Monitor, test, and adjust – with Julia-Carolin Zeng
01/06/2026 | 18 mins.
Julia-Carolin Zeng shares some of the key areas that you should be continually monitoring in order to know what to adjust. Julia says: “Monitoring, testing, and adjusting. The search landscape will keep on changing. What we've seen so far in 2025 is nothing yet.” How is the search landscape continuing to change? “Right now, the buzzword in SEO is the ‘great decoupling’, where we see impressions going up and clicks going down. I see it more as a democratisation of the search landscape, with new players in the field now. Google is suddenly getting a lot of competition because people don’t just perform their searches on Google or Bing anymore, as they did historically. There are now all these LLMs out there like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, etc. Google has expanded the AI overviews. They've rolled out AI Mode. I've also suddenly seen quite a significant amount of traffic from Yahoo for some of my clients. We don't yet know where that's coming from. Then there's still DuckDuckGo and Ecosia out there. However, ChatGPT seems to have become the big competitor to Google, even though the actions and searches that are performed in those places aren't exactly equivalent. We've seen a democratisation there, because Google is not the default for everything related to search anymore.”
Embrace change and test relentlessly – with Yordan Dimitrov
29/05/2026 | 14 mins.
Yordan Dimitrov shares that you need to accept constant change in the world of SEO. Just because something works well today doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be trying to improve it for tomorrow. Yordan says: “Embrace change and test relentlessly.” Is there any type of change that we're most likely to have to embrace? “In the last 12 months, there has been so much change within the SEO industry, from AI Mode to AI overviews, dramatically changing how people discover content and brands. We've moved way past the 10 blue links, and people are shifting towards AI-driven answers, zero-click results, and new discovery platforms. To succeed, you need to put yourself into the customer's shoes and explore ways of accessing the tools that are coming up in order to do better testing. It also means putting yourself into your customer’s journey and thinking, ‘Does my brand appear in those AI-powered results? Is my content being cited? How does the format change, and what do I need to do to make sure that I remain visible?’”
Do some testing – with Andrew Cock-Starkey
28/05/2026 | 16 mins.
One of the keys to continually enhancing your SEO performance is to keep on testing, shares Andrew Cock-Starkey. Andrew says: “Test, test, test. Test a lot. Test lots of different things. Do some testing. How do you know what to test? “You don't want to test everything. What I normally advise is testing what your customers use, or what your target customers use. I used to work with a company where the boss would come and say, ‘This doesn't work, the website looks awful on my computer,’ but we couldn't work out what was going on. We were testing all these things, checking in different browsers, and checking on different devices. Eventually, I went into their office, and they were using an extremely old version of Internet Explorer (not even Edge), and they had the magnification set to 150%.
Inclusive language & LLMs: Why what we feed AI matters - with Laura Iancu
27/05/2026 | 16 mins.
Laura Iancu talks about Inclusive language & LLMs and shares why what we feed AI matters. Talking points include: - How LLMs mirrors and multiplies human language - Setting up the core idea: the inputs we give AI systems shape the outputs they produce - How bias enters the system - Frame inclusive language not as “political correctness” but as data quality and system integrity; - End with a brief talk about being an ally to humanity, and how you don't need to relate to other groups to show empathy in your language.
Improve retention and conversion through App Store Optimization – with Filipa Serra Gaspar
26/05/2026 | 16 mins.
One of the non-traditional platforms for SEO is app stores, and this is an opportunity that Filipa Serra Gaspar wishes to highlight. Filipa says: “This year, you should be considering App Store Optimization. Now, in the AI era, it is really important to be in a good position everywhere on the web – not only on traditional search engines. I'm talking about ASO because app stores should not be left behind. You should be doing ASO as part of your activities. Of course, it only applies if the website that you are working on also has an app. If you have an app, this is 100% something that you should be looking at.” Should you create an app just for the additional opportunity to drive traffic into your ecosystem? “It really depends on the area your website is in. I've mainly been working with e-commerce, and I would say the benefits of having an app are quite significant, but it really depends on where you are operating. You shouldn't create an app just for the sake of it, obviously – only if it really makes sense for the business.”
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
Ireland