SEO in 2026

When we start preparing for the consumption of our goods and services by AI, we should also be preparing for AI user agents to navigate our sites. Itamar says: “In the age of AI platforms and LLMs, it's important to really understand how these different platforms, and more specifically user agents, are accessing and navigating your website.”

Part of the data layer that you provide for AI should include well-structured knowledge graphs, shares Olesia Korobka. Olesia says: “Prepare small knowledge graphs and use them for your SEO efforts – and also to optimize your content for LLMs and AI output.” What do you mean by small knowledge graphs, and how do AI search engines use knowledge graphs? “We know that Google uses knowledge graphs for...

Jérôme Salomon shares that you can use your server logs to perform an indexation audit at scale thanks to the 130 days rule, bypassing the URL inspector tool API limits for large websites. Talking points include: What is an indexation audit? Why would you want to conduct one? What is an indexation audit at scale? What is the 130 days rule? How do you use your server logs for this? What are the url...

Martha van Berkel follows on from Pam’s tip by highlighting that it’s key to manage the information that you’re providing to AI. Martha says: “SEO is now about managing your data layer for AI.” What is your data layer for AI? “We really have to think about the data we're putting into the machine. Most people still think of schema markup as just trying to get visibility, but it's way more than that...

How are you preparing for AI? Pam Aungst Cronin starts off not by exploring how to use AI in your day-to-day activities, but how to position what you do, with AI as your primary audience. Pam says: “Start preparing for an AI-first future, where the AIs are your primary target audience, not humans.”

Ramona Joita recommends that strong branding in 2026 is key – and shares why research is an integral part of this. Ramona says: “Strong branding, not just keywords, will drive organic visibility in the AI-powered SEO landscape in 2026. 2025 has been the busiest year ever. I have been in this business for 15 years now, and I have faced all the changes that Google has put us through. We had the mobi...

Joseph Kahn expands on Christian’s tip to emphasise that building authority in 2026 is multi-faceted. Joseph says: “Look beyond the blue links and build for AI.” Are we just talking about blue links in Google? “We're talking about blue links everywhere. Most people think, ‘Backlinks, backlinks, backlinks.’ The old world of SEO was just about using backlinks to build authority, and that isn't the w...

Roman Leliukh discusses how to SEO for LLMs. Key talking points include: Which LLMs should you optimize for? Chat GPT / AI Overviews / Gemini Why are certain LLMs best? How do you optimize for them? How do you measure success?

Christian Rigg follows on from Otuto Umeji’s tip to share that, if you can form a brand association in someone’s mind, it makes many aspects of SEO a lot easier. Christian says: “2026 is all about brand associations: in people's minds, in search engines, and in LLMs. Optimizing for brand associations means building deep and meaningful connections between your brand and the topics, products, featur...

Otuto Umeji shares that one of the key elements to building a successful brand in 2026, from an SEO perspective, is to be the go-to, remembered brand for a particular keyword phrase. Otuto says: “Use brand positioning to move from SERP rankings to mind rankings.” What are mind rankings? “Recently, we have seen that SEO is shifting, and AI search is now summarising results. Because of this, it's no...

Charlie Clark shares that as we move towards an AI search-first world, brands should move beyond "links for links’ sake" and focus on semantically relevant brand mentions that align with key topics and entities, helping AI engines better understand, associate, and prioritise them in results. Talking points include: What’s an example of links for links’ sake? How do we focus on semantically relevan...

Following on from Aleyda’s advice to optimize for citation-worthiness, Sukhjinder Singh shares that brand recognition is key. Sukhjinder says: “Say goodbye to rankings and hello to recognition. It's time to appear everywhere.” Why is it time to say goodbye to rankings? “It's not a complete goodbye, but it’s changing your mindset. We're still comfortable with tracking ranking positions as one of ou...

We all know that one of the most effective forms of SEO is to create a resource that garners natural links. A big part of brand SEO is to build a brand that people want to talk about. Aleyda says: “Optimize for citation-worthiness. This is easier said than done. It's about establishing yourself as an authority in your field, but in order to do that, you have to make it very clear what your unique...

However, not all SEOs understand the key elements of brand marketing – and if you’re fortunate enough to have specialist brand marketers in your organisation, take advantage of that! Joshua says: “Brand marketers should be SEOs’ best friends.” Why is that? “Brand marketing reaches where SEO can't. It drives demand, and it drives search interest. SEO has always been an inbound channel, but lately,...

One element of SEO that’s more important than ever is Brand SEO. Brand SEO, according to Ashley Liddell, should be the essence of what SEO is nowadays. Ashley says: “Treat SEO as more of a brand-building activity. Look beyond the traditional KPIs of visibility and towards making your brand the preferred choice in any conversation that's relevant to you. That will make you front of mind and grow yo...

James McLoughlin shares that crawling and indexing management needs to be a corner stone of your SEO strategy in 2026, ensuring crawlers (both traditional search engine crawlers and LLM crawlers) can quickly and easily discover, understand and index any content you want surfaced in search engines and LLMs. Talking points include: What does crawling and indexing management mean in practice in 2026?...

With so many changes in the space, new acronyms have appeared in an attempt to describe the newer activities involved in SEO job roles. However, that’s a distraction, says Charlie Whitworth. Charlie says: “Forget the acronyms, particularly with AI search and SEO. Let's stop focusing on what it's called and focus on what we need to do.” Do acronyms not assist with articulating how SEO has changed?...

Nikolas Monti-Potsolakis shares that you can take learnings from SEO changes in highly regulated industries like iGaming and apply them to other sectors. Nikolas says: “In regulated sectors, like the iGaming space, companies need to keep SEO relevant and part of their strategy. The iGaming industry is growing across all continents, and SEO shouldn't just be part of your campaign; it should be part...

It’s not only SEOs in larger organisations that now have a greater requirement to understand and relate to business leaders. This is becoming increasingly important for independent SEO consultants, too. Adrijana says: “Acquiring high-paying SEO clients requires a different approach that a lot of SEOs are not talking about.” Why does it require a different approach, and what does that approach look...

In addition to SEOs facing their own traffic challenges, many also find themselves tasked with guiding their business leaders through the massive change driven by AI agents. Ben says: “Guide your C-suite into the great agentic unknown, because if you don't, then nobody else is going to.” What is the great agentic unknown? “I'm talking about the nature of AI agents using websites in the same way th...

Martina Kölsch shares that the Panda Update in 2011 was one of the first major changes by Google that she encountered. SEO is continually evolving, yet one thing remains constant: prioritising a solid SEO foundation, a clear structure, and excellent content. Many tend to overlook these essentials whenever a new trend emerges. Discussion points include: What are the key SEO essentials that many SEO...

One continuing trend within SEO in 2026 is the ever-increasing degree of difficulty when it comes to driving traffic from organic search. Jack Chambers-Ward advises that this should motivate you to reevaluate your overarching content publishing model. Jack says: “Create and monetise content to survive the upcoming zero-click era of search.” Will we be in an all-encompassing zero-click non-traffic...

Increasingly, it seems as though SEO needs to be a complete organisational approach rather than a marketing channel, and this way of thinking is backed by Keith Goode. Keith says: “The SEO who secures buy-in isn't selling rankings, they're selling resilience.” What kind of resilience are you selling? “More specifically, it's organisational resilience. One of the challenges that you will face as an...

Sharon Gwati-Mudzudzu shares the importance of combining SEO tactics with data insights to personalise the user journey to drive smarter decisions. Talking points include: Why do we need to Combine SEO tactics with data insights? How do you Combine SEO tactics with data insights? How does this help to personalise the user journey? What are examples of how a user journey can be personalised? How do...

Jean Dejsuvan shares that you shouldn't be panicking because SEO isn't dead (again)! Talking points include: Why do people think that SEO is dead? Is SEO changing significantly? What does this mean for new SEOs entering the industry? What are the foundations? How does an SEO ensure that their skills stay relevant? Where do you learn the latest SEO techniques? SEO in moving fast - what should we do...