People are searching differently in 2026 than they used to. Google and Bing remain the biggest search engines, but AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are becoming a huge part of how people find answers, discover products, and make decisions. So, the scope of SEO has expanded.

The SEO basics of five years ago no longer cover the full picture, because there are new tactics you need to use to show up across search engines and AI tools. In this guide, you'll learn the fundamentals that reflect how search actually works in 2026. By the end, you'll know how to build an SEO strategy that drives visibility where your audience searches.

SEO Basics in 2026

Today's SEO basics encompass all the practices that make your brand visible across modern search experiences. Essentially, what's considered the baseline is expanding as AI search becomes a larger part of how people discover and evaluate brands.

The foundational SEO best practices of years ago remain relevant. You still need to cover the right topics, publish useful content, and ensure important pages are crawlable. But AI search adds new baseline requirements—your content needs to be easy for AI tools to extract and cite, and your brand needs to appear on sources beyond your own website.

What Is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your website to help it appear more prominently for relevant topics when people use search engines and AI tools.

For example, SEO can help a website targeting the term "best coffee makers" appear among the top listings in search engine results. SEO can also improve your visibility in AI search tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity—where your brand may be cited or recommended in AI-generated answers.

Why Is SEO Important?

SEO is important because it puts you in front of people who are looking for products, services, or information relevant to you. Many online experiences still start with a search—someone might search on Google, ask ChatGPT a question, or browse an AI-generated summary in Bing. If your brand appears in those answers, you're reaching someone at the right moment.

SEO also compounds over time. A well-optimized page can keep building visibility for months or years without ongoing ad spend. Social media posts often lose traction within days. And paid ads stop working when you stop spending. Together, these benefits make SEO one of the best ways to help your brand get discovered, trusted, and chosen.

How Do You Make Sure Your Site Is Eligible to Appear in Search Results?

You make your site eligible to appear in search results by helping search systems find, understand, and index your important pages. Search engines use crawlers (also called spiders) to discover pages and add eligible pages to an index—a large database of pages that can appear in search results.

AI search tools also need access to web content before they can cite or surface it. Many AI search experiences rely on existing search engine results, which means if your important pages are accessible to search engines, you're also building a stronger foundation for visibility in AI tools.

Keyword Research

Keyword research is the process of identifying terms your potential customers use when searching for topics related to your brand, products, or services. It shows you what users are searching for, so you can create content that answers their questions and gives your brand more chances to appear in relevant search experiences.

For example, a coffee shop owner might know that "best coffee shop" is a good keyword to target. But they likely need to do research to find out that their audience is also searching for things like "where to get oat milk lattes" and "coffee shop with workspace near me."

When choosing keywords for your site (or a specific page), focus on relevance first. A keyword is relevant if it closely matches what your business offers and what your audience is looking for. After ensuring relevance, consider two other keyword metrics:

• Volume: The average number of monthly searches for the keyword
• KD %: The keyword difficulty score—a measure of how challenging it will be to achieve a top-10 ranking

Find question-based keywords by selecting the "Questions" tab in your keyword research tool. These terms can reveal specific problems your audience wants to solve and may also reflect how people phrase searches in AI tools. To see actual prompts people use in AI tools, use a Prompt Research report—it surfaces related prompts and cited websites for each topic.

Quality Content

High-quality content that's helpful and trustworthy is exactly the type of content search systems want to surface. Here's how to create content that contributes to visibility across search engines and AI tools.

Understand What Searchers Want to See

Understanding what people want to see when they search a query—called search intent—helps you create content users are likely to find useful, which improves your chances of showing in search results.

One way to determine intent is by reviewing the top-ranking pages in Google for a keyword. Making content with a similar format to what you see in search results increases your chances of showing prominently.

Create High-Quality Content

Some characteristics of quality content include:

• Thorough coverage of the topic
• Clear organization and structure
• Up-to-date information
• Expert insights and/or original research
• Engaging visuals
• Error-free writing
• Mobile-friendly formatting

Lead with Clear Value

High-quality content makes each section useful right away by addressing the heading clearly and directly. Open with the main point first—give a direct answer before moving into explanation, context, and examples. This helps readers get what they need faster and gives search engines and AI tools a clearer understanding of the section.

A good section opening usually does the following:

• Answers the question the heading implicitly or explicitly asks
• Uses clear, direct language
• Uses target queries naturally where relevant
• Leads smoothly into the details that follow

User Experience

User experience (UX) is how visitors interact with and perceive your site, and it can impact your search visibility. A better experience keeps people on your pages longer, reduces bounce rates, and sends positive behavioral signals to search systems.

Use Clear, Specific CTAs

A call to action (CTA) that clearly encourages site visitors to take a specific action is more likely to drive results. Make your CTAs specific and value-focused:

• Not great: "Click here"
• Better: "Get your free SEO checklist"

Place your main CTA near the top of conversion-focused pages, and test variations to see what resonates best with your audience.

Avoid Walls of Text

Most readers scan rather than read every word, so breaking up large blocks of text makes it easier to quickly spot key information. Break up your content by using short sentences and paragraphs, adding whitespace, including images or other visual breaks, and writing descriptive subheadings.

Use Lists and Short Paragraphs

Breaking up content with bulleted lists, numbered lists, and short paragraphs improves scannability and maintains user interest. Turn long paragraphs into bullet points, start list items with action words, and use numbered lists for step-by-step instructions.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is the process of optimizing a page's content, HTML elements, and structure to provide a better user experience and improve your visibility in search results. Here are the key on-page elements to optimize:

• 📄
  Title Tags HTML titles that appear as clickable headlines in organic and AI search results. They help search systems understand what your page is about and shape the first impression people get of your content.

  50–60 characters · Include target keyword · Unique per page
• 📝
  Meta Descriptions Short page summaries that can appear below your title in search results. They don't directly affect rankings but can influence click-through rates.

  105 characters or fewer · Include keyword naturally · Clear CTA
• 🏠
  Heading Tags (H1–H6) HTML tags that organize your content into sections and help search systems understand the structure of your page. Use one H1 per page; organize main topics with H2s and supporting points with H3s.

  One H1 per page · Include keyword in H1 · Logical hierarchy
• 🔗
  Page URLs The address of a specific webpage. A descriptive URL helps search systems understand your page better and improves click-through rates in search results.

  Descriptive but concise · Use hyphens · Include primary keyword
• 📷
  Images Images make content more engaging and help pages appear in visual search results, including Google Images and AI tools that accept image queries.

  Descriptive file names · Relevant alt text · Compress with TinyPNG · Use WebP format
• 👥
  Internal Links Links from one page on your site to another. They help search systems understand your site's structure, pass link authority, and guide users to related content.

  Descriptive anchor text · Link to new pages · Fix broken links regularly

Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO refers to actions taken outside your website that influence your visibility in search results. Two common off-page SEO tactics are link building and earning brand mentions.

Build Backlinks

Building backlinks means getting links from other websites to yours, which can improve your site's authority and visibility in search results. One of the easiest ways to build backlinks is through businesses and organizations you already know:

• Companies you buy from
• Professional organizations you belong to
• Business partners you work with
• Chambers of commerce in your area

Reach out to organizations you have relationships with to ask whether they can add your site to a partner, member, or resource page. Another way to earn backlinks is to publish link-worthy content on your own site. Original research, surveys, and infographics often attract backlinks because they provide useful or original information that other websites want to reference.

Earn Brand Mentions

Brand mentions can support search visibility even if they're unlinked because they show that your business is being referenced across the web. These brand mentions can appear in articles, directories, reviews, forums, podcasts, social posts, and industry roundups.

Here are a few ways to earn more brand mentions:

• Publish original research: Create surveys, data studies, or reports that other sites can cite
• List your business in relevant directories: Add your business to trusted directories in your industry or location
• Answer questions in online communities: Join forums, subreddits, LinkedIn groups, or niche communities where your audience spends time
• Share newsworthy updates: Tell journalists about product launches, company milestones, or local initiatives
• Offer expert commentary: Respond to writers, podcasters, or industry publications looking for expert sources
• Ask customers for reviews: Build your presence on review platforms that matter in your industry

Technical SEO

Technical SEO ensures your site can be found, understood, and surfaced across search engines and AI tools. Here are three key technical elements you need to get right.

Provide Crawling Instructions with Your robots.txt File

A robots.txt file tells search engine and AI crawlers which of your pages they should and shouldn't access, which helps prioritize your most important pages. You can typically find it at: https://www.[yourdomain].com/robots.txt

Optimize Your Core Web Vitals

The Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics Google uses to measure how user-friendly your pages are:

To monitor your Core Web Vitals scores, open Google Search Console, head to "Experience" > "Core Web Vitals," and look for pages marked as "poor" or "need improvement." Run any underperforming pages through PageSpeed Insights to get specific recommendations.

Use HTTPS

HTTPS is a protocol that lets browsers communicate with servers in a secure way through encryption—and it's a lightweight Google ranking factor. To migrate from HTTP to HTTPS: purchase an SSL certificate (many hosts offer them for free), set up 301 redirects from HTTP to HTTPS, update any links and assets still using HTTP, and update your property in Google Search Console.

Mobile SEO

Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means it prioritizes the mobile version of your site's content for indexing and ranking. Optimizing for mobile helps visitors read, navigate, and take action on your site more easily—which also supports stronger overall search visibility.

• Prioritize quick load times
• Use a responsive website layout that automatically adapts to the user's screen
• Keep paragraphs short and use plenty of white space
• Avoid intrusive pop-ups
• Make buttons and text easy to tap and read

Local SEO

Local SEO helps your business show up in location-based search results when people search for what you offer. If you have a physical location or serve customers in a specific area, local SEO is one of the most impactful areas of SEO for beginners to focus on first.

Additional SEO Basics for AI Search

Additional SEO basics for AI search help your content become easier for AI tools to find, extract, and cite. Focus on these four areas:

How to Measure SEO Success

Tracking the right SEO metrics helps you understand what's working, what's not, and where to focus next. Here are the key metrics to monitor:

SEO Basics FAQs

Ready to execute? Open the AI generator, browse the tools hub, refine snippets with title tags and meta descriptions, or submit links via backlink hub.