Places / Placements — Where can you be found?
The Five Building Blocks of Being Found · Building block: Places / Placements · by Ortwin Oberhauser · Last updated: June 2026
Places / placements are the digital spaces in which a source is findable — or can be made findable. A place can be a platform, a social network, a video channel, a directory or your own website. Places are where your content lives and where your presence as a source becomes visible.
Not every place works the same way. And not every place is relevant for every source.
The place is the building block in the SEOlogie communication model where visibility arises.
A source can be described with all the clarity in the world and give the most precise answers — if it sits in the wrong places, or in none at all, it stays invisible. Places are the digital spaces where the seekers and those who fit search for you — or come across you.
The goal is not presence everywhere. The goal is presence exactly where your seekers and those who fit are searching for you, your company or your products — or where they come across you.
Two fundamental logics
Not all places work by the same logic. The difference is fundamental — and it determines how a source becomes visible there.
Pull logic: the seeker comes on their own.
Your own website, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook — they all have search functions. The seeker arrives with a question, types it in, looks for a source. If you're clearly recognizable as a source there and have the right answer, you get found.
Push logic: the need is still asleep.
The same platforms also run algorithmic feeds. People scroll, watch, linger — with no concrete question in mind. The algorithm decides what they see. The need is implicit — it's there, but it hasn't become a question yet. Here the source has to build the bridge itself — by speaking to the dormant need and making it visible.
Most platforms are both at once — search engine and algorithmic feed. YouTube is actively searched and recommends videos at the same time. LinkedIn has a strong B2B people search and pushes posts into feeds at the same time. For younger audiences, TikTok has long since become a primary search engine — and at the same time it is the strongest algorithmic feed of all.
That also means: every platform has its own internal algorithm deciding who gets to see your content — a gatekeeper inside the platform. More on that in the next entry: Gatekeepers / AI & Search Engines.
The dimensions of a place
No digital place is just one thing. Every platform, every network, every website can carry several traits at once. SEOlogie distinguishes seven dimensions a place can have — in different strengths, in different combinations:
Search function — people arrive with a concrete question and actively look for a source. Pull logic.
Algorithmic feed — the platform serves content nobody searched for. The platform decides what gets shown to whom. Push logic.
Relationship / community — people connect, discuss, interact. Professional competence becomes visible through dialogue.
Entertainment / content — content is consumed to discover something, to learn or to be entertained.
Marketplace / commerce — direct transactions take place. Products are offered, found, bought.
Advertising network — paid placement as a logic of its own. Whoever pays can become visible deliberately — independent of organic reach.
Internal gatekeeper — the platform itself decides on the visibility of content through its own algorithm or its own rules. Every platform is thereby also its own gatekeeper.
Every real place is a combination of these dimensions. Which ones dominate is what sets the platforms apart.
The most important places worldwide
The overview below shows the world's most significant platforms by reach — Western and Eastern. For each platform: which dimensions it has, and which ones dominate.
This is not a recommendation of who should use which platform. That depends on the seekers and those who fit — not on the industry.
Your own website
Dimensions: search function (if well built), no feed, no internal algorithm, optional marketplace
Your own website is the only place where a source holds full authority over its own story. No third-party algorithm decides on your reach. No price per contact. No relationship of dependence. The content belongs to the source — permanently.
That makes it the foundation. All other places can complement it — nothing can replace your own website.
One risk with directories and third-party platforms: sign up everywhere, and outside portals may end up ranking above your own website in the search results for your own company name. Then a directory ranks number one for your own name — and the source loses control over the first impression.
YouTube
Dimensions: search function (very strong), algorithmic feed (very strong), entertainment (very strong), advertising network (very strong), marketplace (growing)
YouTube is at once the second-largest search engine in the world and one of the strongest algorithmic recommendation platforms. Those who search find; those who scroll discover. Content can keep performing here for years. YouTube is library, television and recommendation machine in one.
Dimensions: search function (medium), algorithmic feed (strong), relationship/community (very strong), marketplace (very strong), advertising network (very strong), entertainment (growing)
Facebook has the strongest marketplace function among the social networks (Facebook Marketplace) and, at the same time, one of the deepest community infrastructures (Groups). People actively search here for people, companies and local offers — and are fed content by the algorithm along the way.
Dimensions: search function (medium), algorithmic feed (very strong), entertainment (very strong), advertising network (very strong), marketplace (growing)
Instagram is dominated by the algorithmic feed — Reels are served to you, not searched for. At the same time there is a growing search function for profiles, hashtags and topics. The marketplace share (Instagram Shopping) is growing. Visual content dominates.
TikTok / Douyin
Dimensions: search function (strong and growing), algorithmic feed (extremely strong), entertainment (extremely strong), advertising network (strong), marketplace (strong and growing)
For younger audiences worldwide, TikTok has become the primary search engine — for product research, local recommendations, how-tos, job hunting. At the same time, TikTok has the strongest algorithmic feed of any platform. TikTok Shop is turning the platform more and more into a complete marketplace. Douyin — the Chinese version — has evolved even further towards social commerce within China.
Dimensions: search function (very strong, B2B), algorithmic feed (medium to strong), relationship/community (very strong), advertising network (strong)
LinkedIn has the strongest search function for professional contexts — people, companies, positions, skills. At the same time there is a growing feed. The advertising network is precise in B2B targeting, but costly.
X / Twitter
Dimensions: search function (medium, strong in real time), algorithmic feed (medium to strong), relationship (medium), entertainment (medium), advertising network (medium)
X is especially strong in real-time search — current events, opinions and discussions are found here faster than on other platforms. Its reach has shifted in recent years; the platform is in flux.
Dimensions: search function (very strong, visual), algorithmic feed (medium), entertainment/inspiration (very strong), marketplace (growing), advertising network (medium)
Pinterest is primarily a visual search engine. People search here for ideas, products, inspiration — with concrete intent to buy. Content keeps performing for a long time, often years.
Dimensions: search function (strong), relationship/community (very strong), entertainment (medium), advertising network (medium)
Reddit is one of the strongest community platforms in the world. Professional questions get discussed and answered in subreddits. Reddit content frequently ranks high in external search engines — sources that get cited there gain authority.
Telegram
Dimensions: relationship/community (strong, groups and channels), search function (internal, medium), hardly any algorithmic feed, hardly any advertising network
Telegram works differently from every other platform: no big algorithmic feed, no strong advertising infrastructure. Reach comes from the direct subscribers of a channel or the members of a group — with no algorithm in between.
Eastern platforms
For sources that want to reach international seekers and those who fit — or that need a presence in Asian markets — there are ecosystems of their own with similar dimensions:
WeChat / Weixin (China): messaging, social, commerce, payment, mini-apps — all in one system. The most complete platform integration in the world.
Douyin (China): the origin of TikTok, with an even deeper commerce integration in China than TikTok has globally.
Naver (South Korea): search engine + blog + community — it dominates search in South Korea more strongly than Google does.
VK (Russia / Eastern Europe): a Facebook-like structure with a strong community function.
These platforms work along the same dimensions — search function, feed, commerce, community — in other geographic and linguistic spaces.
Which places are relevant?
No industry automatically determines the right place — the seekers and those who fit do. The same company can use different platforms for different goals: winning customers, finding skilled people, building partnerships, keeping existing customers informed. Every goal has its own people who fit — and they may spend their time on completely different platforms.
Three questions help with the decision:
Where do your seekers and those who fit search and spend their time — for this specific goal? The industry doesn't answer that. The people who fit answer it.
What do you want to achieve at this place? Every goal activates different dimensions of a platform.
Do you, as a source, have the capacity to keep this place alive? A few places done well beat many places done half-heartedly. A channel that has fallen silent for months harms the source more than no channel at all.
The first step at every place
Whichever place you choose — the first step is always the same:
The profile is the source's digital business card. It has to be complete, and it has to say clearly who you are, what you can do and who you are there for. Leave the profile half-finished, and you leave the door half-closed.
After that, one rule holds: presence grows out of answers — not out of advertising. Whoever shows up at a place and immediately talks about themselves and their offer gets ignored. Whoever answers the questions being asked at that place — visibly, understandably, regularly — comes to be seen as a source.
Whether the algorithm of a place then actually shows you — whether the systems find you and pass you on — that is the job of the next building block: Gatekeepers / AI & Search Engines.
Sources and literature
- Ortwin Oberhauser: Die SEOlogie – Die Kunst des Sich-Finden-Lassens ("SEOlogie — The Art of Letting Yourself Be Found"). Book manuscript, in progress.