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
Jan 17, 2025 • 16min
Use AI to learn about who your users are – with Eli Schwartz
Like Folashade, Eli Schwartz, author of Product-Led SEO, believes that AI tools can help you gain a deeper understanding of the people behind the search queries.Eli says: “Everyone’s been talking about using AI for SEO, and they’re focusing on the wrong aspect of it.AI shouldn’t be used to create content; it should be used to understand your users and figure out who they are. You can then use AI to create some of that content, but the magic of AI is understanding the things that you wouldn’t already know about your users.”Is there a particular AI that you’re using?“I was using ChatGPT, then I moved over to Gemini. I tried Perplexity but it always introduces itself by repeating the prompt, and I find it really annoying."Read the full transcript of Eli's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/eli-schwartz
Jan 16, 2025 • 16min
Uncover crucial insights by analysing your support queries – with Folashade Uba
Folashade Uba from Maersk has uncovered another often-overlooked but abundant source of user insight, direct from the horse’s mouth: support queries. Folashade says: “Analysing support queries is crucial for identifying customers’ pain points, uncovering their search intent, and discovering patterns and emerging trends in 2025.You can also use topic modelling to enhance your SEO strategies.”What are the best support queries to analyse?“There are a lot of different ones, obviously. You can get them from contact forms, calls, emails, etc. It all depends on the platform that you use to gather these support queries."Read the full transcript of Folashade's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/folashade-uba
Jan 15, 2025 • 17min
Demand doesn't start on Google - with Travis Tallent
Travis Tallent shares with David Bain that knowing where your audience's demand starts makes your SEO demand capture 10X stronger.Talking points include:When you say 10x stronger, what do you mean by that?How do you know where your audience's demand starts?What tools do you use to determine this?How do you know how to meet that demand?How do you know that this demand will convert to web traffic?How do you measure success?In general, what are some most effective demand generators for different types of businesses at the moment?Read the full transcript of Travis's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/additional-insights/travis-tallent
Jan 14, 2025 • 15min
Mine sales conversations to find topics with low competition & high intent – with Michael MacMillan
Given the importance of understanding your users, you’re probably wondering where you can learn what they want. Michael MacMillan from MacMillan Search believes sales conversations are the place to look.Michael says: “Avoid ultra-competitive topics with limited intent by mining sales conversations for bottom-of-funnel content.”What are examples of ultra-competitive topics?“Project management is a big one. Right now, monday.com ranks for ‘project management’, but there’s mixed intent around that query. There are people looking to become project managers and people trying to understand what project management is, and they’ve got a strong position there."Read the full transcript of Crystal's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/michael-macmillan
Jan 13, 2025 • 17min
Understand and leverage the cognitive biases that influence user behaviour – with Garrett Sussman
Sarah suggested you look into cognitive biases, and Garrett Sussman from iPullRank is here to help you do just that. Learn how these biases impact the way users behave to give you an edge over the competition. Garrett says: “Understand the role of cognitive biases in SEO. Our brains play a lot of tricks on us. When people are searching for things, we can be deceived by the shortcuts that our brains take. These cognitive biases influence the type of information that we’re seeking, and SEOs need to pay attention to them.We all bring context into our searches: how our day’s going, our jobs, what we like, our families, etc. That influences the type of information that we’re looking for. There are hundreds of cognitive biases, and they influence the way that we search, the queries we put in, the results that we see from Google, and the results that we ultimately choose."
Jan 10, 2025 • 15min
Understand human psychology to get your users to do what you want – with Sarah Pokorná Presch
To really get to know your users, you need to get inside their heads. Sarah Pokorná Presch from Dragon Metrics tells you how to use the psychology of your customers to your advantage.Sarah says: “Start using psychology to stay ahead in the SERPs.The reason why I say that is because, if you don’t have any content, you’re not going to rank. If you don’t have any user experience, you’re not going to get any conversions. If you don’t have any CRO, you’re not going to get any conversions."Read the full transcript of Sarah's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/sarah-presch
Jan 9, 2025 • 16min
Understand where you can best reach your customers by mapping out journeys – with Christopher Hofman
As Jake touched on, getting to know your users is also about knowing what journeys they are on. Christopher Hofman from HofmanSEO encourages you to map out those journeys and meet them on the road.Christopher says: “I work with B2B customers, so my focus is on them succeeding with SEO. In B2B, customer journeys are very long, with lots of touchpoints and lots of influences.I recommend that you map out the customer journeys for your desired prospects. That way, you will really understand the importance of SEO because a lot of those touchpoints are going through organic traffic today."Read the full transcript of Christopher's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/christopher-hofman
Jan 8, 2025 • 15min
Focus on Omnichannel SEO - Ramona Joita
Ramona Joita shares with David Bain the importance of focusing on Omnichannel SEO.Talking points include:What is Omnichannel SEO?What impact is AI having on this?You mentioned that it's becoming increasingly crucial to understand that exclusively aiming for the number one ranking on Google is not sufficient - what should the additional aims be?How do you own more of the search space?How do you measure the impact of this?How do you incorporate this into a strategy?Who else should be responsible for this?How do you keep an eye on other future trends?Read the full transcript of Ramona's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/additional-insights/ramona-joita
Jan 7, 2025 • 17min
Remind yourself of the people you are trying to reach – with Jake Gauntley
While Becky helped you prepare for the future, Jake Gauntley from KINESSO UK is keen to make sure that the users themselves don’t get lost along the way.Jake says: “Don’t lose sight of the people that you are actually trying to reach through SEO.As things like AI become ever-present in our lives and working plans, you should be tapping into the human side of search. It’s going to be even more important that you’re connecting with the users who are searching for your brand or visiting your website.”Read the full transcript of Jake's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/jake-gauntley
Jan 6, 2025 • 16min
Think about how user behaviour is changing – with Becky Simms
Becky Simms from Reflect Digital has advice on how to be ahead of the game so that you’re ready for the new ways that users interact in a world of omnipresent AI.Becky says: “With the ramping up of AI, we need to start thinking about how behaviour is going to change.We’re seeing a lot of search engines integrating it into how the algorithm works and the results that they’re showing, and we want to think about how behaviour will change."Read the full transcript of Becky's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/becky-simms
