SEO in 2026

Amanda White and David Bain discuss how to be continuous and use a wide variety of SEO elements.Discussion points include:Surely you can’t work on everything at the same time?How do you identify who user is?How do you create a strategy around that?Should you not be prioritising the most impactful SEO activities?What are the well-trusted methods we shouldn’t be forgetting?How do you know when you should automate or use AI?How can SEO work more effectively with PR for greater success?How do you know what you need to adapt and change in your processes?

In this episode, Bart Magera shares that the answers to your SEO problems lie in the SERPs.Discussion points include:What answers are you looking for in the SERPs?How do you use the SERP to define opportunities?How have the SERPs changed recently?How do you use the SERP to form your SEO strategy?What are your thoughts on the future of the SERP?Read the full transcript of Bart's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2024/additional-insights/bart-magera

Ken "Magma" Marshall and David Bain discuss how rather than focusing on SEO, you should focus on HEO. "Human Engagement Optimization"Discussion points include:What is "Human Engagement Optimization"?How do you focus on creating web content with the user intent and needs in mind?Show should you use AI / ML?How do you know what your user or customer expects?How do you ensure that you are delivering excellent experiences?Why will Keyword data matter less?How do you get more sophisticated around attribution?How do you know which keywords have made a company most profitable?How do you measure "Human Engagement Optimization"?

Jan-Willem Bobbink and David Bain discuss understanding the limitations of AI based tools for SEO.Discussion points include:What are the useless exercises are happening based on LLMs that are not suitable for it?What are the limitations of AI-based tools?What are the elements of SEO that go hand-in-hand with AI?What are the elements of SEO that don’t go hand-in-hand with AI?

Myriam Jessier and David Bain discuss how mid-funnel is your strategic target.Discussion points include:What do you mean by mid-funnel?How do you identify Mid-funnel opportunities?What are good goals for Mid-funnel opportunities?Can you not work with both traditional marketing funnels and customer journey mapping?What are the typical touchpoints where SEO is overshadowed where search is critical?

Ian Helms and David Bain discuss how to stop chasing Google rankings and focus on building a real relationship with customers.Discussion points include:What are SEO best practices at the moment?How do you deliver personalized content, that is also beneficial for SEO?How do you measure the SEO value of creating a great customer experience?Is it possible to use AI generated content and to create a great customer experience at the same time?

On this episode Rasmus Sørensen discusses how small changes can lead to big impacts in eCommerce SEO.Discussion points include:What small changes?How do you know what to change?What big impacts does this have?How do you measure this?What are the biggest recent changes in eCommerce SEO?What CMS Software do you recommend?Read the full transcript of Rasmus's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2024/additional-insights/rasmus-sørensen

Dixon Jones and David Bain discuss how to cut through the AI noise in 2024.Discussion points include:How do you cut through the AI noise?Why does this make a difference?How long will this differentiating factor work effectively?Does this mean that you have to have a fairly manual process to be successful?How do you determine who your “audience of one” is, and how to talk to them?

Gerry White and David Bain discuss how the biggest challenge in 2024 will be standing out.Discussion points include:How do you deliver a reason to visit and engage with the site?What if you look at the SERP and the search engine appears to be looking for a particular type of result for a query - do you still try to be different?How do you stand out?How do you measure the impact of trying to stand out?Do you split-test trying to stand out?How do you stand out in the world of a single AI result?Will Google Perspectives help you stand out?Can you use other marketing channels to help you stand out?

Filipa Serra Gaspar and David Bain discuss the importance of Experience, high quality, author info and transparency.Discussion points include:How do you demonstrate Experience?How do you show that you offer high quality information?How do you format your author bio?What do you mean by showing transparency?What are examples of credible sources?How do you cite credible sources and what impact does this have?Can AI produced content demonstrate EEAT?

Anthony Barone and David Bain discuss how being a topical authority is key to your entity SEO.Discussion points include:How do you ensure that you create a comprehensive online version of an entity?Where do you include the information?What do you include?How do you hone your entity to appeal to your target user?How do you measure the impact of creating a comprehensive online entity?How do you differentiate yourself from ChatGPT content?How do you know that you are delivering a real and valuable answer?What should you use ChatGPT for?

In this episode Valentina shares that we should now consider all the organic channels and make them work in synergy to ensure success and that SEO is turning into OSO. Topics covered:What do you mean by OSO?What do you mean by all the organic channels?How do you make them work in synergy?How do you determine what your audience wants?What are the benefits of this?How does this ensure success?How do you measure success?Read the full transcript of Valentina's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2024/additional-insights/valentina-stragliotto

Andrew Cock-Starkey and David Bain discuss how Google is getting more and more focused on authority, expertise and experience.Discussion points include how too many people are still too scatter-gun with their approach. Andrew shares some advice on how to focus down on topic areas and really demonstrate your Expertise, Authority and Experience to search engines.

Dre de Vera and David Bain discuss how SEOs must adopt the content creator mindset for their clients and employers.Discussion points include:What is Google’s new Perspectives filter and how do you take advantage of that?How do you optimise your content on other sites to take advantage of this?How do you need to style your content?What sorts of queries are more likely to surface the Perspectives filter?How do you get content ideas from Reddit and Quora?Can any business take advantage of this?Is this for any type of content?How do you use this to build your build your E-E-A-T?Where do you lie on the use of AI to create content?

Ben Howe and David Bain discuss how you need to acknowledge that E-E-A-T considerations are no longer "nice to haves".Discussion points include:What do you have to do to demonstrate your use of EEAT principles?Do you have to do this to every piece of content, every type of intent?How do modifiers on long-tail targets look in practice in terms of landing pages? Will we have to rely on optimising for the user to receive the answer on the SERP or in an AI-powered chatbot in the future?How do SEOs segment organic audiences?

Kerstin Reichert and David Bain discuss how to build authority and collaborate to amplify your reach.Discussion points include:Do we reduce our authority by using AI to generate content?How can we be more selective about content and utilise AI at the same time?How do we use AI to be faster and better at the same time?How do we change our SEO strategy as search engines move from multiple options to answer?How do we stand out with our content in 2024?How do we utilise our authoritative figures in 2024?What style of content will work best?How do we promote the content?

In the current climate, it's more important than ever for SEOs to communicate to the business their value - ensuring they're aligning with business goals and reporting back in ways that the c-suite/business owners can understand the value SEO brings.In this episode, Anna shares with David:- How do you communicate your value to the business as an SEO?- Why do this?- Who should you communicate with, and how should you communicate? - How do you ensure your SEO activities align with business goals?- How do you report back in ways that the c-suite/business owners can understand the value SEO brings?- Should all SEOs be involved in this?- What does this mean for how you go about building your SEO career?Read the full transcript of Anna's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2024/additional-insights/anna-bravington

Taylor Kurtz and David Bain discuss the importance of focusing on known benchmarks and best practices in UX to improve your SEO.Discussion points include:What known benchmarks and best practices are you referring to?What is Virtual Environment Optimization?How do you measure the value of focusing on EEAT?What are best practices in UX and how does this impact SEO? Why should this be a priority?

Kavi Kardos and David Bain discuss the importance of following Google's lead and renew focus on E-E-A-T in 2024.Discussion points include:Why is E-E-A-T so important in 2024?What are the good ways of using AI?By announcing Perspectives and emphasizing E-E-A-T in their most recent messaging, Google has indicated that they're predicting a future preference for user generated content - what user generated content are they looking for?How do we integrate social with SEO?How do we incorporate community voices into our own content?

Ed Ziubrzynski and David Bain discuss how you should start with EEAT, and your strategy will follow.Discussion points include:How do you start with EEAT?What do you mean your your strategy will follow?How does EEAT integrate with a holistic marketing strategy?How often should you review your EEAT performance and future campaigns?How do you measure EEAT success?

Anne Berlin believes that we need to accept and prepare for the fact that Schema is becoming less relevant.Discussion points include how 2024 will be the year that structured data implementation plateaus. Anne believes that NLP has evolved to the point where most structured data is superfluous, except in a few use cases such as for publishers that have page resources prioritization/page speed or rendering issues.

David and Andy discuss why it's important not to forget your basics and that good strategy doesn't have to be complicated!Discussion points include:- You say that a good strategy doesn't have to be complicated! What is a good strategy?- You talk about complicated tricks and tools available - what shouldn’t you be doing?- What about AI?- How do you know what newer tips and tactics to listen to?

Austine Esezobor and David Bain discuss why branded keywords will become increasingly more important than generic keywords.Discussion points include:What is an entity?Why will branded keywords become more important?What strategy takes best advantage of branded keywords in 2024?Do you not focus on generic keywords at all?What is your keyword research process?

Sara Moccand-Sayegh and David Bain discuss entity building for better EEAT.Discussion points include:How do you build a digital entity?What are the key elements that search engines need to know and how do you teach them?What content do you need before you apply your Schema?What other sites do you need to be on to cement your entity’s authority?You say that when there is understanding, you can get a Twitter Carousel. How does this work?Will search engines and AI not get clever enough not to need Schema?

Ulrika Viberg and David Bain discuss how the new AI landscape we all have found ourselves in flips around the technical SEO rules.Discussion points include:What are the rules for technical SEO in 2024?How has AI altered this?How do we focus better on semantics on how does this assist AI?How do we better position our AI for AI?How do we mark up our content better for machines?Can we automate the marking up of our content?

Miracle Inameti-Archibong and David discuss the resurgence of BrandSEO due to the rise of SGE.Discussion points include:What does brand SEO actually mean?How do you improve your brand SEO?How do you work closely with other marketing teams to promote the brand?What does brand SEO success look like?How do you measure brand SEO performance?What brand SEO opportunities does SGE offer?Any other SGE opportunities?Any SGE concerns?

In this episode, David and Charlie discuss why you should be combatting cannibalisation and utilising the reviews system to take advantage of Google’s updates.Topics include:- What are the biggest cannibalisation issues?- How does cannibalisation impact SEO?- How does this impact content?- What do you mean by utilising the reviews system?- How do reviews positively impact SEO?

Martha van Berkel and David discuss how to use connected Schema Markup to prepare your organization for AI and build your company's knowledge graph.Discussion points include:What does optimizing your site and using schema markup in a connected way mean?What are your 3 tips for doing "connected" schema markup? Why does this matter?Why this is important for what's changing in Search - (SGE, ChatGPT/Bing)?How does this position SEO to be the hero in preparing marketing data for broader AI initiatives? What does this mean for the future role of SEO?

Mufaddal and David discuss the Importance of how visual elements are going to be more than ever in the new world of SGE.Discussion points include:Why are visual elements becoming more important?What are examples of the visual elements you mean?How do you optimise these visual elements?Where do they appear?What measurable result does this deliver?

Independent Technical SEO Consultant Jono Alderson advises that you cast an impartial eye across your site, asking why Google would want to crawl, index, and rank what you’re offering.

Julia-Carolin Zeng from Charlie on the Move would like to share that the opportunity you are optimizing for is constantly evolving, thanks to the shifting SERP.

In this episode, David and Mathilde discuss why you shouldn't forget the power of TikTok when planning your SEO strategy.Discussion points include:- How does TikTok work as a search engine?- How do you determine if your audience is on there?- Do you conduct keyword research?- How do you optimise your content?- What is the best publishing schedule?- Any other ways to optimise content?

In addition to using services like ChatGPT natively, you should also keep an eye out for better, AI-powered technical SEO tools launching in the near future, says Pam Aungst Cronin from Pam Ann Marketing.

SEO Consultant and Speaker Victoria Olsina says that having a single prompt library might not be enough. You need multiple prompt libraries, one for each client.

How do you ensure that AI is able to deliver in a brand-appropriate, consistent manner? You need to build a prompt library, says Garrett Sussman from iPullRank.

It’s easy to get grand visions of how much content you can create using AI. However, quality over quantity should be your aim, according to Joseph S. Kahn from Hum JAM.

David and Sinead discuss why what you get out of your prospecting tools is a reflection of what you put into them.Discussion points include:- What prospecting tools are you referring to?- What should you be looking to get out of them?- How do you put more into them?- Outreach that you are doing is suitable for the site?- How often should you review how you’re using prospecting tools?- Is AI changing the way that prospecting tools are used?

As previously touched upon with Itamar, Isaline Muelhauser from Pilea.ch would like to emphasise that AI can and should be used in the content creation process.

One of the key challenges with uncovering new automation opportunities is the temptation to automate before thinking, shares Tech SEO Trainer Kristina Azarenko.

Expanding on what Jason shared in the previous tip, Itamar Blauer from StudioHawk adds that, if you want your content to appear on the AI-driven SERP, you’ll need to tweak your content strategy.

In this episode David and Giulia discuss how to know how your customers think and make decisions, to be the brand they'll always come back to.Discussion points include:- Why is it important to Know how your customers think?- How do you Know how your customers think?- How do you measure what your customers think?- What do you mean by “make decisions to be the brand they'll always come back to?”- What are examples of doing this?- How does this impact SEO?- How do you measure this?

Jason Barnard from Kalicube is focussed on another side to the technological capabilities of AI. He delves into the ways that generative AI is also impacting search results, and what to do about it.

Once you have an understanding of how they work, you can start using large language models to improve your forecasting and save you time, according to Arpad Balough from Slothio.

In this episode, David and Kapwom discuss how to bulletproof your SEO efforts with E-E-A-T to supercharge organic performance.Topics include:- How does E-E-A-T bulletproof your SEO?- What is the most effective way of maximising your EEAT?- What does a supercharged organic performance look like?- How do you measure success?- Is AI impacting EEAT?

Just as we need to get into the nuts and bolts of SEO, we also need to take the time to understand the technology that powers AI, as Bastian Grimm from PeakAce explains.

According to Annika Haataja from Seeker Digital, one of the key questions that you should be asking prior to implementing the use of AI in your workflow is “How might AI impact user behaviour?”

As Billie emphasised, you can’t expect AI to solve all of your content production woes automatically. But as Jake Gauntley from KINESSO shares, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be harnessing AI’s power.

Billie Geena from Uptake would like to add a warning though – don’t run full-speed into the unknown with AI without being aware of the potential consequences.

In this episode, David and Jade discuss how to get hands-on to grow your career in SEO.Discussion points include:- What do you mean by hands-on?- What should you get hands-on with?- How does this help to grow your career?- How often should you be doing this?

Although the first chapter emphasised the need to retain your human touch, we can’t ignore the elephant in the room – AI is changing many aspects of SEO, fast. That’s the message that Nitin Manchanda from Botpresso would like to share with you.