SEO in 2026

Majestic.com
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Marketing

SEO is continuing to change at an alarming pace. And yet, in some sense, the principles of good SEO remain the same. Hello, and welcome to SEO in 2026 – a significant repository of current thinking from many of the world’s leading SEOs. We're pleased to be able to welcome you to the fifth book and fifth series in this podcast, now well and truly an annual tradition, brought to you by Majestic. “How people search has seen a bigger shift in the last 12 months than the last 12 years, and this makes SEOin2026 a must-read for anyone working in the industry. Majestic has brought together 117 of the SEO industry's brightest minds to share their insights into what matters, and what doesn't, to continue to drive growth with organic search during a period of massive uncertainty, and the book should be seen as a valuable reference point to keep your strategy on the right track.” JAMES BROCKBANK Managing Director and Founder, Digitaloft “I highly recommend that every SEO professional set aside a couple of days for SEOin2026. You'll thank me for helping you plan your year effectively. I'm extremely grateful to have the opportunity to work alongside some of the world's leading SEO champions.” NITIN MANCHANDA Founder & Chief SEO Consultant, Botpresso “This collection of wisdom from many of the best minds in SEO today is a great line in the sand of where we as an industry are, what problems we face, and how we tackle them. Anyone in SEO or marketing should be dipping into this on a regular basis.” SIMON COX Technical SEO Consultant, Cox and Co. Creative “This series continues to be the industry’s leading source of the most timely advice a marketer could ever want. The most forward-thinking SEO experts in the world come together once a year to create this invaluable collection of new knowledge that should never be passed up on!” PAM AUNGST CRONIN President and Founder, Pam Ann Marketing and Stealth Search and Analytics “2025 has been a sprint for the SEO industry, with AI reshaping how we understand visibility, relevance, and authority. SEOin2026 is not just another trends book; it’s a roadmap for what’s actually coming. I loved being part of it and seeing how experts around the world approach the same challenges from different angles.” RAMONA JOITA SEO Consultant and Founder “David is good at drawing out the substance of a conversation. He will explore the topic and challenge assumptions, steer the conversation into an unexpected direction, and build on your ideas – making you think a bit deeper and sharper. Our recent conversation flew by as always, and as always – I’ve come out energised about the topic with more to think about.” SUKHJINDER SINGH Freelance SEO Consultant

  1. Forget best practices and get curious – with Jade Pruett

    8 hr ago

    Forget best practices and get curious – with Jade Pruett

    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 checklists. That's often our safe space, as SEOs – especially when you work in an agency setting. Maybe you have a productised system that you offer your clients. So, your SEO has been limited to, ‘We're going to create X number of blog posts every month. We're going to follow these rules that we see online about what matters and what doesn't.’ You provide your SEO services, whether they're really moving the needle for the client or not. In 2026, especially with AI search coming out, things with Google are changing so quickly. It's time to take a step back and really trust your own gut on what's going to move the needle forward for your clients.”

    16 min
  2. Embrace scepticism and think more critically – with Petra Kis-Herczegh

    1 day ago

    Embrace scepticism and think more critically – with Petra Kis-Herczegh

    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 things like AI visibility, you should be asking: What's the sample size behind this? What's that number or percentage based on? How are these metrics defined? Is the tool actually using LLM training data, or are they reverse-engineering the attribution models? Embracing healthy scepticism and using critical thinking isn't a new thing. It's not a new process; we’ve had to use it before, but this situation makes it crucial. Previously, when featured snippets appeared, we had to completely rethink how we evaluated our existing Google Search Console data, because it now meant something different because of the change, and it was in a new context. We’ve had to ask these questions, and not just chase new metrics, but evaluate the data that we are basing decisions on. Part of the problem now is that people are trying to look at these shiny new metrics as something that they can base decisions on, when they actually might change in a month or two. Everyone's still collecting data, looking at that attribution model, and trying to learn how these LLMs understand your websites, do vector embeddings, understand context, and serve answers – and the models change all the time as well, so that plays a part. Before you bet your credibility on a shiny new dashboard, you need to ask yourself: What would you actually do differently with this data? Do you have any other way to validate this from something that you already trust and know to be proven? If you can't answer those questions, you are just chasing the hype instead of thinking critically.”

    17 min
  3. What Data Sources Should You Be Feeding LLMs? With Andrew Melnychuk Oseen

    2 days ago

    What Data Sources Should You Be Feeding LLMs? With Andrew Melnychuk Oseen

    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 getting LLMs to analyse, where human SEOs should be doing the analysis by themselves? You say that AI isn't going to replace human judgement - what does this mean in practice?

    16 min
  4. Be flexible and prepare to adapt – with Manu Madeddu

    3 days ago

    Be flexible and prepare to adapt – with Manu Madeddu

    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 things you might not know, but need to explore.” How do you incorporate flexibility into an SEO strategy? “Long story short, try to anticipate trends. Be flexible by being able to detect trends and adjust your strategy on the go. Don't be stiff and only stick to what was planned 6 or 12 months before, because trends can change swiftly nowadays. Also, you might find that users are changing their behaviour. They may be using a feature or a platform now, but then switch because of recent changes and technological advancements. That’s the kind of flexibility you need in terms of technology and strategy. You also need to be able to discuss and have a more holistic approach. Don't just focus on what you do as a marketer. SEOs tend to work in their silo and just focus on Excel spreadsheets and optimizations. Now, you need to be flexible. Discuss with other teams and other channels to find the best way to achieve the business targets – not only for your channel but overall.”

    16 min
  5. Surround yourself with the right people – with Sarah McDowell

    4 days ago

    Surround yourself with the right people – with Sarah McDowell

    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 well-being and looking after yourself is so important. It prevents things like burnout, imposter syndrome, not feeling confident enough to push yourself forward, and not having confidence in your own skills. One of the reasons why Tazmin and I started the SEO Mindset Podcast is that there are lots of great podcasts out there that tell you how to do SEO, but there was a gap for a podcast talking about career progression, personal growth, and mental health for those who work in SEO. Those softer skills are really important. They're at the core of all of that lovely growth.”

    16 min
  6. Invest in your skillset to advance your career – with Helen Pollitt

    19 Jun

    Invest in your skillset to advance your career – with Helen Pollitt

    Our final chapter begins with Helen Pollitt taking a look at the skills you need to personally build, to remain as relevant as possible in the SEO workforce for many years to come. Helen says: “Keep your SEO career on track. When it comes to your skillset, you need to stop thinking of ‘SEO versus GEO’. Instead, you need to understand how to apply your organic discoverability skills to each and every channel that you may need to – and how you can use AI to enhance those skills.” How much of your SEO time should you focus on developing those skills? “SEO is a career that is constantly changing, and not just in the sense that what works in SEO is changing. The tools and educational platforms that are available are changing as well. As a result of that, we really need to be investing a lot in our own careers and in our skill sets. I like to spend at least a little bit of time every day dipping into articles, watching webinars, or just making sure that there's no breaking news within the SEO industry that I'm missing. Treat it like an investment. Make sure that you are spending a significant portion of your time investing in those skills and keeping current with what's going on, without succumbing to the hype and fear-mongering that also seems to go around the space at the moment.”

    17 min
  7. Be both discoverable and recognisable – with Ray Saddiq

    18 Jun

    Be both discoverable and recognisable – with Ray Saddiq

    Ray Saddiq shares that you need to be both recognisable and discoverable in 2026. Ray says: “If you want to seriously influence your consumer moving forward, brand alone is not going to cut it. We got into this mindset that brand was going to be key to driving SEO success, and it plays a huge part, but if you want to grow and stay top-of-mind, you need to drive demand and be discoverable. It's not just an awareness thing anymore. You need a combination of both. It's not enough to be known; you need to be found as well. That means building brand and category salience. You've got to own your category in search so that, moving forward – with LLMs, AI search, and social search – you are the brand that has salience to the category that you want to be known for. You’re the one most closely related to that category. This can’t just happen across Google. This needs to be across every searchable platform, because that's where intent starts now.”

    16 min
  8. Most sites have high search visibility but zero AI citations - with Nickolass Jensen

    17 Jun

    Most sites have high search visibility but zero AI citations - with Nickolass Jensen

    Nickolass Jensen shares that most sites have high search visibility but zero AI citations, and the gap is diagnosable, measurable, and fixable with a structured three-layer audit. Talking points include... The three-layer diagnostic: Why sites fail AI visibility at the human layer (UX/trust), the search layer (authority/structure), or the AI layer (machine-readable proof) - and why fixing the wrong layer first wastes months. AI crawler visibility: Server log analysis reveals real-time and historical crawl patterns from GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot - most site owners have no idea which AI bots visit them, how often, or what they fetch. The gap between what AI crawlers index and what gets cited is where the work happens. GEO in 2026 is still mostly theoretical. The only practical path forward is tools that enforce structured execution. Rankings remain infrastructure, but the real competitive moat is whether an LLM cites you when a buyer asks. Read the full transcript of Nickolass's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2026/additional-insights/nickolass-jensen

    25 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

SEO is continuing to change at an alarming pace. And yet, in some sense, the principles of good SEO remain the same. Hello, and welcome to SEO in 2026 – a significant repository of current thinking from many of the world’s leading SEOs. We're pleased to be able to welcome you to the fifth book and fifth series in this podcast, now well and truly an annual tradition, brought to you by Majestic. “How people search has seen a bigger shift in the last 12 months than the last 12 years, and this makes SEOin2026 a must-read for anyone working in the industry. Majestic has brought together 117 of the SEO industry's brightest minds to share their insights into what matters, and what doesn't, to continue to drive growth with organic search during a period of massive uncertainty, and the book should be seen as a valuable reference point to keep your strategy on the right track.” JAMES BROCKBANK Managing Director and Founder, Digitaloft “I highly recommend that every SEO professional set aside a couple of days for SEOin2026. You'll thank me for helping you plan your year effectively. I'm extremely grateful to have the opportunity to work alongside some of the world's leading SEO champions.” NITIN MANCHANDA Founder & Chief SEO Consultant, Botpresso “This collection of wisdom from many of the best minds in SEO today is a great line in the sand of where we as an industry are, what problems we face, and how we tackle them. Anyone in SEO or marketing should be dipping into this on a regular basis.” SIMON COX Technical SEO Consultant, Cox and Co. Creative “This series continues to be the industry’s leading source of the most timely advice a marketer could ever want. The most forward-thinking SEO experts in the world come together once a year to create this invaluable collection of new knowledge that should never be passed up on!” PAM AUNGST CRONIN President and Founder, Pam Ann Marketing and Stealth Search and Analytics “2025 has been a sprint for the SEO industry, with AI reshaping how we understand visibility, relevance, and authority. SEOin2026 is not just another trends book; it’s a roadmap for what’s actually coming. I loved being part of it and seeing how experts around the world approach the same challenges from different angles.” RAMONA JOITA SEO Consultant and Founder “David is good at drawing out the substance of a conversation. He will explore the topic and challenge assumptions, steer the conversation into an unexpected direction, and build on your ideas – making you think a bit deeper and sharper. Our recent conversation flew by as always, and as always – I’ve come out energised about the topic with more to think about.” SUKHJINDER SINGH Freelance SEO Consultant

Information

  • Creator
    Majestic.com
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    500
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Majestic.com
  • Show Website
    SEO in 2026

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