SEO in 2026

Following on from the previous ‘Testing’ chapter, Marta Szmidt begins chapter 19 with an introduction to newer metrics that you should be considering.

Marta says: “You need to add new metrics for measuring SEO success and face the reality that search has changed.

It's no longer the same traditional search engines we used to know, and you need to adapt to the reality. You need to combine classic traditional SEO metrics with new ones that target AI search visibility.”

Which metrics aren't as relevant anymore, compared to the metrics that you have to focus on in 20...

There’s one tool that Priya Verma finds particularly useful at combining data from various sources and conducting analysis – BigQuery.

Priya says: “Gear up your SEO analysis through Google BigQuery.”

Why BigQuery in particular?

“SEO analysis in BigQuery is powerful because it lets you move beyond the existing tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, etc., and their limitations. It allows you to see the full picture at scale.

By analysing millions of queries alongside other data, you uncover deeper patterns, user behaviour insights, and real opportunities to grow your traffic. We are focuss...

Leo Poitevin shares how to write the best listicles & find the best media to push them to be cited by GPT. Talking points include: How do you define listicles? How have listicles changed? How do you structure a listicle for success in 2026? You say that GPT uses Google to find solutions via fan-out - what do you mean by that? You say that you should find the media that'll rank according to topic and competition - why, and how do you do that? How do you monitor success?

Krzysztof Marzec emphasises the alignment between organic search and paid search – and the useful additional data that one can provide the other.

Krzysztof says: “Use your data from Google Ads to improve SEO, and use data from SEO to improve your Google Ads campaigns.

Also, mix it and blend it with AI, because now we have AI to improve it all.”

If you're not actively using Google Ads, is it worthwhile having a small campaign up and running simply to use as data to power your SEO?

“Yes. If you are not usin...

Dan Taylor feels that SEOs aren’t taking full advantage of the data that they already have.

Dan says: “Start understanding your analytics platforms a lot better, and start leveraging them – not just for attribution and ROI, but to look at your organic strategies and the second-order effects of what those strategies are bringing to the business.”

Have SEOs focussed less on analytics since the release of GA4?

“We didn’t put our heads in the sand, but it is a very different model. We'd grown accustomed to something. We'd grown used to reporting, a...

Marco Giordano highlights that the most successful SEOs will take data from multiple sources – not just traditional SEO platforms.

Marco says: “Use multiple data sources, not just SEO data, to make decisions.”

What's the difference between the alternative data sources and the typical data sources for SEO?

“Most of the time, people use Search Console, which is our default option for several reasons. For one, it's the only first-party tool that contains Google queries, which is the dominant search engine. People also rely on crawl data from tools like Screaming Frog and Sitebulb, or they...

Of course, what happened in the past isn’t necessarily an indication of what might be likely to happen in the future. Folashade Uba shares that we should stop reacting and start predicting.

Folashade says: “The best and most successful strategy will be to shift from reactive SEO to proactive SEO.”

What would be an example of reactive SEO compared to proactive SEO?

“Reactive SEO is when you're reacting to trends, reacting to your competitors' moves, reacting to keyword spikes, and reacting to every Google algorithm change.

Proactive SEO is when you're i...

Sophie Brannon shares the importance of not focusing solely on the new shiny thing and that the fundamentals will always matter most. Talking points include: How do you know what should be fundamental? How often should you revisit this? What is holistic marketing? Why is this key to SEO? How do you measure success? How would you summarise the fundamentals of SEO in 2026? How often should you review what the fundamentals are?

Kyle Rushton McGregor provides us with a timely reminder to know your numbers, while all the changes happen around us.

Kyle says: “SEO is changing, and you need to know your numbers more than ever.”

How is it changing, and how do you go about knowing your numbers?

“SEO is changing in a variety of different ways, but most importantly, we've got the rise of AI and large language models, and the traffic that's coming from that. Consent is much more pertinent than it used to be (quite rightly so), and we also have A...

Julia-Carolin Zeng shares some of the key areas that you should be continually monitoring in order to know what to adjust.

Julia says: “Monitoring, testing, and adjusting.

The search landscape will keep on changing. What we've seen so far in 2025 is nothing yet.”

How is the search landscape continuing to change?

“Right now, the buzzword in SEO is the ‘great decoupling’, where we see impressions going up and clicks going down. I see it more as a democratisation of the search landscape, with new players in the field now.

Google is...

Yordan Dimitrov shares that you need to accept constant change in the world of SEO. Just because something works well today doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be trying to improve it for tomorrow.

Yordan says: “Embrace change and test relentlessly.”

Is there any type of change that we're most likely to have to embrace?

“In the last 12 months, there has been so much change within the SEO industry, from AI Mode to AI overviews, dramatically changing how people discover content and brands. We've moved way past the 10 blue links, and people are shifti...

One of the keys to continually enhancing your SEO performance is to keep on testing, shares Andrew Cock-Starkey.

Andrew says: “Test, test, test.

Test a lot. Test lots of different things. Do some testing.

How do you know what to test?

“You don't want to test everything. What I normally advise is testing what your customers use, or what your target customers use.

I used to work with a company where the boss would come and say, ‘This doesn't work, the website looks awful on my computer,’ but we couldn't...

Laura Iancu talks about Inclusive language & LLMs and shares why what we feed AI matters. Talking points include: - How LLMs mirrors and multiplies human language - Setting up the core idea: the inputs we give AI systems shape the outputs they produce - How bias enters the system - Frame inclusive language not as “political correctness” but as data quality and system integrity; - End with a brief talk about being an ally to humanity, and how you don't need to relate to other groups to show empathy in your language.

One of the non-traditional platforms for SEO is app stores, and this is an opportunity that Filipa Serra Gaspar wishes to highlight.

Filipa says: “This year, you should be considering App Store Optimization.

Now, in the AI era, it is really important to be in a good position everywhere on the web – not only on traditional search engines. I'm talking about ASO because app stores should not be left behind.

You should be doing ASO as part of your activities. Of course, it only applies if the website that you are working on also...

AI can be used in many ways within the SEO function, and for Crystal Carter, it can be an effective tool to assist with the analysis of your digital footprint.

Crystal says: “Use AI search optimization to deliver value across your business and your whole digital footprint.”

What does the whole business look like these days?

“With the emergence of AI search optimization and LLMs as a channel that people are using, the importance of multi-channel marketing and having an omnichannel presence is very acute.

LLMs like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini...

Mathilde Høj adds her voice to the call to diversification, highlighting that search and search behaviour have entirely changed.

Mathilde says: “Search is no longer a channel, it's a behaviour.

You need to adapt your entire marketing strategy to it, and have a more integrated approach.”

What do you mean when you say that search is a behaviour?

“It means that we see a lot of different things coming into play in how users are interacting with platforms.

Usually, when users want to find something, they will go to Goog...

Ivana Flynn shares that in her opinion, your business may be in danger if you don’t diversify your SEO efforts.

Ivana says: “First of all, don't give up: survive.

Google is going crazy with all the updates. Diversify. You cannot rely on just one source of traffic.

Google’s market share is shrinking, and there are new sources of traffic that we need to look into, including Reddit, which I will be talking about today.

Sometimes, in SEO, it feels a little bit hopeless. There is an update, you survived, there...

David Iwanow shares how to focus on the things that are hurting your brand. Discussion points include: What is typically hurting brand and revenue now? What is genAI? How do you track genAI success? How do you obtain genAI guidance? What tools do you use an why? How do you incorporate this into an overarching content strategy? What industries does this impact the most? How will this continue to evolve?

Leading on from Ed Ziubrzynski’s tip, Sean Barber muses over what platforms you should consider optimizing for in 2026.

Sean says: “Think beyond Google. The search landscape has gone way further than Google now.”

What do you define as being beyond Google?

“It's two-fold. First, there’s the fact that users aren't just starting their search journey on Google. They're starting it on all different platforms and places. Also, it’s not just at the start of their journey; they're bouncing around. They're going to Google, then they may go to Reddit, Amazon, or large lan...

What is SEO nowadays? According to Ed Ziubrzynski, it’s a lot more than just Google.

Ed says: “SEO needs to be everything, everywhere, all at once – and at all times.”

Does that mean everything in marketing, everything in business, or everything in the world?

“Definitely everything in marketing. Gone are the days when SEO was solely split into on-site (your content work, blogs, landing pages, commercial pages, etc.) and then just having off-site reserved for digital PR and typical link building strategies. We've very much gone beyond the idea of those being the most i...

For Montserrat Cano, the key elements to include in your 2026 strategy are the parts that scale.

Montserrat says: “In 2026, SEOs should stay grounded and focus on those strategies that scale across global markets, instead of chasing every single AI-related shiny object.”

What are the strategies that scale across global markets?

“The strategies I'm referring to are those strategies that reflect your business values, your business objectives, and everything that you've been trying to do.

I would use AI as a helper, as something that will actually help achieve those business objectives in you...

Cathryn Stormont shares that good local SEO can still provide a lot of traffic.

Cathryn says: “Focus on local SEO.

With AI overviews and AI Mode dominating the SERPs, it's really important to focus on local SEO to try and maintain a certain level of traffic volume.”

Is this more relevant for certain types of businesses?

“There are businesses where their content is very much informational, like solicitors or accountants, where their blog content is being picked up by AI overviews dominating that space, which means their traffic volumes are starting to dec...

Tom Rudnai says that instead of chasing citations, focus your AEO strategy on showing up in Dark AI conversations where problems are framed. Talking points include: What are Dark AI conversations? How do AI responses change at different stages of the buyer journey? Why are citations is a bad north star metric? How should SEOs measure AI performance? What analytics to use? What content performs best in AI? How do you research what content to write? - Key trends: intent-matching, convergence - What is "Dark AI"? - How to measure AI performance and why citations is a bad north...

Gemma Fontané recommends that personalisation is key when it comes to international SEO success.

Gemma says: “Focus on personalisation, adapting your content in each language and across different formats, to really build your brand in each region.

These actions will allow you to stand out from your competition, demonstrate authority and expertise, compete in multilingual markets, and stay visible in the era of generative AI.”

How do you go about personalising content?

“First of all, personalising content is very important nowadays because search engines today are rewarding depth, expertise, and true relevan...

Global SEO isn’t about treating every market the same. As Lau Míguez puts it, ‘European markets demand full commitment and strong EEAT signals — well-positioned experts are now essential for success,’ and that expectation has only grown over the past few years.

Lau says: “What’s really shifted is how demanding each market has become. Working closely with Spain, and across international campaigns, I’ve seen clients move away from the idea of ‘Europe’ as one block. A few still ask for LATAM as a region, but no one says, ‘Can you do Europe?’ anymore.

The penny has finall...

Simone De Palma warns that client-side routing and rendering can be problematic for rankings.

Simone says: “Align with marketing goals, and make sure to challenge anything that is client-side routed or client-side rendered, especially within React web-based apps.”

What do the terms client-side routed and client-side rendered mean, and what impact does that have on SEO?

“To start with, I will just make sure that everyone is familiar with routing and exactly what that is. Routing essentially means how the website itself is able to create a URL path that allows users to change...

One of the ways that AI engines struggle with determining a brand’s topical relevance and authority is when they encounter inconsistent data, highlights Kaspar Szymanski.

Kaspar says: “My tip is about data consistency, which is a topic that is very close to my heart.”

How do you ensure data consistency in 2026?

“Some people may not consider this to be the most innovative or popular concept, and it’s certainly not a buzzword making the rounds nowadays.

However, data consistency differentiates the companies and brands that are really successful in competitive environmen...

Krešimir Ćorluka shares that SEO is not dying, but bad SEO most certainly is. Talking points include: What is bad SEO? What doesn’t work anymore? What fundamentals work now? Where are SEOs confused with what works now? How do you learn and stay on top of what works now? How do you futureproof your future success? A lot of the stuff the average SEO has been doing has had the wrong fundamentals. Technical SEO, backlinking and good content is more important than ever. But, most SEOs weren't doing these things right so now they're confused with what LLMs...

Arnout Hellemans advises that you don’t have to provide AI crawlers with full access to all of your content.

Arnout says: “People really need to look at their technical setup.

With that, I mean the rendered version versus the raw HTML – especially with a lot of AI crawlers not rendering yet, and also because I've seen a lot of discrepancies in that area.”

Is the rendered version typically quite different for different search engines?

“As with a lot of things in SEO, it depends.

Sometimes, when websites are built usin...

One of the ways that you can enhance your website foundation is to combine high technical SEO standards with great user experience, shares Iva Jovanovic.

Iva says: “Technical SEO and user experience will remain the foundation for websites, even when optimizing for AI chatbots.”

Why do AI chatbots like user experience?

“To start with, crawlability has been a topic in SEO for years and years. It's now gaining even more importance because of the way that chatbots crawl websites. They crawl a bit differently.

We're used to Googlebot and other search engine...

To commence our technical SEO discussion, Jono Alderson advises against settling for an average website.

Jono says: “Stop accepting technical mediocrity.”

What does mediocrity look like in the world of technical SEO?

“We all know it, and we see it all the time. We have accepted that it's normal for websites to be rubbish.

Whether they're the ones we work on, our clients’, or the ones we browse, things are slow, we hit 404 errors, there's a bunch of JavaScript loading so that when you click the thing, it doesn't respond quickly, stuff do...

In the previous tip, Eva Cheng shares the value of combining social and content with digital PR. Charlotte Crowther adds to that by also incorporating traditional PR.

Charlotte says: “Don't ignore digital and brand PR. They are becoming really entwined with SEO, GEO, and LLMs.

Ignoring branded digital PR is going to have a large impact on your visibility, particularly as we're seeing a move towards a zero-click world.”

What are the differences between traditional, digital, and brand PR? Where are they blurring, and where do they remain separate?

“Back when market...

Jeremy Moser discusses how to create a SERP monopoly with off-page SEO. Talking points include: How to crowd SERPs with your brand and capture more mindshare at the bottom of the funnel - Why leveraging paid off-page strategies can still work - Zero click searches are less common at MOFU and BOFU searches, your goal is going narrow and deep and capturing market-share at decision making stages - Topic Taker strategy is not just for traditional blue link SEO, it currently is the most impactful AEO lever you can pull and the window won't last forever...

Eva Cheng shares that aligning social and content strategies will boost your digital PR success.

Eva says: “Make your digital PR work harder with social and content alignment.”

What does digital PR look like in 2026?

“Digital PR in 2026 is all about trying to get your work featured within AI searches.

We’re now seeing that a lot of people are relying on AI for the simplest queries, like the best restaurants to go to, travel tips, and advice for something that is a lot simpler and easier than Google.

Even wit...

One of the key reasons why you should be embracing digital PR in 2026 is that AI pays a keen ear to what the press is saying.

James says: “You need to be earning press mentions if you want your brand to be recommended by AI-powered search.”

Why do you suggest press mentions over other content online?

“When I talk about AI-powered search, I'm talking about Google's AI overviews and AI Mode, but also the AI chatbots like ChatGPT and those sorts of platforms.

They disproportionately pull their sources from trusted and author...

Annabelle Sacher shares that digital PR is one of the most powerful keys you can use to unlock the door to AI search visibility in 2026.

Annabelle says: “As we move into 2026, it's clear that AI search strategy needs to become a core focus for us as SEOs.

We know that the search landscape is evolving really, really fast. While, currently, AI only makes up a small percentage of the search landscape, it's growing – and it's growing quickly. One of the biggest unlocks/most powerful levers in this new era is digital PR (and I'm not just...

One way that you can compete with other sites that are relying too heavily on AI is to raise your editorial standards, explains Alex Moss.

Alex says: “Be concise and raise the game of your editorial standards.”

Why is being concise more important nowadays?

“Machines, LLMs, and agents are all ingesting content using tokenization. The more tokenization that's used, the more processing power is required. It’s almost like the content version of site performance and site speed.

If there's a slow-loading site, it's going to take a while for people to load...

Jeremy Horne shares that analytics should be core to your SEO strategy in 2026 Talking points include: What is a media mix model? Why should analytics be at the core of a marketing strategy? How do you use analytics to power a marketing strategy? How often should you revisit your analytics in relation to powering your marketing strategy? What metrics are key? What software do you use? How do you work with other marketing departments? How has this changed over the years? How is this likely to continue to change?

If you’re an e-commerce business, Joe Hale suggests that you may be missing out on a significant ranking opportunity.

Joe says: “E-commerce stores need to be using collection pages to maximise the potential of their SEO.”

What are collection pages for e-commerce sites?

“Collection pages for e-commerce sites are essentially category pages. They are lists of products that live on the site, and there's so much potential that so many brands aren't taking advantage of.

There is no technical difference between a collection page and a category page, but I use the...

Once you know what you want to be an expert in, Andreas Voniatis advises that you should produce meaningful research to stand out in AI search.

Andreas says: “Produce scaled insights in your content, to get your website AI-recommended.”

Is that the same as scaling content production?

“No. Scaled insights is about producing research that has achieved a significant sample size, which means that the insights contained therein, within your content, have significance.

That's really important for AI because it means that it's likely to generalise well, and whatever you're describing is lik...