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
Oct 30, 2023 • 19min
Review your current processes and cut out unnecessary tools or modules - with Marco Giordano
David and Marco discuss:What are some examples of processes that SEOs should review?Should all SEOs be doing this or is it just the responsibility of SEO Heads and Managers to boost productivity?How do you stay focused?Where does AI fit into this?
Oct 27, 2023 • 15min
How to use ChatGPT for SEO - with Garrett Sussman
David and Garrett discuss:What content can be used producing ChatGPT?What editing is necessary for ChatGPT content?How is content produced by ChatGPT picked up by Google?Are there other AI content tools that you would recommend?What is the future of AI content?
Oct 26, 2023 • 18min
Digital PR campaigns will have to work harder than ever in 2023 - with Iona Townsley
We’re seeing less impact through digital PR campaigns which has led agencies to favour reactive PR strategies. However, if you make your campaigns work extra hard, you can achieve just as high successes. This means watertight data, strong methodologies, great copy and validating them before launch.
Oct 25, 2023 • 18min
Unite SEO and wider brand strategy for enhanced engagement - Annika Haataja
David and Annika discuss the importance of uniting SEO and wider brand strategy for enhanced engagement.Discussion topics include:- What does Uniting SEO and wider brand strategy mean?- What does this mean in terms of SEO and brand marketing departments working together?- How does this enhance engagement?- How does enhanced engagement have a measurable impact on SEO?
Oct 24, 2023 • 20min
How to use AI to help with content, but not to rely on it - with Andy Chadwick
David and Andy discuss:What does that mean in practice?What can you rely on AI to do?What type of content can AI help with?What type of content should you not use AI for?What does the optimum process that uses AI to help with content look like?How do you ensure that search engines think that your content was written by humans?What tools do you recommend?
Oct 23, 2023 • 17min
How to target your SEO Strategy to Entities - with Gerry White
David and Gerry discuss:Why do you describe entities as the most critical thing?How do you target your strategy to entities?What does enhancing with multimedia and internal linking mean in practice?What’s an example of good automation?
Oct 20, 2023 • 15min
How to find SEO opportunities using the Crawl Stats report within Google Search Console - with Katherine Nwanorue
David and Katherine discuss:- Google Search Console crawl stats data report- Hosts- How Google is crawling your subdomains - Robots.txt- DNS resolution - domain provider- Server connectivity- HTTP Response - File Type - HTML, javascript, images or videos- Purpose - Discovery and refresh- Googlebot
Oct 19, 2023 • 15min
How does site accessibility impact SEO? With Heba Said
David and Heba discuss:What are the key areas in accessibility?How does accessibility impact SEO?How does Google analyze accessibility?How do you measure the impact for accessibility?
Oct 18, 2023 • 16min
Ensure that you have comprehensive structured data added to pages - Sophie Gibson
Sophie Gibson shares that it's become very important in 2023 to have comprehensive structured data added to pages - It's no longer an 'added bonus' but will become essential to get ahead, because of Google's Generative Search Experience and the rise of AI requiring machine readable content summaries. This will mean you will need to add further markup than competitors and use additional fields within structured data , beyond what the online generators can create. Talking points include:- What does comprehensive structured data mean?- Use additional fields within structured data - which ones?- Information to add - founders in organisation schema (Founding, organisational)- Meet the team pages - people, job title, accreditations - What type of content is most important to mark up?- How do you measure success?
Oct 17, 2023 • 16min
Volume/depth of content doesn't mean you will rank well - with Chris Green
Chris Green believes that volume/depth of content doesn't mean you will rank well - the content has to be good and specific to the need. For SEOs working with multiple brands/clients, the challenge becomes connecting effectively with the user's needs and how to satisfy that meaningfully.
