landscape and Platform Diversification
Zero-Click Searches and Changing SEO Value
Why Brand Is Critical for SEO in 2026
The Four Ts Framework
Technical Optimization and Site Quality
Trust Signals and Credibility
Topical Authority and Content Clusters
Talkability: Citations, Reviews, and Mentions
Q&A: Citation Assets and AI Platforms
AI Safety, Healthcare, and Future Guardrails

Q&A

Which asset types would most reliably earn citations in engines like Perplexity and ChatGPT—original data, expert commentary, comparisons, or FAQ hubs?

Jonjo recommends creating as much content as possible aligned with your business pillars and services; content strategy must make sense in context of the business, not just pure blogging, and should lead outward from core services.Jonjo Rowlands

Which brand signals should teams prioritize in 2026 to ensure credibility carries into AI-generated answers while preserving unique human tone?

Preserve human voice and avoid ChatGPT patterns; SEOs must understand brand guidelines and ensure every piece of content is on-brand with the brand's unique voice, treating branding and SEO as one integrated effort, not separate functions.Jonjo Rowlands

Why do AI Overviews appear more frequently in healthcare than finance, and what should brands do about this?

Jonjo expresses concern that AI hallucinations pose serious risks in YMYL topics, especially healthcare; he calls for stronger guardrails in AI platforms and notes that Google has been widening YMYL definitions to include more sensitive topics.Jonjo Rowlands

Quotes

I don't have a giga prompt for ChatGPT, whatever that means. I don't promise spammy ways to publish 2,000 articles in one click.Jonjo Rowlands
SEO has quickly learned that individual keywords don't tell the whole story. What really matters is the intent behind them.Jonjo Rowlands
Search engines love brands. Google's goal is to keep people coming back to the platform by giving them results they can trust, and people are far more likely to click on a website they recognize.Jonjo Rowlands
Branding is part of the SEO job. Every single piece of content that you produce has to be on brand and has to have that kind of voice, because people are becoming wiser to content that looks like it was written by ChatGPT.Jonjo Rowlands
AI platforms hallucinate, and guardrails need to be much stronger, especially for YMYL topics like healthcare. When something goes wrong, it can affect people's lives.Jonjo Rowlands
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