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Digital Marketing Trends 2026 - What The Experts Are Saying

  • Writer: Sean Barber
    Sean Barber
  • Jan 1
  • 5 min read


TL;DR


  1. “Search Everywhere” becomes the default go-to-market model

  2. “Presence + preference” beats “rankings + clicks”

  3. Visibility becomes the KPI, not traffic

  4. Trust signals: authentic expertise and “proof” content win

  5. Agentic era: optimisation shifts from “influencing” to “executing”

  6. Technical fundamentals matter more (not less) in an AI-search world

  7. Publishers: brand/entity strategy + UX become survival factors

  8. Multi-platform budgets and planning get rebalanced

  9. AI visibility tooling consolidates; winners tie measurement to execution



  1. “Search Everywhere” becomes the default go-to-market model


“SEO” becomes less about one algorithm and more about multi-platform discoverability (Google + TikTok + YouTube + Reddit + LLMs + marketplaces). The practical shift is organisational: teams stop treating SEO as a channel and start treating it as distribution + brand presence across discovery surfaces.


"Brands winning will treat search as multi-platform, building consistent positioning and valuable content across Google, LLMs, social search, and beyond." - Pat Ahern, Growth Strategist at Intergrowth


Ashley Liddell - Co Founder at Deviation, said “search everywhere optimization,” and that is the perfect approach for the mindset needed to continue in the next level of SEO. It might be TikTok, YouTube, Google, ChatGPT, or Reddit. Most likely, it’s a combination of all of these. - Search Engine Journal



2. “Presence + preference” beats “rankings + clicks”


AI answers pull together what the web “agrees” on. That makes off-site signals (reviews, community discussion, creator coverage, brand mentions) disproportionately important. Your on-site content still matters, but it increasingly functions as: (a) a trusted reference source for machines and (b) a conversion/validation layer for humans.


“AI doesn’t reward optimisation, it rewards presence and preference at scale.” - Deviation


“ Looking ahead to 2026, SEO is going to feel very different. It is no longer just about ranking pages; it is about being the source AI trusts and uses.” - Kelly-Anne Crean - Head Of Operations at Koozai



3. Visibility becomes the KPI, not traffic


With more zero-click and AI-mediated journeys, “traffic” is less diagnostic as a standalone KPI. Teams move toward composite reporting: visibility in AI features + brand preference + assisted conversions + demand capture, backed by better instrumentation.


“SEO will shift from traffic to visibility, emphasise enhanced E-E-A-T, and require closer collaboration between SEO and UX." - Smit Joshi, Founder at This Rapt



  1. Trust signals: authentic expertise and “proof” content win


As generic AI content floods the web, audiences (and ranking systems) lean harder into experience, provenance, clarity, and expert contribution. The winners publish fewer “meh” pages and more credible assets that carry real-world proof.


"2026 is going to be a year where trust and delivering genuine value is absolutely critical to audiences."  - Chloe Price, Digital Marketing Specialist at Loom Digital


“As AI content proliferates, Google will rely on signals that can’t be faked: expertise, author identity, brand depth, and trustworthy references.” - Arghyadip Chakraborty, Founder & SEO Specialist at Growth Outreach Lab



  1. Agentic era: optimisation shifts from “influencing” to “executing”


AI moves from answering questions to taking actions (research, comparing, booking, buying). That changes competitive advantage: brands need machine-readable offers, clean feeds, and fewer conversion bottlenecks — because agents won’t tolerate friction.


"2026 marks the beginning of the ‘Agentic Era,’ where AI stops just consuming the web and starts writing to it.” - Kevin Indig 


“One critical area I wouldn’t overlook is agentic AI and the development of closed systems completing actions for users. Think booking a holiday, personal shopping for a styled wardrobe, or buying your food shop based on a specific diet. When that happens, you need to ensure you are in the game and included in those closed spaces. Start learning about this now.” - Shelley Walsh, Managing Editor at Search Engine Journal



  1. Technical fundamentals matter more (not less) in an AI-search world


 If retrieval systems can’t reliably parse your site, you simply don’t make it into the candidate set. Expect renewed emphasis on clean HTML, crawlability, structured data, and unambiguous entity signals.


“Recommended focusing on foundational elements: strong, clean HTML and using the main priority Schema types to create clarity around page entities.” - Alex Halliday, CEO - AirOps



  1. Publishers: brand/entity strategy + UX become survival factors


News/publisher SEO gets squeezed hardest: AI reduces clicks, while user attention fragments. The counter is brand recognition, entity ownership, strong topical strategy, and UX that converts loyal audiences (not just search visitors).


"Publishers will need to realign their organic search growth and content strategy to maximize brand and entity recognition across platforms — wherever their audience is — in a way that aligns with their topical authority and USP (unique selling point). Some publishers will also need to rethink their user experience to ensure they provide a delightful web experience, which unfortunately remains a major challenge for many publications."  - Aleyda Solis


"Google search referrals will likely never be what they once were, but they won’t disappear entirely." - Alexia LaFata, Senior SEO Manager at Vox Media



 8. Multi-platform budgets and planning get rebalanced


If discovery is happening across many surfaces, strategy (and spend) follows. This is where many brands will underperform: they’ll keep funding “Google-only” while outcomes are being decided earlier elsewhere.


"The SEO industry is spending $67bn every single year optimising for just ONE platform - Google.


And we’ve just analysed 1.5 billion searches and found if that's ☝️you, you’re missing out on 60% of the opportunity to be discovered.  The average consumer uses 3.6 platforms, and 97 interactions before buying and we’ve just mapped out 9000 of these search journeys" - Rise At Seven



  1. AI visibility tooling consolidates; winners tie measurement to execution


A lot of “AI visibility trackers” appear; many won’t survive unless they’re attached to workflow and outcomes. The tools that last either: (a) bundle into bigger suites, or (b) connect insight → action (fixing, shipping, publishing)


 "I forecast an “Extinction Event” in Q3 2026 for the standalone AI visibility tracking category. Rather than a simple consolidation." - Kevin Indig



Sources Included:


 
 
 
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