Your SEO strategy in 2026 is no longer about “optimising for Google” - it’s about optimising for everywhere

Over the past few weeks, there have been several significant updates in the world of search. Whether you're a brand managing your own digital presence or working with a marketing partner, understanding what they signal, and what they require of you, can help you enhance your digital presence and ensure your efforts are delivering maximum impact.

AI optimisation is SEO

I’ve been saying this for the past couple of years - if you are using every reputable SEO strategy at your disposal then you are already optimising for AI. 

And, finally, Google has come out and confirmed that there are no special techniques for ranking in AI search experiences. There is no hidden schema markup, no "AI-friendly" keyword frameworks, no secret optimisation checklist that separates brands who appear in AI overviews from those who don't. SEOs who are trying to sell an additional “AI Optimisation service” are simply trying to upsell for little or no gain. Quite simply, AI optimisation is SEO.

In Google’s AI Optimisation Guide, they pointed back, repeatedly, to the same principles that have underpinned good SEO for years:

• Helpful, people-first content that genuinely answers questions

• Demonstrated expertise and authority in your subject matter

• Clear, logical site architecture

• Trustworthy, accurate, verifiable information

• Strong technical foundations

• Authentic engagement from a real audience

  
  

What this means in practice: if your SEO strategy is built around outsmarting an algorithm rather than genuinely serving an audience, it will not survive. The businesses that will thrive in AI-powered search are the ones building genuine authority across the web, not the ones chasing the next trick.

The 2026 FAQ update signals a bigger shift

Another recent Google update reinforces this idea.

Google has officially deprecated FAQ rich results. A notice added to Google's structured data documentation now reads: "FAQ rich results are no longer appearing in Google Search." 

But the story of why it's gone matters far more than the technical detail itself.

When FAQ rich results first gained traction after Google introduced them in 2019, they became popular quickly because they offered a visible, easy-to-measure advantage. More space in the results page often meant better click-through rates. That popularity also created abuse, with FAQ markup beginning to appear on pages that were not really FAQ pages in any meaningful sense. Many websites added short, promotional, or repetitive question blocks mainly to win more SERP real estate. 

Sound familiar? It should. It's the same pattern that plays out every time Google introduces a feature that can be gamed: the SEO industry rushes to exploit it, quality degrades across the board, and Google eventually removes the reward. In August 2023, Google began restricting FAQ rich results to well-known authoritative government and health websites, as a direct response to widespread abuse of FAQ schema.

This latest update simply finishes the job. However, while Google has removed the search feature, the underlying content strategy still matters. Useful FAQ content can still improve page quality, reduce friction for visitors, support internal linking, clarify intent, and strengthen topical coverage. What no longer makes sense is treating FAQ markup as a shortcut to larger SERP real estate.

Google Business Profiles in 2026 are becoming social profiles

For many of my clients, one of the first things I recommend is setting up and fully optimising a Google Business Profile. According to Google, businesses with a complete, optimised profile get seven times more clicks than those with incomplete listings, and customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider them reputable.

But Google hasn't stood still here, and the direction of travel is significant. Increasingly, Google is integrating social media activity directly into Business Profiles, making your presence on platforms like Instagram and Facebook visible right there in search results.

This integration of social and search has been building since 2024, when Google first began pulling social media posts directly into Business Profiles. But the most recent development, rolled out in early 2026, takes it further. 

Google's new "What's Happening" feature allows businesses to sync updates, events, and promotions directly from Facebook, Instagram, and X into their Business Profile listing, meaning your social activity now surfaces in real time, directly in search results.

Previously, Google Business Profiles primarily displayed static information like business hours and contact details. Now your profile is a live window into your brand, and Google is actively rewarding businesses that keep it that way.

Google is no longer evaluating businesses purely through websites and backlinks. It's building a broader understanding of brand legitimacy using social activity, audience engagement, reviews, brand mentions, multimedia content, and cross-platform consistency.

Your Instagram posts, LinkedIn activity, YouTube content, reviews, and brand mentions are no longer separate from SEO. The businesses dominating search in the next few years won't necessarily be the ones with the most aggressively optimised websites. They'll be the ones with the strongest, most consistent digital ecosystems, and that means adopting a holistic approach to digital marketing.

SEO strategy 2026 has become reputation architecture

This is the real shift most businesses still haven’t recognised. SEO is evolving from a technical discipline into a reputation discipline. Google and LLMs don’t just analyse pages anymore, they analyse entities, relationships, authority signals, and brand consistency across the web.

That means modern SEO requires:

• PR thinking

• Brand strategy

• Content strategy

• Social media integration

• Technical optimisation

• Customer experience alignment

The brands winning in search are the brands building trust everywhere. And that’s exactly why siloed marketing strategies are becoming ineffective. SEO is now about building a connected digital eco-system, with one platform supporting another. 

How I help lifestyle brands build an integrated digital footprint

An SEO strategy 2026 is no longer just about rankings. It's about presence, reputation, credibility, and being visible everywhere your audience already is.

That requires a fundamentally bigger strategy than keywords alone. One where content, social, PR, and technical SEO work together, not in isolation.

At Joanna Lewis Media, I work with ambitious lifestyle brands to build the kind of integrated digital footprint that drives sustainable, long-term growth. Whether that's through SEO, content marketing, copywriting, PR, social media, or fractional CMO support, ensuring a coherent strategy where every channel reinforces the other.

No off-the-shelf packages. No outsourcing. Just senior-level thinking, tailored to your brand and its ambitions. If your business is ready to stop treating SEO, content, and social as separate disciplines and start building something that actually compounds in value over time, I'd love to talk. Contact me to learn how I help ambitious lifestyle brands in my home city of Bath and across the UK elevate their online digital presence.