2026 SEO Predictions (Australia Version!)

00:00 - 2026 SEO Predictions (Australia Version!)
02:19 - Jes explains why 2025 held few surprises for SEOs who followed trends and vents about Google Search Console data delays.
04:20 - Amanda reviews her “consolidation over more content” prediction and notes most of the web still chases volume over pruning.
06:10 - Amanda argues that despite three years of hype, AI is still treated as a shiny object instead of just another channel to integrate.
08:40 - Gaston revisits his “stop being basic” message, warning that copy-paste AI usage is turning brands into indistinguishable clones.
11:05 - Dan describes shifting from passively watching Google to actively testing and implementing research with RAG and cross-encoders.
14:10 - Panel debates naming: keep calling it SEO, with AI seen as an added layer rather than rebranding the entire discipline.
17:05 - Aaron connects LLMs and ecommerce, explaining how product feeds and cross-retailer price tracking drive a race-to-the-bottom on price.
18:55 - Aaron shares his biggest surprise: free ChatGPT largely dropping citations and what that means for transparency and user trust.
21:20 - Peter reflects on link quality, mentions vs links, and asks whether Google will effectively become an AI prompt interface.
23:40 - Amanda’s 2026 prediction: hopes for a “Panda-style” crackdown on low-quality AI content and broader rollout of AI mode for more queries.
26:05 - Aaron predicts Google will fold successful AI-mode features into classic SERPs and highlights off-page signals as increasingly critical.
28:10 - Jes introduces “entity drift” as a future KPI, measuring gaps between how brands describe themselves and how LLMs understand them.
30:40 - Jes and Peter argue that “rankings” language should be retired in favor of visibility and share of voice across surfaces.
32:40 - Gaston forecasts an “AI visibility” bubble where enterprises chase made-up AI metrics, then get hit by a brutal quality-cleanup wave.
35:05 - Dan fires rapid-fire macro predictions: wasted prompt-tracking, Google winning the AI race, OpenAI’s shaky economics, agents and ephemeral interfaces, quantum-driven new architectures.
37:25 - Amanda warns most sites are not agent-friendly due to years of tech debt and poor standards; early adopters who fix this will win.
39:30 - Dan expands on world models, Cloudflare’s role, and agent-to-agent protocols that make many site visits optional for users.
42:15 - Jes responds to Dixon Jones, predicting pay-to-appear via clearly labeled ads in LLM results, but not hidden pay-for-inclusion.
44:05 - Aaron reacts to Patrick Stocks: listicles currently game ChatGPT too easily; OpenAI must tighten what it cites and may need new monetization or acquisition.
47:15 - Gaston reacts to Ann Smarty’s “instant checkout in chatbots,” expecting gradual adoption and big financial incentives over a 3–5 year horizon.
49:40 - Aaron answers how small businesses can monitor AI visibility with affordable prompt-tracking tools, manual tests, and source-scraping extensions.
52:30 - Gaston answers a local SEO question by stressing that strong traditional local SEO is still the foundation for appearing in AI results.
55:20 - Jes closes with a key 2026 prediction: AI mode will not become the single default; instead, SERPs will dynamically blend AI, web, and vertical results by intent.

Why this matters:
AI disruption is a real, accelerating concern for businesses of all types around the world, and in few areas is this more apparent than in the world of online search. Australian entrepreneurs of all types and sizes need to find ways to keep their companies top of mind and easy to find if they want to stay competitive into the future.

This webinar with the leading Aussie experts in SEO will walk you through how to future-proof content and branding strategies in a way that ensures your clients receive the maximum ROI and focused on the metrics that really matter.

What we’ll cover:
- How AI-driven search, multimodal experiences, and generative answer engines like Gemini, Perplexity, and ChatGPT are redefining visibility, rankings and user intent.
- Proven methods to optimize for AI overviews, entity recognition, and brand signals that strengthen authority across the entire spectrum of online search.
- Strategic actions to integrate content, technical SEO and Digital PR for lasting growth in an AI-first, zero-click search environment.