Tons of buzzwords, but no real clarity on what you need to prioritize in your SEO and digital marketing in 2026? We’re here to help. Here are the four things we’re telling all our clients – and you! – to prioritize to keep the leads flowing in 2026.
1. Develop your unique point of view
AI fatigue will influence who we listen to and why we listen up. How do you attract readers when there are plenty of others who do what you do? How will you stand out among AI slop?
The answer is to be a person that people want to learn from.
Why? You need to keep people on your site once a good SEO strategy brings them there. Interesting, helpful, and memorable content has always played a part in this, but AI Overviews and Claude summaries are replacing basic, “what is” informative content that used to drive traffic. In this landscape, creating truly unique content can help drive visitors.
What does this mean for you? Think about your unique perspective on your industry, and don’t be scared to share it. Start working to hone in on your main talking points — yes, this is part of creating a personal brand — and share them on your blog, in the media, and on social.
2. Invest in your brand
Search engines take your business’s reputation into account when evaluating content. There are a lot of ways to “signal” to search engines and tools like ChatGPT that your brand offers certain services, stands for particular values, or has expertise in a certain community or niche.
Plus, some of the best-quality website traffic you’ll get is from searchers who know you exist and then turn to Google to look for you.
Why? You want search traffic for your brand to go to your website, where you have true visibility into the who, what, and when of your site visitors. That isn’t so cut and dry anymore, though. Business owners need to think about how their brand appears across the internet and ensure those values and talking points align everywhere.
What does this mean for you? Your website is still your top priority, but you need to show up where your customers are, too. Make sure your core values and talking points are defined, and then use that to get your name out across platforms. Think social media, Google Business Profile, and the local community blog as places to build relationships and reputation.
3. Keep your content up to date in your oversharing era
Fresh information wins in 2026.
Why? The evidence is clear: the newer your content, the more likely you are to appear in search engines of all kinds. Study after study shows that ChatGPT in particular prioritizes fresh content.
Think about it from the perspective of the search engine platform. Why would you use their product if the information you received was always outdated or wrong? It’s in their interest to share relevant, accurate, and new information. Help them help you(r customers) and give the search engines what they need. (And to get the most out of your content, we offer content auditing services.)
What does this mean for you? If your website hasn’t been updated in a year or more, take time to make meaningful tweaks to your content. Enter your “oversharing era” and add details to your website, Google Business Profile, and other places. Even if it’s a small detail that only a few people look for, it will help move the needle.
4. Be flexible with the metrics that matter in a zero-click search world
How we measure SEO success will look completely different by the end of 2026.
Traditionally, the success of organic SEO was measured by impressions — how many times your website appeared in search results — and clicks. The significance of both these terms is evolving as the very foundation upon which they’re built shifts under our feet.
Why? We are barreling headfirst into a zero-click world. People are still using Google, but they’re less likely to click as AI Overviews continue to summarize results and affect traffic. There’s no good, authoritative way to track how your site appears in LLMs like ChatGPT, although you can track clicks in Google Analytics.
What does this mean for you? You still need to appear in search results and compete for those top rankings. However, don’t panic if your click through rate (CTR) goes down. Everyone, quite literally, is experiencing this right now, and that’s not likely to change in 2026.
These tactics have always been core SEO principles
We can position these tactics as trends all we want, but the fact is, these have always been important to search engines. Even with Google’s many and frequent changes, a strong brand and good content have always been central to quality website performance for businesses of all sizes.
Then, why the renewed focus? It’s all because of ChatGPT.
Google and large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity share the same best principles. There’s nothing completely different or entirely new about getting your website seen by ChatGPT that you (or your SEO agency) isn’t already doing for Google and other traditional search engines.
Another thing to keep in mind? ChatGPT traffic is still trailing other sources of website traffic. Google accounts for about 90% of all site traffic, while all LLMs, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and others, account for an average of less than 1% total traffic. Yes, this figure will grow, but it will not dwarf Google anytime soon.
Bottom line: Invest in SEO strategies in 2026 that will help you on all platforms
Keep your eye on the prize and plan your SEO strategy for long-term growth in 2026. The four tactics in this blog are going to help you in traditional search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, as well as up-and-coming ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and others. The good news is that everything we talk about in this piece will help you everywhere you want your business to appear this year. And if you need a little guidance to get you where you want to go, schedule a consultation or look into our DIY SEO options.
