As we approach 2026, the SEO landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace. The rise of AI, changing user behaviors, and new search interfaces mean that traditional tactics are no longer enough. To help you navigate this shift, we asked 20 leading SEO experts for their most critical advice on maintaining visibility and achieving measurable results in the coming year. Whether you’re a global brand or the best digital marketing company in Lucknow – eMarketters, these insights will guide your strategy.
The Overarching Theme: Adaptability & Foundational Excellence
The consensus is clear: SEO is no longer just about Google rankings. It’s about being discoverable wherever your audience searches—be it TikTok, YouTube, ChatGPT, or Reddit. The foundation remains critical: a technically sound, user-centric website with high-quality content is table stakes. However, success now requires a broader mindset of “search everywhere optimization.”
Expert Insights: Top 20 Focus Areas for 2026
1. Be Mentioned In the Right Places
Kevin Indig, Growth Advisor
Visibility stems from the right content, on the right channels, mentioned in the right places. Create hyper-specific, data-driven content for long-tail prompts. Engage on platforms like LinkedIn, Reddit, and niche forums. Secure mentions from authoritative, relevant publishers to build context and authority for both LLMs and traditional search.
2. Move Beyond Just Appeasing Google
Cindy Krum, CEO & Founder, MobileMoxie
Relying solely on your website is insufficient. AI systems seek consensus. Distribute your branding message consistently across the web to create a unique and recognizable narrative that AI can synthesize.
3. Optimize For Systems That Read Like Machines
Duane Forrester, Founder and CEO
Shift focus from ranking to retrieval. Ensure your content is chunked, cited, and trusted by AI systems. Build machine-verifiable authority through structured data, entity clarity, and consistent sourcing. Trust is the new currency.
4. Ensure Clarity, Consistency, and Comprehension
Carolyn Shelby, Founder, CSHEL Search Strategies
Every brand touchpoint must tell the same, clear story for both humans and machines. Use visible text for critical information (not just Schema), maintain fast and crawlable pages, and ensure consistency across all platforms.
5. Prepare for the “Reasoning Web” & Agentic AI
Andrea Volpini, Co-Founder and CEO, WordLift
Visibility will depend on “agentic readiness.” Implement clean structured data, stable identifiers, and knowledge graphs to allow AI agents to understand, compare, and act on your offerings. Make your assets machine-operable.
6. Connect Search and Product Strategy
Ray Grieselhuber, Founder & CEO, DemandSphere
Understand the three AI search experiences: SERPs, LLMs, and agentic systems. Ensure robust data pipelines. For the future, align your product strategy with feeds and APIs (like MCP) to integrate seamlessly into agentic workflows.
7. Have a Relentless Focus on Being the Best
Barry Adams, Polemic Digital
Avoid AI hype. Double down on core SEO excellence. Eliminate suboptimal technical or editorial weaknesses. In a zero-sum game, only the best-quality, fully-committed sites will win.
8. Prioritize Quality and Conversion Over Quantity
Lily Ray, Vice President, SEO Strategy & Research, Amsive
The principles of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) are more relevant than ever. Create content that demonstrates deep expertise and genuine value to build trust with both users and AI.
9. Maintain Pragmatism and Focus on Retrieval
Pedro Dias, Technical SEO/AI Discoverability Consultant, Visively
Stay objective. Focus on understanding user behavior and retrieval systems. Be skeptical of tools making bold claims about AI optimization. Ensure your visibility strategy is omnichannel and not siloed.
10. Ground Strategy in Data and Local Nuance
Montserrat Cano, International SEO & Digital Strategy
Combine AI platform knowledge with deep user understanding across markets. Consider local search behaviors and cultural nuances. Use first-party data to drive content planning and prioritize what truly impacts growth.
11. Audit Content Structure and Embrace Multi-Format
Alex Moss, Principal SEO, Yoast
Review site structure (IA, internal linking) for both agents and humans. Use Schema to define entities and relationships. Invest in digital PR for brand sentiment and multi-modal content (video, imagery) for broader discoverability.
12. Focus on Revenue Impact, Not Vanity Metrics
Helen Pollitt, Head of SEO, Getty Images
Anchor every strategy to revenue or core commercial goals. Prioritize projects based on their likelihood of success and revenue potential. Avoid getting sidetracked by the latest “SEO hacks” that don’t drive real value.
13. Optimize for Topical Understanding, Not Just Pages
Bill Hunt, Global Strategist, Bisan Digital
Treat your website as an enterprise system. Build a durable information architecture with clean, authoritative data. Create content designed for synthesis. Cross-functional alignment is key to competing in AI-driven search.
14. Develop a Dual-Speed Authority Strategy
John Shehata, CEO & Founder, NewzDash
Short-term: Maximize multi-surface visibility on Google (AI Overviews, Discover, Video). Long-term: Build entity authority with unique, hard-to-replicate content (opinions, proprietary data). Develop distributed revenue streams and creator networks.
15. Truly Focus on Your Audience and Break Silos
Harry Clarkson-Bennett, SEO Director, The Telegraph
Understand your audience’s real needs. Work with analytics to move beyond last-click attribution. Collaborate across PPC, social, and email teams to build a unified marketing strategy that solves business problems.
16. Evolve Your Measurement Framework
Motoko Hunt, International SEO Consultant, AJPR
Transform metrics into strategic levers. Implement granular tracking for different SERP features (AI Overviews, snippets). Quantify the revenue impact of ranking changes and prioritize high-ROI initiatives.
17. Prioritize Authentic Value Amidst Uncertainty
Dawn Anderson, International SEO Consultant, Bertey
Use AI for efficiency and ideation, not for generating low-quality “slop.” Build robust reputation and authority through quality and connections. Be wary of false narratives and avoid short-term, dead-end tactics.
18. Understand the User’s Subconscious Decisions
Giulia Panozzo, Founder, Neuroscientive
Look beyond tactics. Understand user motivations, frustrations, and subconscious decision-making. Use cross-functional data (social listening, CX logs) to inform what users need to see before they even click.
19. Differentiate with Digital PR and Unique Content
Alli Berry, SEO Director, Marketwise
Amplify what others say about your brand through digital PR and influential mentions. Create unique content angles—like customer stories or primary research—that AI cannot easily replicate.
20. Have Influence Where Your Audience Is
Shelley Walsh, Managing Editor, Search Engine Journal
Hold fast to the fundamentals: know where your audience finds trusted information and establish influence there. Pay attention to technological shifts like agentic SEO, but don’t get distracted by hype. It’s all just SEO.
FAQs for “SEO in 2026”
1. How is SEO changing with AI in 2026?
SEO is shifting from optimizing solely for Google’s blue links to ensuring visibility across all platforms where users search, including AI chatbots and social media. The focus is now on being a trusted, citable source for AI systems through structured data, entity authority, and high-quality content.
2. What should a business in Lucknow prioritize for SEO in 2026?
Businesses, like eMarketters, the best digital marketing company in Lucknow, should prioritize building local authority with consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) data, creating hyper-local content, ensuring technical excellence for site speed and mobile UX, and engaging on local forums and platforms where their audience seeks recommendations.
3. Is traditional link-building still important in 2026?
While traditional link-building evolves, the principle of earning authoritative mentions remains crucial. The focus is shifting towards digital PR, brand mentions (linked or unlinked), and securing citations from trusted industry sources that AI systems use to establish consensus and credibility.
