SEO Predictions for 2026

The world of SEO is constantly changing, and whether you’re a seasoned search pro or looking to up your game in 2026, we’re here to help. At Summit, our SEO services are a huge part of helping our clients reach their audience, and we’re always on the lookout for new ways to grow their sites. 

December 2025 saw the latest Google Search core update, meaning many sites have seen volatile changes to positions and visibility as we head into 2026. If you’re looking to take on new SEO tactics to regain your rankings in the new year or just interested in finding out what’s happening in one of the most cutting-edge digital marketing channels, you’ve come to the right place. 

Join us as we explore what the future might hold for SEO in 2026, and what it means for you.  

What Did We Learn in 2025?

2025 was a huge year for those who work in search as users began to incorporate more elements of AI into their online activities, both inside and outside of Google’s infrastructure. Here are a few highlights from the world of SEO in 2025 to help you understand what to expect as we enter 2026. 

• Google’s AI Overviews (AIOs) continued to spread across SERPs all over the internet with the feature reaching 2 billion monthly users.  

• No-click searches became more prevalent with users receiving their desired information on the results page itself in AI overviews, with 60% of searches now resulting in no click. 

• ChatGPT grew to 700 million weekly users, presenting a major challenger in the world of search. OpenAI also introduced ChatGPT Shopping to provide users with a deeper comparison experience. 

• Google AI Mode rolled out across the world to compete with ChatGPT’s growing influence, allowing users to complete detailed searches straight from the usual SERP. 

Our Predictions for SEO in 2026

2026 is set to be an extremely interesting year for SEO which will likely present marketers with plenty of questions like how to maximise web performance. From the continued rise of AI searches to new methods of optimising content, the SEO landscape is likely to keep changing.  

While we haven’t got our crystal ball handy, here’s what we think 2026 might look like for SEO.  

AI Will Continue to Be the Biggest Story in Search

Perhaps the biggest prediction for 2026 is the prominence of AI platforms and features across search experiences. While some experts have predicted that it may take another ten years for AI search traffic, mainly from AI SERPs and LLMs, to overtake traditional platforms, the growth of AI searches is certainly unlikely to slow down in 2026. Let’s look at a few of the specific ways that AI will impact SEO in the next year, and beyond: 

The Importance of Technical SEO is Going to Grow

Your site appearing across AI Overviews, AI Mode and ChatGPT is about to be crucial in terms of visibility. This means AI needs to be able to view your pages and read your content. A huge part of this is determined by the technical elements of your pages, and although strong technical SEO has always been important, the demand for well-built sites will only grow. 

• Page speed, crawlability, and site structure are all essential parts of traditional SEO but will likely also impact how AI platforms view your pages and use your content. 

• Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) tags will become even more important across all websites. ARIA tags are often used to provide assistive technologies e.g. screen readers about the function of web elements. However, they can also be used to tell AI bots how your website works.  

• Structured data may help to provide AI platforms with more information about how your site works. Using schema markups can provide content clarity and make it easier to cite in AI summaries and overviews. 

CTR Will Continue to Decline as AI Overviews Spread

In 2025, AI Overviews began to spread all across Google’s results pages, providing users with detailed information before they’d even clicked on a page. We predict that their prevalence will only grow in 2026, spreading to more SERPs and resulting in even more zero-click searches. Impressions may well stay the same, but your CTR (click-through rate) may drop as users get their desired answer before visiting your page. 

For marketers, this is going to mean appearing in AI Overviews is more vital than ever to ensure users continue visiting your site. By targeting exact user queries through FAQs and similar structures across your site, and providing accurate, direct answers, your content will better match the content displayed across AIOs. 

It’s likely that sites will also begin to track alternative metrics as clicks continue to drop. Most vital to this will be tracking your site’s appearances in AI searches as a key metric of SEO performance.  

SEO, GEO and AEO Will All Fall Under One Unified Strategy

Throughout 2025, you’ll have heard these three terms thrown around by search professionals, with each term warranting its own best practices. SEO is the traditional practice of creating content which will appear on SERPs. GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) is a similar concept but revolves around optimising said content to appear in ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs), whereas AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) looks to target AI Overviews and answer user queries directly.  

While at the moment, many SEO professionals may be treating these as three separate tactics, often revisiting old content to ensure it’s relevant in the world of GEO and AEO, we think this might change in 2026. In order to succeed going forward, marketers will need to think about all three strategies as one.  

At Summit, we believe that success in this area will be by bringing these together, keeping your customer at the centre and then tweaking for GEO/AEO. From including FAQs at the end of content for AEO, to using intent-rich H2 and H3 titles throughout your content, incorporating elements of AI search and organic optimisations into your work will see your site grow across the web.  

Local SEO Will Become Vital for Businesses

While AI search platforms may continue to provide users with more detailed, richer results, there is one aspect of SEO they still struggle with: local information. A quick Google search of ‘best restaurants near me’ will provide you with detailed results, including images, reviews and an interactive map, whereas the same search on ChatGPT simply provides you with a list of options.  

Not only do we think ChatGPT and other AI search platforms will adopt a Google-like local search result, appearing in them will be more important. As AI Overviews and expanded paid search snippets push organic ranking sites down the results pages, the local information packs which appear at the top of these rankings will become a big source of clicks for businesses. 

An up-to-date Google Business Profile and presence across review aggregators, such as Trustpilot, will be key for businesses looking to appear in these local snippets.  

Search Will Become a Multi-Platform Experience Including Social Media

2025 was a highly competitive year for retailers, faced with shoppers who’re visually shopping more than ever, with 78% using social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook to find out about brands and products. This means that it’s still vital that your brand is visible on social platforms, but we also think that in 2026, presence on social media platforms will also be vital for organic web SEO. 

Instagram posts have already begun to appear in Google search results in 2025, and we expect their presence to only grow. By creating a cohesive presence across your site and social profiles, you’ll increase your chances of ranking while giving customers more places to start their customer journey. 

Top Tips for Improving Your SEO in 2026

1. Become a leading voice: Create credible, authoritative content which not only matches user search intent with relevant long-tail keywords but provides depth and detail to be cited in AI searches.
2. Quality over quantity when it comes to content: In 2026, AI content creation will grow, with sites able to churn out long-form articles in a matter of minutes. For search ranking, and for your audience, the quality of the content, and its value, will become more important than simply flooding your site with as much content as possible.
3. Understand your audience: With traditional metrics such as clicks and sessions seemingly not reflecting how we will be searching in 2026, understanding your audience’s online relationship with your brand will be key. What questions do they have? Where are they interacting with you? What do they need?
4. Look at how your website works: Internal linking opportunities, detailed sitemaps, and site navigation changes will all be vital for ensuring that both traditional search engines and LLMs can find your content and understand it.

If you’re looking to take your SEO strategies to the next level, speak with the Summit team today and discover how you can stay ahead in search in 2026 and beyond. 

We will be hosting a “Staying Visible In 2026” webinar on Tuesday 24th February at 11am GMT.

Sign up now and learn how you can adapt and continue to drive organic growth in this changing landscape.