SEO in 2026
Majestic.com
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
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
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 15, 2025 • 17min
Utilise SEO to tackle highly regulated industries – with Nikolas Monti-Potsolakis
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 of your infrastructure as a company.It will still remain the number one growth factor. Despite all the LLMs, AI, applications, and all these things, SEO is still relevant and should still be relevant if you want to grow your company and succeed in 2026, especially in a very regulated market like iGaming.”
Dec 12, 2025 • 17min
Change your approach if you want to score high-paying clients – with Adrijana Vujadin
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 like?“When you want to move from full-time SEO to freelancing SEO, or get your own clients on the side, most SEOs are not thinking about the fact that it’s a completely new skill. You already have SEO experience and knowledge, but when you want to get a client, that is a business skill, which you probably haven't developed yet.
Dec 11, 2025 • 16min
Guide your business into the agentic unknown – with Ben Howe
In addition to SEOs facing their own traffic challenges, many alsofind themselves tasked with guiding their business leaders through themassive change driven by AI agents.Ben says: “Guide your C-suite into the great agentic unknown, because if youdon'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 that human customers conventionally would. They are researching a topic on behalf of a user based on a prompt, and can go from researching all the way to getting quotes or even adding things to a shopping cart.
Dec 10, 2025 • 16min
One Thing Remains Constant in SEO - with Martina Kölsch
Martina Kölsch, Senior SEO manager at Tome Hardware Store, shares her extensive experience in e-commerce SEO. She emphasizes the enduring importance of solid foundations like keyword strategy, site structure, and quality content despite evolving trends. Martina warns against common pitfalls, such as overlooked PDFs and duplicate content, while recommending tools like Screaming Frog for audits. She advises on assessing new trends with practicality, stressing the need to prioritize SEO essentials for long-term success.
Dec 9, 2025 • 18min
Diversify your revenue streams to survive the zero-click era – with Jack Chambers-Ward
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 era at some point in the future?“It certainly feels like we're heading that way. With a lot of what Google has been talking about recently – particularly with AI Mode, this is the looming topic in SEO right now.
Dec 8, 2025 • 17min
Sell resilience and become the glue that holds an organisation together – with Keith Goode
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 in-house SEO, and oftentimes as a consultant for companies, is getting buy-in for the things that you're recommending for sites – and this problem evolves just like our industry evolves.
Dec 3, 2025 • 18min
Combine SEO tactics with data insights to personalise the user journey - Sharon Gwati-Mudzudzu
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 does this deliver measurable SEO success?How does this help to drive smarter decisions?How should this be implemented on an ongoing basis - how does this fit into a strategy?
Nov 26, 2025 • 18min
Stop panicking - SEO isn't dead (again) - with Jean Dejsuvan
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 ?
Nov 19, 2025 • 17min
Build bespoke web apps that automate SEO workflows - with Jonathon Roberts
Jonathon Roberts shares the importance of building bespoke web apps that automate SEO workflows - like site audits, schema generation and for in-house reporting - by integrating search-engine APIs and real-time dashboards to drastically speed up your optimisation process.Talking points include:What are bespoke web apps that automate SEO workflows?Why can’t we rely on standardised SEO platforms?What are we looking to achieve by doing this?What tasks should we be looking to run through these workflows?How do we build them?Where do we get the data from?How much work do we need to put in to keep everything running smoothly and best-in-class?Why can’t we rely on standardised SEO platforms?Why is building your own tools better?What types of businesses should be doing this?
Nov 12, 2025 • 15min
SEO strategies must evolve to capture bottom-funnel, conversion-ready traffic - Ulduz Ismayilova
Ulduz Ismayilova shares that with AI disrupting top-funnel visibility, SEO strategies must evolve to capture bottom-funnel, conversion-ready traffic.Talking points include:How is AI disrupting top-funnel visibility?Why is it so key to focus on capturing bottom-funnel, conversion-ready traffic?How do you identify bottom of funnel, conversion-ready traffic?What happens to top and middle of funnel?What does this look like as a strategy?How will this continue to evolve?
