Aleyda Solís - Technical SEO in the AI Search Era in 2026: The Shifts, Trends and What to Do About Them

1. Tech SEO in the AI Search Era The Shifts, Trends and What to Do About Them By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
2. Welcome to the (fine) state of search in 2026 By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
3. We’re all (yet again) living unprecedented times By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
4. It’s unsurprising given organic search traffic trends across verticals SIMILARWEB
5. GOOGLE CAN ONLY BLAME THEMSELVES, their serps & ai interface FOR THIS By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
6. Yes, it’s possible to develop an open web friendly ai assistant, yahoo did it By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
7. And it’s not only organic search traffic decline, ai has brought to seo a new wave of horror stories https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7522376123230388224/
8. Want a bit of comfort? at least ai hasn’t changed core tech seo execution issues https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
9. But wait… AI has brought new crazy tech seo challenges too “Some clients now tend to trust AI recommendations over ours, even though ours come from real experience.” Anonymous tech SEO https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
10. AI search. AI automations. Agentic search. How’s all really impacting tech seos in 2026? … and how to succeed navigating THESE SHIFTS? By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
11. I’ve got the answers thanks to seofomo’s state of tech seo survey. Let’s go through the major trends! https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
12. 1. AI is saving time in auditing & repetitive tasks The challenge? AI output quality control is an issue & implementation support still A major bottleneck By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
13. 58% say that ai has changed significantly or more the way they do tech seo https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
14. Claude is now the 4th top technical seo tool after screaming frog, gsc and ahrefs https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
15. AI is mainly used for audit & crawl analysis, reporting, writing tickets, specifications & code https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
16. The biggest AI impact has been faster audits, less time on repetitive tasks, & new monitoring needs https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
17. HOWEVER, ensuring ai accuracy & quality is now the biggest tech seo challenge https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
18. That’s why only 5% of seos have allowed ai to apply changes without human approval https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
19. AI execution needs workflow integration, guardrails, Quality alignment, or it will backfire https://lilyraynyc.substack.com/p/it-works-until-it-doesnt-ai-content-risks
20. Using ai can enhance SEO execution but isn’t an alternative for lack of dev support https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2vwC2kvlSs
21. Adoption is changing fast though, so this will definitely improve https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
22. tracking errors rates and Building learning loops should help! https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
23. Despite this, 84% seos say ai has allowed them to spend less time in the tasks they use it https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
24. But Still today, dev capacity, competing priorities & CMS limitations are the top barriers for execution https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
25. Securing approvals & coordinating execution stay among the biggest tech seo challenges https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
26. Ai has accelerated analysis but hasn’t yet solved IMPLEMENTATION https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
27. 2. tech SEO is getting HIGHER priority but with constraints The challenge? STAKEHOLDERS OVER-focus on AI, overlooking seo pillars, adding pressure to prove impact & value of expertise By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
28. 86% say technical SEO receives the same or more priority than a year ago https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
29. 56% consider it highly or extremely impactful vs other SEO activities https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
30. HOWEVEr, stakeholders’ AI enthusiasm leads them to question foundational SEO work https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
31. While over-relying on ai advice at the expense of expert judgement https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
32. Never mind ai traffic & revenue is a fraction of organic one SIMILARWEB
33. STILL TODAY, only 28% of seos get +80% of tech seo recommendations implemented https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
34. So Proving tech seo business impact has become even more critical for buy-in https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
35. We need to better communicate value of tech seo for ai search & beyond https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
36. 3. AI SEARCH IS EXPANDING THE WORK too FAST The challenge? Changes are happening so QUICK that makes it very hard to reliably measure and show impact By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
37. Keeping pace with AI SHIFTS has become one of the top tech seo challenges https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
38. This spans from the need to develop practical ai skills & workflows… https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
39. …to new tasks like AI crawling, ai visibility tracking & content retrieval optimization https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
40. This might explain how structured data and llms.txt are among the top ai search implementations https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
41. It’s key to proactively test assumptions to prioritize efforts FOR IMPACT https://www.linkedin.com/posts/markseo_seo-share-7363511167496970240-4Vqy/ https://ahrefs.com/blog/schema-ai-citations/
42. Giving Llms.txt & js the same priority shows we haven’t learned https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
43. Maybe you want to use a cats.txt instead? This proves we need to better assess what we prioritize https://markwilliamscook.substack.com/p/how-catstxt-showed-llmstxt-evidence
44. It’s not only llms.txt, “AI only” info in general creates a governance & trust problem https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-we-should-fear-the-shadow-web-were-building-for-ai/593930/
45. Despite these challenges, 67% expect aI to have positive impact in their tech seo career https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
46. ai makes tech seo more efficient and impactful when used properly https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
47. The agentic era is going to need more tech know-how too https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
48. How can we address these top tech seo challenges in 2026? 1. EXECUTION BOTTLENECK 2. PRESSURE TO PROVE VALUE to decision makers OVER-FOCUSED on AI SEARCH 3. CHALLENGES TO reliably measure & show impact due to fast pace By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
49. CONTEXT iswe different butthese Note how How can address top these seo are not really new!in 2026? tech challenges 1. EXECUTION BOTTLENECK 2. PRESSURE TO PROVE VALUE to decision makers OVER-FOCUSED on AI SEARCH 3. CHALLENGES TO reliably measure & show impact due to fast pace By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
50. Let’s go through a few actionable tips to tackle theSE top tech seo challenges today By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
51. TO ACCELERATE TECHNICAL SEO EXECUTION IN THE SHORT-TERM 1. Ruthless prioritization tied to business goals decision makers care about 2. Coordination with existing initiatives & campaigns from other areas with funding. Eg. social media & community mgmt 3. Alignment with ai search goals that will get easier support & buy-in By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
52. Ai has made impossible to work on a silo, & we should align efforts https://speakerdeck.com/aleyda/what-gets-cited-and-clicked-in-ai-answers-today-dot-dot-dot-and-what-should-we-do-about-it-masters-of-search
53. FOR LONG TERM TECHNICAL SEO IMPLEMENTATION SUCCESS 1. EVANGELIZE & Embed SEO earlier and create SEO champions inside PRODUCT & engineering 2. Make recommendations implementation ready: use ai to send code snippets examples, rather than long specifications 3. Leverage edge seo to prove value with pilot projects and tests By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
54. Check my preso about seo alignment with product for faster execution https://speakerdeck.com/aleyda/how-to-align-seo-within-the-product-triangle-to-get-buy-in-and-support-number-rimc
55. To demonstrate value to decision makers and get buy-in faster 1. Build business cases in revenue/risk language, not tech SEO terminology 2. Connect every tech request to both traditional and AI search outcomes. Eg. Reliance on JS rendering. 3. Show examples of industry leaders / competitors doing what you’re recommending By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
56. use ai interest to your advantage in an honest & impactful way By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
57. To MEASURE & SHOW VALUE: stop only using rankings, traffic & conversions AI SEARCH VISIBILITY BRAND RECALL DIRECT CLICK CHECKOUT & AGENTIC COMMERCE AI SEARCH TRAFFIC DECISION IN AI PLATFORM PURCHASE IN AI PLATFORM OFF PLATFORM INFLUENCE INDIRECT & MULTI-TOUCH WEBSITE VISIT AI SEARCH REVENUE By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
58. The old organic search measurement model has broken with AI answers Traditional Search AI Search Ranked list Synthesized answers Stable position Volatile outputs Click-first Influence without clicks One-engine mindset Platform fragmentation Performance driven Performance & brand influence By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
59. search acts as a decision engine, and is both a branding & performance channel now By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
60. AI is concentrated in the middle of the journey & search spans it too https://www.similarweb.com/corp/the-state-of-ecommerce-2026/
61. The AI traffic & revenue shown in your analytics is just the floor By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
62. SADLY, Google search console Gen AI dashboard is not helpful to assess real impact at all Google Search Console
63. Openai hasn’t bothered to provide a dashboard to brands even if they want to compete w/ goog https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1025482/openai-says-chatgpt-is-catching-up-to-google-in-search
64. Only ms is giving useful AI crawling & performance insights MICROSOFT BING AND CLARITY
65. Fill the measurement gap by tying AI presence, readiness & biz impact Metric Layer Why it matters KPI Roles 1. Presence Are you actually appearing, and how? Replaces traffic-only thinking with visibility and representation measurement Visibility KPIs Optimization and monitoring 2. Readiness Are you structurally prepared to be surfaced? Explains why visibility is weak, strong, or unstable; the diagnostic layer Diagnostic KPIs Diagnosis and prioritization 3. Business Impact Are visibility and readiness translating into value? Connects AI search activity to commercial outcomes without overclaiming attribution Outcome KPIs Executive reporting and decision-making https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/ai-search/a-3-layer-framework-to-measure-ai-presence-readiness-and-business-impact-redefining-metrics-for-the-ai-search-era/
66. The outcome allows to tie AI visibility to sales for key topics Eg. for Prompt “Women’s straight-leg jeans under $100” 1. Presence: Identify the gap 2. Readiness: Diagnose and act 3. Business impact: Measure the outcome The product line rarely wins relevant shopping recommendations. For prompts such as “Best women’s straight-leg jeans under $100,” it appears in 40% of answers, receives a store link in 25% of appearances, and wins 10% of relevant comparisons. The audit finds missing fit details, outdated prices and limited independent reviews of this line. Add rise, inseam, stretch and sizing guidance; synchronize prices and availability across product pages and feeds; pursue independent reviews testing these jeans’ fit and quality. Following improvements: linked citation rate rises 25% to 50% and comparative win rate 10% to 30%. What this means: The jeans are occasionally included, but shoppers are more often directed toward competing products. What to prioritize: Help AI systems and shoppers verify which jeans match their fit, budget and purchase requirements. How to interpret it: More recommendations and links coincide with higher tracked sales for this line. Purchases of this line in tracked AI referred sessions rise 12 to 28; at an $80 average selling price, attributed product revenue rises $960 to $2,240. Searches for “[brand] women’s straight-leg jeans” rising 12% provide a supporting proxy; they don’t prove AI caused the growth. https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/ai-search/a-3-layer-framework-to-measure-ai-presence-readiness-and-business-impact-redefining-metrics-for-the-ai-search-era/
67. For biz, start using proxy & modeled metrics besides observed ones Observed Question: How many users clicked and converted from an AI answer? Metrics from platforms passing a referrer or a UTM. Highest confidence, lowest coverage. Proxy (own & third party) Question: 1. Own: Is there evidence users are seeing us in AI answers even when they do not click? 2. Third Party: How does our AI presence compare to competitors and which prompts are driving AI traffic? Directional signals that correlate with AI influence but do not prove it. Medium to medium-low confidence, broader coverage. Modeled Question: If we assume X% of branded search lift is AI-attributable, what is the implied pipeline? Estimates produced by applying assumptions to observed and proxy data. Lowest confidence, used for planning, never for proof. https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/ai-search/a-3-layer-framework-to-measure-ai-presence-readiness-and-business-impact-redefining-metrics-for-the-ai-search-era/
68. Proxy signals can fill in some of the ceiling: there should be a pattern consistent with AI efforts Category How to do it Branded search trend GSC query report filtered to brand terms, or the native branded/non-branded toggle. Track week-over-week and month-over-month. Direct and unattributed traffic trend GA4 Direct channel, especially to pages that are not shared in email or paid campaigns. Demand for frequently-surfaced pages Impressions and direct/organic traffic to the pages you have verified are being cited in AI answers. Survey-based discovery One question added to signup, demo, or post-purchase flows Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance First-party citation counts, cited URLs, and grounding queries for Microsoft Copilot and Bing AI summaries. The only first-party citation data available from any AI ecosystem today. Social listening on brand mentions in AI-adjacent contexts Reddit, LinkedIn, Slack communities where “has anyone used X?” conversations happen. https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/ai-search/a-3-layer-framework-to-measure-ai-presence-readiness-and-business-impact-redefining-metrics-for-the-ai-search-era/
69. Eg. A rising “AI assistant” answer in the survey to users attributed to Direct or Branded Organic is the strongest proxy that AI influence exists beyond what analytics shows https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/ai-search/a-3-layer-framework-to-measure-ai-presence-readiness-and-business-impact-redefining-metrics-for-the-ai-search-era/
70. This is also not new! We should incorporate brand marketing methods to assess ai search impact https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aleyda_7-brand-marketing-methods-to-better-measure-share-7521671596042911744-JqLk/
71. There’s more but I’m running out of time: check out my guide with examples, checklists & claude skills https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/ai-search/a-3-layer-framework-to-measure-ai-presence-readiness-and-business-impact-redefining-metrics-for-the-ai-search-era/
72. Is it too difficult to keep up with all the ongoing shifts? Subscribe to seofomo for free to stay updated! https://hub.seofomo.co/
73. It’s possible there’s no onetop How can we and address these better to tackle these challenges tech seo challenges in 2026? 1. EXECUTION BOTTLENECK 2. PRESSURE TO PROVE VALUE to decision makers OVER-FOCUSED on AI SEARCH 3. CHALLENGES TO reliably measure & show impact due to fast pace By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
74. Ai is moving fast but can’t replace experience & judgement of an seo https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/seofomo-technical-seo-survey/
75. Long Live TECH SEO … for [AI Search / AI Mode / ChatGPT / TikTok / YouTube / Baidu / Any Platform Used for SEARCH/DISCOVERY] By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING
76. Thanks! Questions? SEO Consultant & Founder ❏ International SEO Consultant & Founder at Orainti ❏ Co-founder at Finchling ❏ Creator of the SEOFOMO & AI Marketers Newsletters ❏ Maker of LearningAIsearch.com & LearningSEO.io Speaker & Author ❏ Author of SEO, Las Claves Esenciales ❏ Spoke at +200 events in +30 countries By Aleyda Solis / SEO & AI SEARCH CONSULTANT & FOUNDER at ORAINTI / SEOFOMO / FINCHLING