SEO Techniques That Are Still Alive in 2026

"The SEO Techniques That Are Still Very Much Alive in 2026", delivered at Search 'n Stuff, London.
The headlines say SEO is dead, GEO is the new SEO, and LLMs have replaced Google. The client data says otherwise. This talk argues that AI search is a retrieval layer sitting on top of organic search, fed by the same foundations SEOs have been building for over a decade, not a separate channel that needs its own shiny acronym.
Backed by real performance data rather than third-party vanity metrics, it works through the techniques still driving growth across traditional search, Google's AI surfaces and the major LLMs: classic on-page SEO, schema and structured data, content architecture, retrieval layer optimisation, machine comprehension versus human appeal, brand building and NavBoost, crawl efficiency, index hygiene and JavaScript renderability. It draws on Cyrus Shepard's Zyppy citation factor research, Ahrefs' AI Overview citation data, Andre Alpar's JS rendering test and Onely's crawl research along the way.
The thesis throughout: AI ready, not AI first. It's like GEO, but better. Long live SEO.
Powered by Whitworth, The Authentic SEO Company.

Transcript

1. SEO Techniques That Are Still Alive in 2026
4. What are SEO techniques?
5. Clients get a lot of SEO jargon thrown at them THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 SEO Auditing The systematic examination of a website's technical health, content, and authority signals to diagnose what's helping or hurting its search visibility SEO Strategy The overarching plan that defines which search opportunities to pursue and how to prioritise them against commercial goals. SEO Methodology The repeatable, principled process you follow to deliver SEO work consistently, regardless of client or campaign SEO Framework The structured model that organises tactics and decisions into a coherent system, turning methodology into something applicable on the ground (for example, AIR SEO) SEO Techniques The specific, hands on tactics you actually execute to move the needle on rankings and revenue. The client may need or like all of the above, but today we’re rolling up our sleeves and talking about the techniques
6. What even is a technique, anyway? THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 technique/tɛkˈniːk/ A technique is a specific method, procedure, or specialised way of performing a task to achieve a desired outcome It heavily involves practical skills, learned knowledge, and the effective use of fundamentals to execute physical, scientific, or artistic activities
7. Things like these are tasks, not techniques THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Your techniques develop as you decide what to do with all of this kind of information I’m not here today to give you silver bullet SEO recommendations, but show you which techniques are working, and will do as organic search continues to change
8. Are these techniques still having impact?
9. I’ve really tried not to make this an “SEO isn’t dead” presentation (promise) THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026
10. Today’s Big Takeaway - A Holistic Organic Search Strategy One Holistic Strategy
11. I’ve been fairly vocal about this stuff, but now the data is proving it THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026
12. But I gave up as this talk is about SEO techniques that still work …and they still work (trust)
13. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 And not just vanity 3rd party metrics, actual performance
14. So what I’m going to give you today isn’t a list of SEO actions THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 It is a framework, built from a range of techniques that we can see from actual performance data for our clients, that are still driving organic growth This is across traditional search, Google’s AI based surfaces and the major LLMs And yes….they respond to techniques that are absolutely SEO
15. Let’s Get Stuck In
16. What are these techniques based on? THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026
17. We’re in the post AI era of search THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Present Day The Post AI Era • AI Powered Analysis • Heavily semantic based • Retrieval Augmented Generation • Multi Modal Understanding The Semantic Era • Semantic Search • Hummingbird, BERT, Neural • Entity Recognition & Knowledge Graphs • Personalisation & Content Awareness 1990s - 2010s Foundations of Search (Traditional Rankings) • Crawling & Indexing • Relevance Ranking • PageRank • Early Quality Assessment 2010s - 2020s
18. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Foundationally, not too much has changed TECHNICAL FOUNDATIONS Crawlability, indexability, speed and structure INTRICATE RESEARCH Audience, market, intent, demand and user behaviour CONTENT STRATEGY Led by search data, accurate, compelling and written for humans PEOPLE FIRST MARKETING The user at the heart, agentic commerce may be coming but generally, we’re optimising for real users BRAND & AUTHORITY BUILDING Authority, trust, recognition Expertise, reputation and advocacy ORGANIC SEARCH FUNDAMENTALS
19. The retrieval layer needs solid search foundations THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 • Strong traditional search foundations make sophisticated AI retrieval possible. • This is how agents and LLMs train themselves on what's worth surfacing. • Weak foundations, tend to result in weak AI search visibility • Strong foundations are already a fantastic start for AI search • This is why many brands are already performing well despite limited “GEO” AI Retrieval (Cited, Summarised, Surfaced) Content (Crawled & Indexed) Search Foundations (Authority, Structure, EEAT)
20. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Recently published citation factors, look familiar? Source: https://signal.zyppy.com/p/ai-citation-ranking-factors
21. AI search is a layer, not a channel THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Legacy The Traditional Search Layer At the heart of the algorithms of traditional search engines such as Google and Bing. Powered by legacy algorithms and for the last decade or so, machine learning Post AI Era The AI Retrieval Layer Powered almost exclusively by algorithms with semantic search foundations AI overviews, Google AI mode, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and other LLMs More onus on synthesis and citation, rather than just pure keyword matching or relevance
22. Semantic search should not be new to you… THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Hummingbird: 2013 Neural & BERT: 2018/19
23. But this has been turned up to 11, in the post AI era THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026
24. Which is why organic strategies should have two “lenses” THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 SEO Lens Classic Keyword Universe Targeting • Search Volume and Classification • Search Intent Analysis • Clustering, Pillars, Spoke & Hub Content • Rank Tracking (still important for a range of reasons even if there is no true “rank”) AI Search Lens Semantic Coverage • Entity & Concept Depth • Fan Out Query Analysis • Passage Level Extractability • Prompt Level Citation Tracking (flawed, but potentially useful) • Topic Level Visibility (more useful)
25. SEO campaigns should still NOT be AI first… THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 AI First • Optimising primarily for LLMs • Chasing a small section of total search demand (currently) • Potentially compromise UX and CRO • Selling clients a shiny new acronym they may not need AI Ready SEO • Solid SEO foundations, ready for AI retrieval • Capture traffic from traditional and AI surfaces • Human first content that converts • Baked into existing SEO campaigns, not a bolt on or upsell
26. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Establish the best techniques for your campaign via a methodology Research Adapt Refine Execute Report Keyword universe, search intent, fan out queries from Google AI, LLM prompt audits (what do the chatbots already know about your brand). Classic SEO research, turbo charged with AI search analysis Technical fixes for crawlability and extractability. Semantic coverage, schema, structure, passage friendly formatting. Adapting keyword universe based on changes in demand and evolving fan out queries. Human led, E-E-A-T first content. Refined utilising brand voice, expertise and actual experience. The refinement layer is the bit that you cannot fake with AI. Depends entirely on human intuition. The key phase of any organic search campaign, implementation. SEO and AI Search treated as one holistic campaign. No duplicated effort or siloed strategies, one AI Ready SEO strategy. Track rankings, traffic, revenue. Also keeping an eye on citations, prompts, AI mentions - but ultimately referral traffic from LLMs and all Google surfaces. Always tied back to the commercial outcome.
27. The Google dance 󰙯 THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Google Says You Don't Need • LLMS.txt files • Special markup • Chunking content for AI • Rewriting content just for AI systems • Chasing inauthentic mentions • Over focusing on structured data Prudent AI Ready SEO Techniques • Useful content for real audiences • Crawlable, indexable foundations • Topical depth • Genuine authority • A brand worth surfacing • Fundamentals that drive revenue All of these have been sound SEO techniques for some time
28. Show Me The Techniques
32. Technique Classic On Page SEO
33. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Migrations are perhaps the best proof that SEO is still fundamental No one likes a bodged migration, but… Elements knocked off: Title Tags, multiple H1s, a lot of advanced structured data for e-commerce and pagination
34. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 And obviously, schema and structured data
35. Technique Content Architecture Optimisation
36. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Content architecture Finding the sweet spot between what is optimal for AI search versus traditional organic search is tricky, and can depend on the type of website Executive Summary Layers • Quick overviews, work well for AI synthesis • Help humans to understand content quickly • Can be harmful if you want users to interact below the fold with ads etc Detailed Explanation Layers • Covers all angles so is rewarded by LLMs • Can rank well for long tail SEO queries • Vital these do not contain waffly filler content Supporting Evidence Layers • Data, citations, examples, technical details • Reinforce authority • Specific information for retrieval systems Practical Application Layers • Connect concepts to real world usage • Case studies, examples and implementation • Aids traditional searches and retrieval systems
37. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Other content structure techniques There are other ways you can technically and creatively look to optimise for both traditional search and retrieval systems. Modular Content Design • Self contained modules • Consistent formatting patterns • Cross reference systems to allow retrieval systems to understand the relationship between different pieces of content Authority Architecture • E-E-A-T demonstration such as author credentials, institutional affiliation and subject matter depth • Citation and reference architecture, to provide sourcing for claims and informational accuracy
38. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 What does this tell us? That the retrieval layer interacts with traditional rankings in practice Authority Amplification As LLMs are presenting information as facts rather than a list of links to choose from, they are most likely more concerned with authority. By this we don’t mean domain authority and backlinks, but more authoritative sources as the LLM does not want to hallucinate or give out false information. Comprehensive Content Long form, comprehensive content performs well due to covering topics from multiple angles. Provided this content is concise and not filler content then it will be rewarded by LLMs and search engines for providing complete answers. Structured Content Boost Clear organisation, consistent formatting and a logical hierarchy is rewarded in traditional search and across LLMs. We see this regularly when our AIR SEO content briefs are adhered to accurately This all supports the logic that the retrieval layer is an enhancement to the legacy search layer, rather than a replacement.
39. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Overall site architecture Sound site architecture is still fundamental to how crawlers can find your website’s most important content Internal PageRank Is Still a Thing As sophisticated as user agents are now, they still need solid site architecture in order to crawl your domain or retrieve passages effectively, this still means: • Menus • Internal Linking Strategy • Content Hubs • Pagination • Homepage carousels • Related content/products/features These are all still a great way to pass equity to key pages, and almost always sees boost in organic visibility when implemented to pages that are well optimised and have demand - and this is always prudent for UX/CRO.
40. Technique Retrieval Layer Optimisation
41. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Retrieval systems
42. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Although these systems apply to AI search They’re information retrieval fundamentals, and many have been since a series of updates spanning back to 2013
43. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 From input to understanding: SEO & AI search 1. Content Ingestion (Preparing It For Analysis) • Text extraction from HTML, PDF etc • Cleansing data • Establishing language and encoding • Content structure analysis (headings, lists etc) Clean HTML, markup, logical structure helps more accurate processing. Solid Technical SEO 2. Linguistic Analysis • Tokenisation • Grammar analysis • Entity recognition: people, places, organisations • Grammatical relationships between words Take this past what words are on the page and analyses how they relate to each other. Solid Onsite SEO 3. Semantic Processing & Embeddings • Contextual embeddings • Chunk level embeddings • Topic modelling • Relationship extraction This determined how your content aligns with different queries and whether it should be retrieved for them. Onus on LLM, Solid Onsite SEO 4. Storage & Indexing • Vector databases • Traditional indexes for keyword retrieval • Metadata for structure and authority information • Update mechanisms to keep this fresh All this needs to be stored, so it can be retrieved efficiently. Onus on LLM, Still Solid Technical SEO ,
44. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 From input to understanding 5. Query Processing & Retrieval • Query analysis • Utilising several retrieval methods • Ranking and fusion combines relevance signals • Context window management When queries arrive, the LLMs then match them against that stored data. This is what determines what content does well in LLMs and what doesn’t Whilst these are retrieval layer fundamentals and not necessarily traditional SEO, this is being rewarded in organic search as Google integrates this into the ecosystem
45. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Vector embeddings This has been a technical SEO buzzword for a while, and rightly so as it can be super effective. Remembering that this means restructuring content purely for bots and agents, and not humans (which has its pitfalls) But this is the layer that allows AI systems to actually understand what your chunks of content actually mean. They are a mathematical representation of meaning, that allow the systems to understand relationships between concepts even if they don’t share the same terms - through the clustering of these concepts I.e Car, automobile, vehicle. This is the sort of technology that allowed algorithms such as BERT and Hummingbird to make the search results more semantic, and is very much how AI systems are powered in terms of understanding. This is when search went from strings, to things
46. Technique Machine Comprehension Vs Human Appeal
47. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Optimising for machines and humans “How Do We Write for Machine Comprehension Without Losing Human Appeal?” We’ve already covered: • Structural clarity • Semantic richness …and these elements should ensure that content is user friendly rather than long form, over SEO’ed articles. And the following will also be rewarded by agents, bots and humans: • Factual accuracy • Verifiability • Advocacy These are also crucial to performing in traditional organic search, due to the correlation with the E-E-A-T framework and search quality guidelines
48. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 E-E-A-T is a framework not a set of ranking factors But now more than ever, it’s principles are the best blueprint to drive performance, not least:
49. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 In fact, could AI search optimisation help clean up SEO mess? After two decades of word count obsession and keyword stuffing, could AI search spur a clean up? Classic SEO Era • “Ultimate Guides” and filler content • Keyword density focus • SEO queries above the fold • Content written for bots, not people Post AI SEO Era • Concise, structured passages (think Wikipedia) • Direct answers and summaries above the fold • Clear entities and definitions • Depth, but only when depth is required
50. Technique Building a Brand, Retention & Engagement
51. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 NavBoost all but confirmed how important brand and being the last click can be A good summary of NavBoost: https://speakerdeck.com/ryanwhiteseo89/navboost-what-the-f-star-percent-k-is-it
52. Technique Crawl Efficiency Optimisation
53. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Tech SEO and crawl efficiency still super important Despite being made less laborious due to AI tooling, technical maintenance and crawl management is still vital More user agents than ever are hitting our servers, making technical SEO maintenance (not least crawl efficiency) more important than ever This is particularly the case for enterprise sites, where crawl budget is a significant consideration Google themselves have stated that we may need to pay closer attention to the crawlers accessing our sites than before
54. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Quickfire technical checks you can do today
55. Technique Index Hygiene Optimisation
56. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Classic SEO reasons for pruning and index hygiene • Stronger embeddings • Less/no keyword cannibalisation • NavBoost related signals • Stronger engagement • AI training on retrieving only high quality and accurate content • Oh..and the user only getting quality results
57. Technique JavaScript Renderability Optimisation
58. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 The same old conversation, one that SEOs need to be a part of Source: https://www.searchengineworld.com/do-ai-assistants-actually-render-your-javascript-when-grounding-we-put-it-to-the-test Source: https://www.onely.com/blog/google-needs-9x-more-time-to-crawl-js-than-html
59. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Some quick checks you can do if you aren’t a JS pro • This is the FIFA site which obviously isn’t too dependent on non brand rankings, but still (99%!) • But this extension is cool as it shows you each element, whether it is CSR or SSR and a nice breakdown of the content type • Great for campaigns and quick analysis for new business prospects Have a go: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/seo-render-insight-tool/ignachbibbeengfepmkeogegpfkigljc
60. Impact A Recent AIR SEO Campaign
61. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Without stats and impact, this is all anecdotal We’ve backed these techniques, pivoting by campaign type and baked them into our AIR SEO briefing process
62. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Hybrid AIR SEO briefing key to non brand performance
63. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Non brand has continued to drive performance and revenue ⬅ Non Brand Performance Brand Performance ⬇
64. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 And in turn, although embryonic, this is correlating with LLM performance
65. Other Stuff
66. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Stuff we’ve not had time for today…
67. THE AUTHENTIC SEO COMPANY | SEARCH N STUFF | LONDON 2026 Some food for thought… Ranking first used to drive you clicks, now it drives you clicks, citations, more chance of being included in training and grounded data and increased likelihood of AI Overview visibility
68. Long Live SEO