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Which SEO Experts Talk About AI: Worth Following in 2026

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AI SEO Thought Leaders 2026 Guide 7 min read

If you want to understand where search is heading, you need to know which SEO experts talk about AI seriously, not just casually drop the term into LinkedIn posts. The conversation around AI and SEO has split into two camps: people genuinely working through what AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, and LLM-driven search mean for organic visibility, and people recycling surface-level takes. This guide focuses entirely on the first group, the AI SEO thought leaders whose work is actually worth your time as a business owner trying to make strategic decisions.

🎯 Key Takeaways
  • Not all AI SEO experts are equal. Look for practitioners who share specific data and test results, not just opinions on AI trends.
  • Where the real conversations happen: LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Substack newsletters, and conference stages like MozCon and BrightonSEO.
  • AI-first SEO is a distinct skill set from traditional SEO. The experts doing this work think differently about content structure, citation signals, and search intent.
  • Following the right people cuts months off your learning curve when Google makes changes that affect your organic traffic.
  • International voices matter. Some of the sharpest AI SEO thinking is coming from outside the US, particularly the UK, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

Why It Matters Which SEO Experts Talk About AI in 2026

Search changed more between 2024 and 2026 than it did in the previous decade combined. AI Overviews went from a Google experiment to a permanent fixture sitting above organic results for millions of queries. Google AI Mode launched. ChatGPT search, Perplexity, and Claude started capturing meaningful chunks of informational search traffic that used to flow to websites.

For business owners, the practical question isn’t whether AI matters for SEO. It does. The question is: who has actually tested how to adapt, and whose advice is based on real client data rather than speculation? That’s the lens I use to evaluate AI SEO thought leaders, and it’s the lens worth applying when you’re deciding whose content to follow.

⚠️
Common Mistake

Many business owners follow SEO experts who are prolific posters but rarely share verifiable test results. High follower counts on LinkedIn or X do not correlate with accuracy. Filter by specificity: does this person share actual data, client outcomes, or documented experiments? If everything is opinion, keep scrolling.

Who Are the Top AI SEO Experts Leading the Conversation in 2026?

These are practitioners whose work I’ve tracked closely, tested against, and in several cases discussed directly at industry events. Each one approaches the AI and SEO intersection differently, which is why they’re all worth following rather than picking one.

Lily Ray: AI Overviews and E-E-A-T Research

Lily Ray @lilyraynyc

VP of SEO Strategy at Amsive, Lily Ray has published some of the most cited research on how Google’s AI Overviews select sources. Her 2024 analysis tracked which site types were cited in AI Overviews versus which sites Google historically ranked in position one. The correlation was weaker than most people expected. Her work on E-E-A-T signals and how they connect to AI citation rates is required reading for any business that relies on informational content.

Best for: Understanding AI Overviews, E-E-A-T, Google quality signals

Barry Schwartz: Daily Search Intelligence

Barry Schwartz @rustybrick

Founder of Search Engine Roundtable and news editor at Search Engine Land, Barry Schwartz has documented every significant Google algorithm change for over 20 years. As AI reshapes how Google surfaces results, his daily coverage of volatility reports and Google’s official communications is the fastest way for business owners to understand what’s changing and when. He doesn’t editorialize heavily. He reports, cites, and lets the data speak.

Best for: Real-time algorithm updates, Google AI Mode changes, search news

Kevin Indig: AI’s Impact on Search Strategy

Kevin Indig @Kevin_Indig

Former VP of SEO at Shopify and G2, Kevin Indig now publishes the Growth Memo newsletter, which regularly covers the strategic implications of AI on search at scale. His analysis of how large content sites are adapting to AI Overviews, and which traffic patterns are shifting as a result, is particularly useful for business owners making content investment decisions. He thinks in systems, not tactics, which makes his writing more useful when you’re setting direction rather than executing tasks.

Best for: Strategic SEO thinking, enterprise content decisions, AI traffic impact

Aleyda Solis: International AI-First SEO

Aleyda Solis @aleyda

International SEO consultant and founder of Orainti, Aleyda Solis brings a perspective most US-centric SEO commentators miss entirely: how AI search is rolling out differently across markets, languages, and search behaviours outside North America. Her SEOFOMO newsletter curates the week’s most important AI and SEO developments with a global lens. For any business operating in multiple countries or targeting non-English audiences, she is the most important AI SEO voice to follow.

Best for: International SEO, AI search across markets, weekly curation

Cyrus Shepard: Technical AI SEO Testing

Cyrus Shepard @CyrusShepard

Founder of Zyppy and former Moz team member, Cyrus Shepard runs controlled SEO tests and publishes the results publicly. In 2025 and 2026 he turned significant attention to testing what content structures, schema types, and page formats correlate with AI Overview citations. His approach is methodical rather than anecdotal, which makes his findings more reliable than most. When he says something works, he shows his method.

Best for: Technical SEO testing, schema markup, AI citation signals

Marie Haynes: Google Quality and AI Search Behaviour

Marie Haynes @marie_haynes

Marie Haynes has spent over a decade studying Google’s quality algorithms. Her newsletter MHC covers Google’s AI developments with particular depth on how quality signals are being reweighted as AI takes a larger role in result generation. Working with a B2B SaaS client in Q1 2026, I applied her framework for auditing thin content against Google’s quality criteria before restructuring their resource pages. Crawl coverage on those pages improved meaningfully within eight weeks. Her work translates directly to practical decisions.

Best for: Google quality algorithms, content auditing, penalty recovery

Where Do SEO Experts Discuss AI Trends in Real Time?

Knowing who to follow matters less if you’re not in the places where the actual discussion happens. Most of the sharp AI SEO thinking circulates across a small number of platforms and events before it filters into mainstream marketing blogs.

LinkedIn

The primary platform for long-form AI SEO analysis right now. Posts with specific data, screenshots, and test results get significant reach. Follow the experts listed above and check their recent activity weekly.

X (Twitter)

Still where breaking algorithm news surfaces first. Barry Schwartz, Glenn Gabe, and John Mueller (Google) are the fastest signals for any significant search change. Set up a list and check it when rankings shift.

Substack and Newsletters

Kevin Indig’s Growth Memo, Aleyda’s SEOFOMO, and Marie Haynes’ newsletter are the highest signal-to-noise ratio sources in AI SEO right now. One per week each is enough to stay genuinely informed.

BrightonSEO and MozCon

The two conferences where AI SEO research gets presented before it’s published anywhere. Session recordings are often available within weeks. Worth reviewing the AI-specific tracks from 2025 and 2026.

Must-Follow AI SEO Experts: How to Build Your Information Diet

Following 40 SEO experts creates noise, not clarity. Most business owners get better outcomes from following five to seven people deeply than following fifty accounts casually. The goal is to understand the reasoning behind changes, not just collect hot takes.

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Practical Setup

Create a dedicated LinkedIn list or X list with the six experts above plus two or three others whose work resonates with your specific industry. Check it once a week. Read anything that references AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, or citation signals. That’s a 20-minute weekly investment that keeps you ahead of 90% of your competitors on AI search changes.

What Separates AI-First SEO Experts from Traditional SEO Voices?

Traditional SEO experts think primarily about rankings. AI-first SEO experts think about visibility across a search result that no longer looks the same for every query. They ask different questions: not just “how do I rank position one” but “how does my content get cited in an AI Overview, referenced by Perplexity, or surfaced in Google AI Mode responses.”

The structural difference shows up in their content advice. Traditional SEO focuses heavily on keyword density, backlink counts, and domain authority. AI-first SEO focuses on content structure that answers questions directly, entity clarity, schema markup that helps AI systems understand what a page is about, and topical authority that signals genuine expertise to both Google’s quality systems and AI citation algorithms.

Top AI SEO Experts by Specialism: A Quick Reference

ExpertPrimary FocusBest Platform to FollowUseful For
Lily RayAI Overviews, E-E-A-TLinkedIn, XContent quality decisions
Barry SchwartzAlgorithm updatesSearch Engine RoundtableReal-time search changes
Kevin IndigAI search strategyGrowth Memo newsletterStrategic planning
Aleyda SolisInternational AI SEOSEOFOMO newsletterMulti-market businesses
Cyrus ShepardTechnical testingLinkedIn, XSchema, structure, testing
Marie HaynesGoogle quality signalsMHC newsletterContent audits, quality
✅
One Honest Note

No AI SEO expert, including anyone on this list, has complete certainty about how Google’s AI systems will evolve over the next 12 months. Anyone who claims otherwise is overselling their insight. The most trustworthy voices are the ones who publish their uncertainty alongside their findings. That transparency is itself a quality signal worth noting when you’re deciding who to trust.

Frequently Asked Questions
Lily Ray, Kevin Indig, and Aleyda Solis publish the most consistent, research-backed content on AI and SEO. Lily Ray focuses on how AI Overviews select and cite sources. Kevin Indig covers the strategic traffic implications of AI search shifts. Aleyda Solis brings an international perspective most US-based commentators miss. All three have been producing substantive AI SEO content since Google first rolled out SGE in 2023, making their body of work a useful reference point for understanding how the conversation has evolved.
The practitioners with the most credible, data-backed perspectives on AI SEO in 2026 include Lily Ray at Amsive, Kevin Indig via the Growth Memo, Aleyda Solis at Orainti, Cyrus Shepard at Zyppy, Marie Haynes, and Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable. Each covers a different dimension of how AI is reshaping search. The most useful approach is following at least two or three with different specialisms rather than relying on a single voice for all your AI SEO guidance.
Most real-time AI SEO discussion happens on LinkedIn and X, with deeper analysis published through Substack newsletters. Search Engine Roundtable covers breaking algorithm news daily. BrightonSEO and MozCon are the two conferences where new AI SEO research gets presented before it’s widely published. For a business owner, the most practical setup is following three to five key voices on LinkedIn, subscribing to two newsletters like SEOFOMO and Growth Memo, and checking Search Engine Roundtable when you notice traffic movement.
AI-first SEO experts think beyond position-one rankings. They’re asking how content gets cited in AI Overviews, surfaced in Google AI Mode, and referenced by LLM-powered search tools like Perplexity and ChatGPT search. Their recommendations focus on content structure, entity clarity, schema markup, and topical authority rather than just keyword optimisation and link counts. Traditional SEO metrics still matter, but AI-first practitioners treat them as necessary but not sufficient conditions for visibility in the current search environment.
Both, ideally. Following two or three key AI SEO voices directly gives you enough context to ask better questions and evaluate your consultant’s recommendations. You don’t need to implement the changes yourself, but understanding the general direction of AI search helps you make smarter investment decisions. Business owners who have zero context about what’s happening in search often either underinvest when AI changes create opportunity or panic-spend on tactical fixes when what they actually need is a strategic adjustment.
Aleyda Solis, based in Spain and working globally, is the most important international voice in AI SEO right now. Her SEOFOMO newsletter covers how AI search is rolling out differently across markets and languages, which matters significantly for any business with a non-English audience or multi-country presence. Beyond Aleyda, BrightonSEO in the UK regularly surfaces strong European and Asia-Pacific perspectives on AI search that don’t get much coverage in US-centric SEO media. Searching the BrightonSEO session archive by year is a useful way to find international practitioners worth following.
The best AI SEO thought leaders update their thinking in near real-time when Google makes significant changes. Barry Schwartz typically covers algorithm updates within hours. Lily Ray and Cyrus Shepard usually publish analysis within days of major AI search shifts. Kevin Indig and Marie Haynes tend toward weekly or bi-weekly deep analysis that puts changes in strategic context. For business owners, the weekly cadence is usually sufficient unless you’re in a highly competitive niche where ranking changes have immediate revenue impact.

Knowing which SEO experts talk about AI seriously is a competitive advantage for any business owner making organic search decisions in 2026. The people listed here are worth your attention not because they have the largest audiences, but because they consistently publish findings grounded in data rather than opinion. Follow a few of them, read their work with your own business context in mind, and you’ll make better decisions about where to invest your SEO budget as search continues to change.

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