SEO in 2026

Maryanna Franco shares that citation visibility is very 2025. In 2026 SEO can only move the needle by building stronger brand–category co-occurrence and contextual signals, because being part of AI's bibliography doesn't mean being part of its shortlist. Discussion points include: The Citation Fallacy: Why being cited in an AI response's bibliography is entirely different from being recommended, and how a high volume of citations can create a dangerously misleading illusion of true brand visibility. Co-Occurrence vs. Topical Authority: How establishing strong brand–category co-occurrence connects your entity directly to the exact commercial category you want to dominate, moving far beyond generic topical authority. The Content Volume Trap: Why publishing thousands of pages demonstrating expertise no longer guarantees a spot on AI's shortlist when a buyer asks for recommendations in your category. The Power of External Validation: The crucial role of third-party mentions in forging unbreakable category associations when your brand, expertise, and category consistently appear together across the wider web. Mastering Query Fan-Out: How AI search behavior deconstructs user intent into a wide web of sub-queries, requiring your brand to maintain contextual relevance across the entire conceptual tree rather than just optimizing for a single head term. Redefining Performance Metrics: Why modern SEO measurement must sharply distinguish between being referenced as a background source, being passively mentioned, and actually securing a spot among recommended market leaders.

Kseniya Dvarakouskaya says that the biggest mistake in international SEO in 2026 is treating localization as the last step — real ranking growth in new markets starts with local keyword research from scratch, not translating what already works in English. Talking points include: Why translation is not localization when it comes to SEO — and where teams lose ranking potential - What local keyword research actually looks like (native speakers, local SERPs, market-specific search intent) - Cultural differences in search behavior — examples from Japanese, Korean, German, Spanish markets - Common mistakes: word-for-word translation of English keywords, ignoring local competitors, mixing Simplified and Traditional Chinese, using LATAM Spanish for Spain - Real case: what changes when the localization team is involved from day one vs at the end of the launch - How localization teams and SEO teams should collaborate in practice

In YMYL spaces like health, misinformation isn't just an SEO problem — it's a user safety problem. Macmillan Cancer Support shares how they proactively fight misinformation while staying visible in an AI-driven, zero-click search world. Talking points include: - Why is misinformation especially dangerous in YMYL sectors like health? - How does Macmillan approach content strategy proactively rather than reactively? - Which E-E-A-T signals matter most for building trust at scale? - How do you issue corrections without undermining user confidence? - How do you stay visible in AI-summarised, zero-click results? - What tools help you catch misinformation trends early? Read the full transcript of Sean's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2026/additional-insights/sean-barber

Carlos Manuel Sánchez Donate shares that sitemaps are often treated as an afterthought, but they're a direct line of communication with both search engines and LLMs about what matters on your site. Splitting and customizing them by content type can unlock better crawl visibility and sharper Search Console auditing. Talking points: - Why do you think sitemaps are so underrated in SEO today? - How exactly do sitemaps help LLMs understand a site better than llms.txt? - What's your process for splitting content into separate sitemaps? - Any real example where sitemap segmentation improved indexing or visibility? - How do segmented sitemaps make Search Console auditing easier? - What's a common sitemap mistake you see sites making? Read the full transcript of Carlos's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2026/additional-insights/carlos-sanchez-donate

Jenna Hannon suggests that you forget keywords. AEO is about going deep: build public documentation on your site that answers every specific question a prospect might ask at each stage of the buying journey. Key talking points: What sort of public documentation are you referring to? How do you know the specific questions that your prospects might ask? How do you prioritise the questions to answer? How do you know the volume and type of content required to answer a question? How do you know how the questions map to the different stages of the buyer journey? How do you go about mapping the answers? Read the full transcript of Jenna's interview at https://majestic.com/seo-in-2026/additional-insights/jenna-hannon Watch the original SEOin2026 series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOr75FiG9ta37FH130S-qu3H9N0h7Ly0I Watch more SEOin2026: Additional Insights: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOr75FiG9ta3j5bYmsVBggEsBxwhGSX41

Juliette van Rooyen shares that we need to make sure categories and labels are clearly understood by AI & Search engines by adding a machine-readable layer that maps them to the entities and taxonomies the web already knows & trusts.

Talking points include:

What is a translation layer beneath your site?

Why is it important to make sure your categories and labels are clearly understood by AI & Search engines?

What does a "translation layer" mean, in practical terms?

Why is this "translation layer" important enough to spend resources on?

What data sources should you be mapping to?

Does this apply just to eCommerce websites?

Irwin Hau shares that SEO gets the click, but trust gets the conversion.

Talking points include:

What do you mean by trust gets the conversion?

Why do most websites fail despite strong SEO?

What do you mean by the psychology behind trust and user behavior?

How is AI changing search but not human decision-making?

What are the subtle credibility mistakes hurting conversions?

What are some small website changes that can dramatically improve results?

Jean-Marc Courtiade talks about the importance of going back to roots analysis thanks to consent-free analytics tools.

Talking points include:

What is a consent-free analytics tool?

When is consent required?

What data can we obtain on a consent-free basis?

What countries is this relevant to? How do you blend all the data together to produce a complete picture?

Is there still a place for asking for consent for certain data or is it not worth it?

Astley Cervania talks about the importance of making sure that content quality is high across every page on your website. Talking points include:

- The importance of maintaining your website and not just always prioritizing building out new content - Search engines don't evaluate pages in isolation

– algorithm updates expose quality inconsistencies across your entire domain, so strong blog content alone won't compensate for neglected landing pages or thin programmatic content elsewhere on the site

- Every page needs to earn its place, meaning addressing real search intent, writing that resonates, having a genuine POV, and a clear connection to a business outcome (e.g., user signups)

- The practical takeaway: before focusing on building out lots of new content, look at what you already have. Prune what adds no value, revamp what's gone stale, and make sure every page on your site would pass your own quality bar.

Sara Warneryd shares the importance of shifting from Google clicks to multi-platform discovery. Talking points include:

*Understanding Search as Discovery: Why user journeys are shifting from a single Google search to multi-platform exploration, and what this means for your brand.

* Creating content for the platforms, not the click: How to format your knowledge so it delivers full value directly on Reddit, TikTok, or YouTube, keeping users engaged where they are.

* Mapping High-Impact Sources: How to identify and prioritize the influential channels where your audience actually seeks advice