SEO in 2026

Maryanna Franco shares that citation visibility is very 2025. In 2026 SEO can only move the needle by building stronger brand–category co-occurrence and contextual signals, because being part of AI's bibliography doesn't mean being part of its shortlist. Discussion points include: The Citation Fallacy: Why being cited in an AI response's bibliography is entirely different from being recommended, a...

Kseniya Dvarakouskaya says that the biggest mistake in international SEO in 2026 is treating localization as the last step — real ranking growth in new markets starts with local keyword research from scratch, not translating what already works in English. Talking points include: Why translation is not localization when it comes to SEO — and where teams lose ranking potential - What local keyword r...

In YMYL spaces like health, misinformation isn't just an SEO problem — it's a user safety problem. Macmillan Cancer Support shares how they proactively fight misinformation while staying visible in an AI-driven, zero-click search world. Talking points include: - Why is misinformation especially dangerous in YMYL sectors like health? - How does Macmillan approach content strategy proactively rather...

Carlos Manuel Sánchez Donate shares that sitemaps are often treated as an afterthought, but they're a direct line of communication with both search engines and LLMs about what matters on your site. Splitting and customizing them by content type can unlock better crawl visibility and sharper Search Console auditing. Talking points: - Why do you think sitemaps are so underrated in SEO today? - How e...

Jenna Hannon suggests that you forget keywords. AEO is about going deep: build public documentation on your site that answers every specific question a prospect might ask at each stage of the buying journey. Key talking points: What sort of public documentation are you referring to? How do you know the specific questions that your prospects might ask? How do you prioritise the questions to answer?...

Juliette van Rooyen shares that we need to make sure categories and labels are clearly understood by AI & Search engines by adding a machine-readable layer that maps them to the entities and taxonomies the web already knows & trusts. Talking points include: What is a translation layer beneath your site? Why is it important to make sure your categories and labels are clearly understood by A...

Irwin Hau shares that SEO gets the click, but trust gets the conversion. Talking points include: What do you mean by trust gets the conversion? Why do most websites fail despite strong SEO? What do you mean by the psychology behind trust and user behavior? How is AI changing search but not human decision-making? What are the subtle credibility mistakes hurting conversions? What are some small webs...

Jean-Marc Courtiade talks about the importance of going back to roots analysis thanks to consent-free analytics tools. Talking points include: What is a consent-free analytics tool? When is consent required? What data can we obtain on a consent-free basis? What countries is this relevant to? How do you blend all the data together to produce a complete picture? Is there still a place for asking for...

Astley Cervania talks about the importance of making sure that content quality is high across every page on your website. Talking points include: - The importance of maintaining your website and not just always prioritizing building out new content - Search engines don't evaluate pages in isolation – algorithm updates expose quality inconsistencies across your entire domain, so strong blog content...

Sara Warneryd shares the importance of shifting from Google clicks to multi-platform discovery. Talking points include: *Understanding Search as Discovery: Why user journeys are shifting from a single Google search to multi-platform exploration, and what this means for your brand. * Creating content for the platforms, not the click: How to format your knowledge so it delivers full value directly o...

Daisy Shevlin shares that you're a marketer first and an SEO second. Talking points include: What does being a marketer first really mean? Some SEOs' downfall is when it comes to relating how the work we do generates money for the business How do we do this? - AI search requires a more holistic approach to making your brand visible than ever before What does this holistic approach look like? How d...

Brett Farmiloe discusses why journalist request platforms are so important for SEO with David Bain. Talking points include: What is Help a Reporter Out? You’re founder of Featured.com - what does that offer? How do these platforms actually work? Who uses them? What can you actually gain from using these platforms? What are some Best practices for cold pitching podcasts and journalists? How do you...

Stop trying to reverse-engineer what AI wants in 2026, just interrogate the model on the exact sources it relied on after it answers, and it'll tell you precisely what to fix to get cited. That's what Claudia shares in this episode. Talking points include: - AI visibility is business-specific. - AEO is an extension of SEO, not a replacement. - After the AI answers a real customer-style question, i...

In 2026, the most effective SEO strategy is to create truly unique, non-replicable content, which means avoiding the use of AI to mass-produce generic pages at scale. What do you think? Discussion points include: Why is mass-producing content a fragile strategy? How do you differentiate content? What are examples of types of content that nobody else can produce? How do you know if your target audi...

Jason Kramer shares why businesses not doing a good job of leveraging leads from organic - and what to do about it. Talking points include: Why are businesses not doing a good job of leveraging leads from organic? How does a business better identify leads from organic? How can businesses do a better job of utilising these leads? How can SEOs work better with other marketing team members to better...

Will Rice discusses the importance of creating useful tools to convert more of your existing traffic. Talking points include: How to understand what is going to get your traffic to convert more. How do you know what traffic is likely to convert? How do you put a financial value on traffic from different sources? How to rapidly build tools to provide genuine value to your customers. Which tools are...

Taylor Kurtz provides our final SEOin2026 tip, advising that we stop obsessing over AI and instead, focus on high quality content. Taylor says: “Do not obsess about AI. Don't obsess about it.” Why shouldn't you obsess about it? “I'm sure a lot of people have helpful suggestions about it, but frankly, it's all so new that it’s on a trial basis. Anyone saying that they know what to do for this envir...

Stefan Lozo shares the importance of not neglecting traditional SEO int eh age of AI. Talking points include: What activities would you describe as traditional SEO? How should an SEO define their services in 2026? How should this be communicated with clients? What happens if clients push back and are looking for other services or ways of doing things? How do you set realistic expectations for clie...

Michael MacMillan shares our penultimate piece of advice by encouraging you to ensure that all the good SEO that you already intend to do, is being done. Michael says: “While AI is flooding the web with content, it’s also assisting teams to create huge strategies and big plans. However, we're still not seeing them getting executed.” What does execution actually mean, and why is it not happening? “...

Reena Bowden agrees with Jade Pruett about the ability to stay agile as we move through 2026. Reena says: “Make sure that you are discoverable, and be agile with optimizing your business for AI-driven search and answer engines. We're also talking about GEO and AIO, not just for traditional search. To be discoverable and agile, you need to be proactive and not just reactive to market changes becaus...

Jade Pruett is keen to highlight that best practices that existed in the past aren’t necessarily best practices for the future. Jade says: “Forget best practices. SEO in 2026 is about moving beyond checklists and leveraging your own expertise to build effective, trustworthy, and AI-ready strategies.” What best practices do we need to forget? “In the industry, we've become a bit stuck in our checkl...

Petra Kis-Herczegh encourages you to be more critical in your thinking – and not to initially accept everything at face value. Petra says : “Embrace healthy scepticism. In a time where the SEO industry is drowning in new AI metrics, from AIO attribution to vector index presence, we need to understand that we don't have robust, standardised methods to validate these just yet. When tools show you th...

Andrew Melnychuk Oseen shares that for effective SEO in 2026 you should be aware of what data sources you're feeding LLMs. Discussion points include: What data sources should you be hooking up to LLMs? What are your go-to LLMs at the moment and why? What are the common mistakes that tend to be made in doing this? What end result are you looking for? Is there any data type that you shouldn’t be get...

Manu Madeddu highlights that the ever-changing world of SEO means that flexibility and being able to continually adapt will be integral parts of future success. Manu says: “Be flexible and be ready to face the unknown. Essentially, be prepared to adapt to all the new and broader challenges we have as marketers, and also flexible enough and ready to absorb knowledge, data, and information about thi...

Sarah McDowell shares that surrounding yourself with the right people is a key part of maintaining personal growth. Sarah says: “Community and your inner circle are not only essential for your well-being, but they are also so important for your career progression as well.” Why is community relevant to SEO? “When it comes to SEO and career progression, as in any industry, looking after your own wel...