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
Apr 22, 2024 • 17min
SEOs need to know about Performance Max ads - with Navah Hopkins
Navah Hopkins believes that SEOs need to know about Performance Max ads.Discussion points include:What are Performance Max ads?What will iOS17 do for tracking and attribution of your marketing campaigns?What creative works best? Ad or landing page perspective or both?Why are they different?What does adapting content to visual first placements mean?Why are they better?Is there any downside?Why are they important for SEO?How should paid and SEO work together?
Apr 19, 2024 • 22min
Use multimedia to slice across channels - with Crystal Carter
Crystal Carter believes that you should be using multimedia to slice across your marketing channels.Discussion points include:What do you mean by slicing?Does multimedia work for every type of content?What stage in the customer journey does multimedia content work for?Does multimedia replace content?Do you mean multimedia off site?What does the ideal content production process look like?How is AI changing multimedia content?
Apr 18, 2024 • 17min
Befriend other marketeers and go holistic - with Izzy Wisniewska
Izzy Wisniewska believes that you should befriend other marketeers and go holistic in 2024.Talking points include:What does holistic actually mean in practice?How do you unite as a marketing department in a large organisation?How does a content team, PR team, video team join forces with sEO to deliver a more effective customer experience?What other teams impact areas like:EEAT, technical performance, user experience, speed, user intent, content qualityWhat does this mean for channel team members - do they need to train themselves on other channels?How do you measure success?Who gets credit for a customer purchase?
Apr 17, 2024 • 18min
Know your audience, meet their search intent & ensure your content is “Helpful” - Sukhjinder Singh
In this episode, David and Sukhjinder discuss the importance of knowing your audience, meet their search intent & ensure your content is “Helpful”.Discussion points include:Why is knowing your audience and meeting their search intent even more important in the age of SGE?How do you know your audience?How do you meet their intent?How do you ensure that your content is helpful for both users and search engines?What does having E.E.A.T.-worthy content actually mean?How is this changing in 2024 and beyond?
Apr 16, 2024 • 18min
2024 is the year of the yearning for original, creative and well-written human content - Luke Carthy
Luke Carthy believes that 2024 is the year of the yearning for original, creative and well-written human content.Discussion points include:What can humans do that AI can’t do?What’s the difference between well-written human content and AI content?What should humans stop doing and hand over to AI?How long will this be the case for?How is TikTok a competing ecosystem to Shopify and Google?What should SEOs do about this?Is it an SEO’s job to optimize for every platform?
Apr 15, 2024 • 17min
Creating actionable audits that your client understands - with Nikki Halliwell
Nikki Halliwell shares that creating actionable audits that your client understands, and can be used by stakeholders at all levels and being able to follow them through and get fixes implemented by working closely with dev teams and speaking their language for faster implementation.Discussion points include:What is an actionable audit?Is there any type of audit that you see SEOs doing that don’t provide much value?What stakeholders should be using this audit?What language should you be using in your audit reports to assist you in engaging with various stakeholders?How do you get dev teams on board to implement fixes more quickly?What software do you use for your audits?How often should you do these audits?
Apr 12, 2024 • 17min
Invest in additional tools and external testing when doing a migration - with Andor Palau
Andor Palau shares the importance of investing in additional tools and external testing when doing a migration.Talking points include:What are some examples of some of the preventable errors that can occur with migrations?What tools do you use?How do you end up paying with missing revenue?What different perspective or different data layers might you end up missing?How should you plan for a migration?Who should you involve in a planned migration?Is there anything that you need to keep checking post-migration?
Apr 11, 2024 • 17min
Limit crawlability to your content - with Emma Russell
As many contributors to this project have alluded to, the long-reaching arms of AI are reaching into many aspects of digital life, which is why Emma Russell from Oxford Comma Digital says that you need to be a more discerning gatekeeper, and that you should Limit crawlability to your content.
Apr 10, 2024 • 18min
Keep a wide open eye and be flexible - Manu Madeddu
In this episode, David and Manu discuss the importance of keeping a wide open eye and being flexible in your SEO approach.Discussion points include:Can you give an example of the new possibilities of integrating AI in your workflow and processes?When you say, “make sure you have access to the right and accurate data”, what data are you referring to?How do you work cross-channel?How do you determine what delivers the most value to your audience?How do you know when to pivot an SEO strategy?
Apr 9, 2024 • 18min
What impact does site speed and Core Web Vitals have on SEO in 2024? With Fili Wiese
Fili Wiese shares what impact site speed and Core Web Vitals has on SEO in 2024.Discussion points include:What impacts site speed most in 2024?- Server and hosting- File sizes and types- Plugins and add-ons- Traffic volume- Poor codingHow should we be using Core web Vitals to direct our site performance improvements?Inside Search Console?- Loading (Largest contentful paint - how fast is fast enough? How do you improve this?)- Interactivity (First input delay - how fast is fast enough? How do you improve this?)- Visual stability (Cumulative layout shift - what issues are key?)
