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
Mar 13, 2025 • 16min
Use AI to help do the dirty work, but don't forget to be human first - with Andy Mollison
Andy Mollison shares the importance of using AI to help do the dirty work (the boring bits), but don't forget to be human first. He shares that using scripts and tools can automate processes that would normally take hours.Discussion points include:You say “Don’t forget to be human-first.” What does that mean in practice? What elements need to be done by a human?What processes should you be automating?How do you use AI to create meta descriptions?How do you use AI for redirect mapping?You also suggest uploading your tone of voice to AI chat to check content for brand alignment - how does this work?How do you create tone of voice / brand guidelines ?What AI software do you prefer to use at the moment and why?What are the downsides to using AI?How do you ensure that you don’t end up creating generic content that Google won’t like?How will the use of AI continue to evolve in 2025?
Mar 12, 2025 • 17min
SEO will be more about people, building relationships and showing empathy - Nikolas Monti-Potsolakis
In this episode, Nikolas Monti-Potsolakis shares that SEO will be more about people, building relationships and getting to show empathy. Being in someone’s shoes. Understanding. And ultimately caring for their clients' business. For the person. Not just the numbers. Going above and beyond their needs and egos.Discussion points include:How can you measure the ROI of people?What good does building relationships and showing empathy do for SEO?How do you care for a client’s business and what good does that do?How do you get to understand and care for a client’s business?You say, don’t just focus on the numbers - what numbers should you focus on?How do you build the areas around the numbers into a strategy?How do you justify the value of relationships to your boss?How will this approach continue to evolve in the future?
Mar 11, 2025 • 17min
The importance of relevance and depth when it comes to content and link building - with Amit Raj
Amit Raj discusses the importance of relevance and depth when it comes to content and link building with David Bain.Discussion points include:What is relevance? Available vs retainable market / KD scoreLinks - context - what content attracts best links? Most relevant links - content pitching publicationsWhat do you mean by depth?What does this mean when it comes to content?What does this mean when it comes to link building?How do you measure relevance and depth?Where does this fit into an overall SEO strategy?
Mar 10, 2025 • 15min
Don't forget the human touch - with Desmond Boateng
Desmond Boateng shares the importance of not forgetting the human touch, hosted by David Bain.Discussion points include:How do you know when to use the human touch and when to rely on AI and automation?When does the use of AI go too far?You say that Google is smart enough to recognize your AI content - surely if you’re subtle with your use of AI content then this won’t be obvious to Google?How do you go about demonstrating the human touch?How does incorporating the human touch make a positive difference to Google?Are there other search engines that you focus on too, or primarily Google?
Mar 7, 2025 • 16min
The return to Human Written Content - with Julia Carolin-Zeng
In this episode, Julia Carolin-Zeng discusses the return to human written content, how the flood of AI content has caused a decrease in qualityand seeing a return to content written by humans with a human voice.Talking points include:How do you measure this decrease in quality?Is AI not getting better and better?How can human writers possibly compete with the speed of AI?What does “with a human voice mean”?What aspects of human writing can compete with AI?Are search engines not ambivalent nowadays if something has been written by AI - is it not just all about user experience?What is your process for creating an article?
Mar 6, 2025 • 15min
SEO in 2025 is about task completion and query satisfaction - with Arnout Hellemans
Arnout Hellemans shares that SEO in 2025 is a lot about task completion and query satisfaction. This means that UX and CRO will start to play an even bigger part in the ordering of documents.Discussion points include:What do you mean that SEO in 2025 is a lot about task completion and query satisfaction?How do you optimize for task completion and query satisfaction?What role will UX and CRO play in SEOWhat metrics will Google look at specifically?What are some examples of UX and CRO improvements that a site can make? How do you measure the impact of the improvements for UX and CRO that you make?How does UX and CRO impact the overall content strategy?How should an SEO with in-house UX and CRO teams?Where does brand fit in?
Mar 5, 2025 • 17min
Focus on creating original, expert-driven content with real stories and insights - with Jade Pruett
Jade Pruett shares the importance of focusing on creating original, expert-driven content with real stories and insights - and that Google rewards value over keyword stuffing.Discussion points include:What does the best original content look like at the moment?What do you mean by expert-driven content?Can you use internal and external experts?What kind of real stories and insights do Google prefer?What is your preferred way of producing this type of content?Should we try to produce vide, audio and written content at the same time?How do you structure your content for maximum impact? (Visual content and coding)Do you advise creating social posts from this content?How does expert-driven content fit into a marketing strategy?
Mar 4, 2025 • 19min
In 2025, SEO strategies will prioritise user experience - Fabio Embalo
In this episode, Fabio Embalo shares that in 2025, SEO strategies will prioritise user experience, leverage AI-driven content and branding synergy, and emphasise mobile-first indexing, as search engines evolve to deeply understand user intent and content relevance.Discussion points include:How do we use AI and Machine Learning to analyse search trends?And what about content strategies - how do we use AI and Machine Learning to refine that?Can we use it to better understand user intent?How is search changing through the more prominent use of visual and voice search?And how is mobile use evolving and how is that impacting SEO?How do you optimise for user experience?Is quality always better than quantity?Where does branding fit into this?
Mar 3, 2025 • 16min
Accessibility will be a ranking factor - Heike Knip
According to Heike Knip's conversation with David Bain, accessibility will be a ranking factor in 2025.Topics discussed include:Why will Accessibility be a ranking factor?How important will it be?What does Accessibility seem more important now than it used to be?How will it impact rankings?What legislation is going to enforce this?What will SEOs and UX professionals have to do to comply with the law?How will they know that their accessibility has improved?What software can they use to monitor their site accessibility performance?What software can they use to find new accessibility issues?Read the full transcript of Heike's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/heike-knip
Feb 28, 2025 • 16min
Optimize both for both search engines and users - with Sara Fernández Carmona
Sara Fernández Carmona shares the importance of optimizing for both search engines and users. Hosted by David Bain.Discussion points include:How would you define accessibility?In 2025, the European Union will enforce the European Accessibility Act - how would you summarise that and what does that mean for SEOs?What are the areas that providing good accessibility offers beyond visual impairments?-Cognitive disabilities: clear and straightforward content benefits those with cognitive challenges.-Auditory disabilities: transcripts and captions make audio content accessible.-Motor disabilities: ensuring keyboard navigability helps users who cannot use a mouse.-Temporary disabilities and situational impairments: accessibility also addresses temporary disabilities and situational impairments: for example, a person with a broken arm might find it difficult to use a mouse but can navigate via keyboard, and a parent holding a baby might need to use voice commands instead of touch gestures.And does inclusive language form part of this?What are the business benefits?What are some practical steps to get started with better accessibility today?
