Expert Predictions For SEO In 2026

People fed up with old style search are turning to AI tools first. A new report from Eight Oh Two shows 37% of consumers now begin with AI rather than a traditional search engine. Many want one summarised answer straight away.

Users told the agency that AI feels faster and clearer. They also said it feels calmer than pages packed with adverts and links. The survey found 40% get annoyed clicking through too many links, while 37% dislike the volume of ads.

Another 33% struggle to get a straight answer from standard search pages, according to Eight Oh Two. Repeated low quality information also puts people off. AI wins when people want speed and less noise.

 

Do People Trust AI Answers?

 

Trust in AI answers is rising, though caution stays. Eight Oh Two found 60% think AI gives better and clearer replies than traditional search. Only 6% said AI performs worse.

Confidence levels sound high at first glance. The survey shows 80% feel AI gives unbiased information. At the same time, 85% check answers elsewhere, often on search engines or trusted sites.

Traditional search keeps a strong place for certain needs. People prefer it for product reviews, prices, news, images, videos and health topics. These areas feel safer when facts need checking or context matters.

This mix shows a new habit forming. AI gives the first answer, then people confirm it somewhere else. Brands that appear unclear in one place risk losing trust in the other.

 

How Is AI Changing Brand Discovery And Buying?

 

AI now influences how people notice brands. When users ask for recommendations, AI returns a short list with reasons. Brands outside that list rarely get seen.

Eight Oh Two found 47% say AI affects which brands they trust. First impressions often come from AI summaries. Brands that AI struggles to explain or separate from rivals can be ignored.

Buying habits also link to AI use. The survey shows 47% have used AI to help choose a product. Another 57% used it to find the best prices, while 54% compared products this way.

On review summaries, 48% have read AI written review round ups. Younger adults lead this trend, though people use AI across shopping, travel and finance.

Most purchases still finish on retailer or brand websites rather than inside AI tools. Expectations point to heavier AI use soon. Eight Oh Two reports 63% expect to use AI more this year, and 59% think it will become their main way to find information.

 

What Do Experts Predict?

 

Experts have shared their predictions for SEO in 2026:

 

Our Experts:

 

• Claudia Comtois, CEO & Founder, Alchemi Media
• Ivan Vislavskiy, CEO, Comrade Digital Marketing Agency
• Sasha Berson, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer, Grow Law
• Karina Tymchenko, Founder, Brandualist
• Martin Cox, Director, Postino
• Landon Murie, Founder & CEO, Goodjuju Marketing
• Nikola Baldikov, Founder, SERPsGrowth
• Terra Higginson, Principal Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group
• Trond Nyland, Founder & CEO, Penro.co.uk
• Elie Berreby, Head of SEO & AI Search, Adorama
• Nikolay Krastev, SEO Consultant, nikolaykrastev.com
• Jenna Guarneri, CEO and Founder, JMG Public Relations
• Kevin Heimlich, Founder and CEO, The Ad Firm
• Hady Hadjiany, CEO, TicTacToeFree
• Steven Athwal, CEO and Founder, The Big Phone Store
• Pilar Lewis, Public Relations Associate, Marketri
• Hazel Andrews-Oxlade, Founder, Creative Content Company

 

Claudia Comtois, CEO & Founder, Alchemi Media

 

 

“This topic is very interesting! In our agency, we’re focusing more and more on Voice SEO, especially through video marketing content. Not only do platforms pick up SEO in titles, overlay & hashtags, it also picks it up through captions and the words we speak. Therefore, it’s important to repeat the title and adjacent topics that are part of the same framework of related topics to be ranked on platforms.

“Using comments SEO is also a new trend we are seeing. By looking at competitors comments sections, especially on tiktok (blue comment) or comments with top likes and adding these key phrases as follow up topics or included in a playlist of adjacent videos. This way, we are no longueur looking as SEO as separate pieces of content, but instead, a web of content linked one to another.”

 

Ivan Vislavskiy, CEO, Comrade Digital Marketing Agency

 

 

“The way I see it, SEO in 2026 is going to reward brands that people actually trust and recognise. You know, I’ve helped companies that followed every SEO best practice exactly as told, and still got zero results. But when we focused on building their authority, getting their name out there, aligning the message across platforms, their traffic and rankings finally took off. Search engines are catching on. They’re not just crawling for keywords anymore, they’re looking for proof that your business is real and credible.

“Another thing that’s shifting fast is content expectations. My team and I have scrapped a massive number of weak pages for clients and replaced them with fewer, stronger ones that actually showcase their real expertise. And, you know, that move alone brought major SEO wins. Going into 2026, quality is going to beat quantity every time. Pumping out content just to stuff in keywords is on its way out.”

 

Sasha Berson, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer, Grow Law

 

 

“I look at where things are headed and it’s pretty clear to me that SEO in 2026 is way more about credibility than keywords. I already see mass content strategies flattening out. They worked for a while, but now they’re just not moving the needle. The firms that are winning are the ones investing in expert-written content under the attorney’s name, dialing in local profiles, and earning real third-party mentions. Those firms are showing up more in Google and in AI results at the same time.

“Another thing I’m pretty confident about is local SEO becoming even more important. AI engines lean hard on Google Business Profiles, reviews, and local citations when they recommend businesses. I’ve watched firms with totally average websites beat much bigger competitors just because their local signals were cleaner and more consistent. And honestly, by 2026 that gap between trusted brands and everyone else keeps getting wider. SEO keeps rewarding the businesses that prove their quality everywhere online, not just on their website.”

 

Karina Tymchenko, Founder, Brandualist

 

 

“SEO will evolve in 2026 from focusing on keyword optimization to optimising for authority. Brands will be rewarded by search engines for demonstrating their actual expertise by creating high-quality and consistent content, and building their personal brand, and demonstrating community trust (social proof) signals. At Brandualist, I am seeing my clients rank faster in Google when they pair their SEO efforts with social proof, creator-led content, and clear topical ownership. While technical SEO will continue to have an importance factor, it will not be as significant of an advantage as establishing your brand as a trusted source, rather than simply having a well-optimised webpage.”

 

Martin Cox, Director, Postino

 

 

“Biggest prediction …. lots of agencies pitching AI SEO (AEO/GEO) without really understanding that it’s still based on traditional SEO.

“It’s new, it’s sexy, but ultimately solid SEO practices will still land you those good results.

“A lot of firms will jump on the bandwagon, a lot of clients will waste a bunch of money!

“Yes, AI SEO and zero click is a thing, maybe 3-5% of google’s traffic, but understanding how AI gets its results is key, and agencies will pitch pretty and shiny rather than technical details.”

 

Landon Murie, Founder & CEO, Goodjuju Marketing

 

 

“I think 2026 will be the year of GEO + SEO – you need this combo to survive SEO in 2026!

“Though rankings, links, and organic traffic still matter, whether LLMs get your brand, trust it, and recommend it to users can definitely impact traditional SEO in 2026. As more people bypass traditional search, turning instead to AI for advice, brands need to control how they’re described on the web. Clarity, consistency, and TANGIBLE EVIDENCE of experience are the most important factors. Claims that are vague will not survive.. So in order to get mentioned or suggested by LLMs, brands should explain what they do and support it with specifics. These stories need to be told everywhere customers have conversations about them.”

 

Nikola Baldikov, Founder, SERPsGrowth

 

 

“I think SEO in 2026 will be about getting back to basics and really focusing on our audiences. We spend a lot of time chasing the latest updates, tools, or “shiny” new tactics, but that rarely helps us connect with the people we’re actually trying to reach.

“The strategies that will work are the ones rooted in understanding users’ needs, how they search, and what genuinely converts them. Strong fundamentals like good content, clear website structure, and a solid presence of brand mentions across the web are still what we see working, even as brands start appearing in generative search. As search continues to evolve, I believe the brands that stand out will be the ones that can take these fundamentals and make them work alongside new trends.”

 

Terra Higginson, Principal Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group

 

 

“The job of SEO professionals is changing quickly, and by 2026 it is very possible this turns into two separate roles. One focused on traditional SEO and one focused on AEO or GEO. If we accept that generative AI is changing the entire buyer and customer journey, which it clearly is, then companies will need to invest far more than they do today. This investment will not only go into owned channels, but also into understanding how answer engines work and how to influence them. That means budgets will need to increase or be reallocated in order to make real impact, and a new type of specialist will emerge.

“SEO will still need to handle the fundamentals such as structured data and schema for products, organisations, FAQs, and reviews. But the role expands beyond that. There is now a need to understand which large language models matter, what information they consume, and how that information is interpreted. Some of this comes from how a company’s own site is built and maintained, but much of it comes from how information about the brand exists across the internet as a whole.

“Trust becomes a central factor. Are you producing content that is genuinely trustworthy. Is the customer experience smooth and frictionless. Are multiple independent sources saying the same thing about you. These factors often sit outside what we traditionally define as SEO, yet they directly influence how both search engines and answer engines perceive a brand.

“Content quality is another challenge. There is an overwhelming amount of low quality and generated content online, particularly when it comes to reviews. While people may not trust this content, generative AI often appears to rely heavily on volume and consensus rather than a single authoritative source. Even though AI systems claim to weigh source quality, authority, and recency, the balance does not always feel right. Large amounts of ungated content can outweigh smaller volumes of higher quality gated sources. Whether this changes over time remains to be seen.

“The role of the AEO specialist will be to monitor how answer engines consume and prioritize information, then ensure that the right content exists in the right places. This is less about rankings and more about influence, visibility, and trust across the entire information ecosystem.”

 

Trond Nyland, Founder & CEO at Penro.co.uk

 

 

“As AI-driven search results become more prominent, visibility will increasingly depend on demonstrated expertise, brand authority, and real-world credibility—not just keywords or technical optimisation. Search engines are moving toward entity-based understanding, where brands, people, and products matter more than individual pages.

“Quality backlinks will still be important, but volume will matter less. A small number of editorial links from trusted publications will outweigh large-scale link building, as algorithms improve at identifying genuine authority.

“Finally, SEO performance will be closely tied to user experience and conversion. Sites that communicate trust quickly, load fast, and satisfy intent clearly will outperform competitors that focus on rankings alone.

“In 2026, the strongest SEO results will come from businesses that build credibility rather than chase algorithms.”
 

 

Elie Berreby, Head of SEO & AI Search, Adorama

 

 

“Prediction 1: Technical SEO will become more important than ever for large websites.

“The reason is simple: AI search gave birth to more crawlers. Crawlers are the little bots going through the web 24/7 to try and discover new links, new websites and new content.

“Surprisingly, the crawlers used by conversational AI models such as ChatGPT are less technically sophisticated than traditional search engine crawlers like Googlebot and Bingbot. For instance, they cannot even render JavaScript, which most websites use.

“With less sophisticated AI crawlers that are also more aggressive and consume more bandwidth, technical SEO experts are seeing increased demand from large enterprises to optimise crawl budgets.

“Because there are very few senior technical SEO advisors and more demand than available time, the cost of this specific expertise is rising.

“This makes a lot of sense when you understand that by optimizing the structure of their websites and the crawlability of their content, brands get better AI visibility.

“My first prediction is simple: advanced technical SEO expertise will become more valuable than ever, both for search engines and language models.”

Prediction 2: Self-proclaimed gurus will claim “SEO is dead” and GEO is the future

“Senior SEO consultants are rare, but those with seniority are all laughing at the self-proclaimed GEO experts promoting decade-old low-value SEO tactics. Most of those fake self-declared GEO experts are jumping from one hype train to another without ever developing actual expertise.

“Because acronyms such as GEO or AIO (for AI Optimization) are hot, and marketing departments are willing to optimize for AI visibility, many self-proclaimed “GEO experts” are trying to make money by selling dreams to unsuspecting brands. Over time, this will result in money being burnt and serious disappointment for CMOs who believed the hype.

“The reality is that senior SEO experts are best positioned to tackle the new AI search dimension. SEO isn’t going anywhere. Google Search is the undisputed leader, with around 90% of the global organic search market. And Google itself declared that there can be no AI visibility without good SEO. This is true for the Google ecosystem.”

Prediction 3: many will keep rediscovering SEO fundamentals and apply them to AI search

“Google’s AI mode and AI overviews both rely largely on Googlebot crawling websites and adding the crawled content to Google’s index. And guess what Googlebot needs to efficiently crawl URLs? Good SEO, and specifically good technical SEO.

“Interestingly, Google’s statement will prove accurate not just for Google itself but also for ChatGPT. That’s because the 3 main Open AI crawlers (OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot and ChatGPT-User) also need good website architecture to crawl content. But that’s not all.

“I explained in a past TechRound article that there was a circular relationship between search engine results and LLMs such as ChatGPT or Claude. Because AI crawlers aren’t as powerful as Googlebot, they heavily rely on Google’s organic search results.

“Over time, I expect LLMs to build their own indexes, which they are actively working on right now, but in the meantime, they will continue to rely on Bing and Google’s search results to deliver better AI answers.”

 

Nikolay Krastev, SEO Consultant, nikolaykrastev.com

 

 

“In 2026, instead of traditional keyword stuffing, we will see the rise of semantic spoofing, using AI to manually inject high-weight entities into machine-readable layers like CSS-hidden divs and schema markup to trick AI Overviews. Programmatic PBNs will evolve into “agentic networks” that simulate human-like engagement and multi-platform social proof to manufacture the E-E-A-T signals search engines now prioritise. This high-velocity strategy focuses on “ranking and banking” by exploiting the lag between AI-driven content production and Google’s enforcement capabilities.”

 

Jenna Guarneri, CEO and Founder, JMG Public Relations

 

 

“Founders and spokespeople will increasingly rank alongside brands: Personal credibility is becoming a powerful SEO signal. Founders and executives with active media presence and engaged social followings often rank faster and more credibly than brand pages alone. This is happening because people-driven narratives are easier for search engines to validate. Brands should invest in executive visibility as part of their SEO strategy.

“GEO will reward credibility over clever optimization: Generative Engine Optimization will prioritise brands that demonstrate real experience, not just technical SEO fluency. As AI engines decide which voices to include in answers, they will favor sources that show depth, history, and authority across multiple trusted environments. This is happening because users expect AI-generated responses to be accurate and reliable. Brands should invest in expert-led content, media validation, and reputation-building rather than keyword manipulation or trend-driven tactics.

“Original thinking will stand out as AI content becomes ubiquitous: As AI-generated content becomes the norm, originality will become a differentiator. GEO will favor insights that feel lived-in, opinionated, and grounded in real experience rather than generalized summaries. This is happening because audiences can already access surface-level information instantly; what they value now is interpretation and guidance. Brands should lean into unique perspectives, lessons learned, and real-world examples that AI can’t easily replicate.

“Social proof will directly influence search visibility: Social content is now surfacing directly in search results, making engagement a visible credibility signal rather than a background one. When posts generate saves, comments, and meaningful conversation, they signal relevance and trust to both users and search engines. This shift is happening because search platforms want to surface content that real people are actively engaging with. Brands should prioritize thoughtful interaction, community-driven posts, and shareable insights that invite response, rather than chasing short-lived viral moments.”

 

Kevin Heimlich, Founder and CEO, The Ad Firm

 

 

“Zero click searches are expected to represent 70% of all search volume, Google’s AI summaries that answer user questions currently do so without requiring the user to visit a website, and we can expect to see this trend expand significantly as we reach 2026. As a result, the way you approach marketing needs to be significantly different when your focus is to get your brand included in the summary (and therefore receive the same level of exposure as if you were answering) rather than just sending traffic to your website.

“When your primary focus is brand inclusion in an AI generated answer, the entire strategy behind how you market your business changes. Keyword optimization has been replaced by entity based search. When searching for a bakery in Austin, Google no longer matches keywords such as “breakfast”, “spots” or “downtown” but rather the relationship of the business to these terms. Therefore, a bakery in Austin receives a ranking when someone types into their device “best breakfast spots near downtown” even though they never used the exact term “bakery” or any of its derivatives on their site. Creating your entity profile through the use of consistent NAP citations, reviews and contextual references to your business is now more important than traditional on-page SEO.

“We can also expect voice search queries to comprise 55% of all searches. Users are asking their devices full questions, and therefore websites that have been optimized for conversational search queries will dominate. This means shifting your focus from optimising for the search query “kitchen remodel cost” to targeting “what is the average cost to remodel a kitchen in Orange County.”

“Traditional SEO has always had a separate identity from local SEO. For years Google has prioritized the location of a business and the most current availability of information to the user over domain authority for local searches. A three month old business with updated Google Business listings and new reviews will rank higher than competitors who continue to list their profile as static.”

 

Hady Hadjiany, CEO, TicTacToeFree

 

 

“From my perspective and in-depth belief, 2026 will be an even more challenging year for SEO specialists. More and more informational searches will end up answered directly by AI, which means fewer clicks to websites. As a result, competition for the remaining share of organic traffic will become even more fierce.

“I don’t think “search everywhere optimization” would bring the same traffic as Google and Bing. The primary goal of AI is to provide complete answers independently on its own side, rather than directing users to external websites. Only strong and trusted brands will be able to maintain visibility in this new era of search. Building brand authority and finding alternative traffic channels will become the key priorities for SEO pros in the coming year.”

 

Steven Athwal, CEO and Founder, The Big Phone Store

 

 

“We’ve already seen AI Overviews reduce click-through on a lot of informational searches. 2026 SEO needs to plan for fewer clicks and win on being the cited source, not just the top blue link, if companies haven’t already begun optimising for not just overviews, but also AI assistants (like ChatGPT agent) they’re going to struggle in 2026.

“AI cares not only about having content that’s easy to crawl and read, but also brand reputation. Getting mentioned across platforms and getting backlinks is now more crucial than ever.”

 

Pilar Lewis, Public Relations Associate, Marketri

 

 

“SEO will no longer be a standalone channel. It will be the outcome of how well a brand performs across PR, content, and authority signals that feed AI systems.

“The new approach of search visibility is transitioning from the keyword-centric approach to that of credibility/source. As AI search becomes the dominant method of search and how people find companies on the internet, AI systems are now rewarding brands that appear consistently in trusted media sources, demonstrate expertise, and provide content which is referenced, cited and reused throughout the internet.

“As a result, we’ll see a shift in focus to whether or not a brand is recognized and trusted by AI algorithms. PR is now going to have a significant impact on SEO. PR will increasingly serve as an enormous ranking signal for brands, as earned media, expert commentary, and bylined articles create and foster how AI systems will evaluate relevance and authority. Brands that use PR as a strategy for visibility and trust rather than just awareness will see greater success than just relying on building backlinks and making on-page changes.”

 

Hazel Andrews-Oxlade, Founder, Creative Content Company

 

 

“I think the single most influential trend in 2026 will be TikTok. It’s been growing in advertising, sellers and users. It’s an opportunity for businesses to gain a huge amount of reach online and attract a new audience too. With the movement to being more personal, it’s a great opportunity to show the real person behind a business too.

“I think the personal side of SEO will grow. TikTok will grow in popularity, as well community pages on Facebook. Local pages on websites targeting local areas and key search terms will see a huge growth as people want to buy local. Businesses that support the local community and talk about this through their website and social media will back these local searches and local SEO.

“I believe that people went in hard with AI for their businesses and to boost SEO. Now there is a step back from that. Business owners want to show ‘real people’ and ‘real businesses’ because that’s what consumers want to see. This means that a lot more people in business are creating videos and using their own photos. Blogs are being written by real people without just taking them straight from AI.

“I always say that people buy people. I believe that will continue to be clear to see. There has been a real growth in local people buying local and supporting the local community. I believe this means there will be focus on local SEO and local search terms.”