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 3, 2025 • 21min
Pay attention to shifts in search intent – with Mark Williams-Cook
Despite the expanding plethora of information available to us, it seems to be harder than ever to know what users are thinking. Mark Williams-Cook from Candour reminds you that intent is always changing. Mark says: “You should be monitoring search intent shift. Be aware of when what users want, and what they mean when they use a search term, changes over time – and adapt accordingly.”How do you find out what users want?“That’s the million-dollar question. Intent shift happens in several different ways. Some are ways that people are already aware of, and others are harder to recognise because they are happening in the background."Read the full transcript of Mark's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/mark-williams-cook
Jan 2, 2025 • 23min
Focus on the long tail – with Aleyda Solis
Getting a little more specific, Aleyda Solis from Orainti encourages you to turn your attention towards the long tail keywords to keep up with changing user behaviour.Aleyda says: “Target and focus more on answering the long tail queries of your users.We are going to see a much bigger and more important impact from those as a consequence of the AI overviews and personalised AI results that we expect to have in the not-too-distant future.Read the full transcript of Aleyda's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/aleyda-solis
Jan 1, 2025 • 16min
Understand Your Topical Authority with AI to Dominate Your Niche - Tom Winter
Tom Winter discusses with David Bain the importance of understanding your topical authority with AI to dominate your niche.Talking points include:What is topical authority?Tell me about the Sitefocus score in latest Google scoreWhy is authority so important in the eyes of Google?How do you determine what Google think your topical authority should be?What to do if Google gets it wrongHow to change your topical authorityRead the full transcript of Tom's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/additional-insights/tom-winter
Dec 31, 2024 • 16min
Don’t neglect keywords – with Charlie Whitworth
While he acknowledges the importance of entities, Charlie Whitworth from Whitworth SEO is here to remind you that keywords are still an integral piece of the puzzle. Charlie says: “Keywords do still matter.”Why do some people not believe that to be the case?“I don’t know if it’s off the back of AI developments, but a lot of people have been talking about keywords being dead and saying that you should stop focusing on them. They quite rightly mention entities, which should absolutely be at the forefront of any high-volume SEO strategy.Read the full transcript of Charlie's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/charlie-whitworth
Dec 30, 2024 • 15min
Manage your content knowledge graph – with Martha Van Berkel
Martha van Berkel from Schema App takes us deeper into the minutiae of entity SEO to look more closely at schema markup and how to build a powerful knowledge graph.Martha says: “Start to think about entity SEO and managing your content knowledge graph.”How would you define an entity?“I always like to think about an entity as a thing. When you’re in a business, you can think about the most important strategic ‘things’ for the business. What makes an entity different from a keyword (or a word in general) is that it is multi-dimensional. You can describe that entity and how it relates to other things.Read the full transcript of Martha's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/martha-van-berkel
Dec 27, 2024 • 16min
Make use of relevant entities to improve your visibility as a brand – with Ulrika Viberg
As Jason pointed out, the value of entities goes beyond helping Google categorise your content. Ulrika Viberg from Unikorn explains how they can be the key to getting your brand noticed.Ulrika says: “Utilise entities – not only for content creation, as we have been doing for quite some time, but also for brand optimization.You can make your brand properly stand out in the search results by optimizing the entities around the brand.”Read the full transcript of Ulrika's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/ulrika-viberg
Dec 26, 2024 • 16min
Turn your attention to Entity Optimization – with Jason Barnard
To kick off our deep dive into entities, Jason Barnard from Kalicube breaks down how and why you need to optimize your entities in 2025 – from the content itself to the creator and the publisher.Jason says: “You need to focus on Entity Optimization for EEAT, or what we at Kalicube call NEEATT.”Entity Optimization starts with entity understanding, is that correct?“Yes, 100%. Without entity understanding, there is no basis for EEAT. It is essential that you ensure Google understands who the creator or publishing entity behind the content you publish is. Without that understanding, EEAT means nothing.”Read the full transcript of Jason's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/jason-barnard
Dec 25, 2024 • 17min
Why and how did we should create a multi-function approach to SEO - Reena Bowden
Reena Bowden shares with David Bain why and how did we should create a multi-function approach to SEO.Talking points include:What do you mean by a multi-function approach to SEO?How has SEO evolved throughout the organisation over the past few years?Who’s responsible for different aspects of SEO nowadays?What are the changes driven by?What are the advantages to these changes?What does this mean for tracking SEO performance?If an organisation isn’t set up like this, how can a head of SEO start to implement these changes?How should different SEO in-house departments be trained on the value of SEO?How will this continue to evolve in the future?Read the full transcript of Reena's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/additional-insights/reena-bowden
Dec 24, 2024 • 17min
Gain visibility in generative search by managing your brand entity – with Crystal Carter
It wouldn’t be long before AI joined the brand party! If you want your name to show up in AI-driven results, then taking control of your brand entity is key, according to Crystal Carter from Wix.Crystal says: “Manage your brand entity for visibility in generative search engines and tools.”Why does generative search visibility mean that you should rethink your brand entity?“One of the things that’s really important to consider is the way that LLMs work and the way that people are using them on a regular basis.Over the last year, search has become very dissipated and decentralised. Rather than just using Google or Bing, people are searching across multiple search engines – including LLMs and tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini – to find their answers.Find out more here: https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/crystal-carter
Dec 23, 2024 • 16min
Your brand mentions are your links – with Casie Gillette
Like the others in this chapter, Casie Gillette from Customers.ai believes that brand is changing the face of SEO. In her view, you don’t just need to build links anymore; you need to get your name out there.Casie says: “Brand mentions are the new links.Considering what we’re seeing with AI overviews, Reddit, and Quora, forums are back. Fortunately or unfortunately, it’s where you’re going to have to spend your time.AI overviews are pulling from these various places. I can’t tell you how many searches we’re seeing Reddit pulled up for. Lily Ray recently assessed people who lost traffic and are now ranking number 2. Guess who they’re behind? Reddit.Find out more here: https://majestic.com/seo-in-2025/casie-gillette
