With 2026 now here, it’s time for part two of The Search Session predictions round-up, packed with a fresh drop of insights into the future of search.
The visions shared by our experts are meant to help you navigate this year not with guesswork, but with guidance. Just as in part one that opened our predictions series, they offer clarity in a rapidly shifting search landscape.
Dive into our guests’ viewpoints, learn from them, and use them to sharpen the strategy behind your search performance this year.
As a bonus, this edition also includes a forward-looking insight from our great host, Gianluca Fiorelli.
Giorgio Taverniti
Search will shift from isolated queries to continuous, essence-driven sessions.
“We can’t just talk about queries anymore; we have to think in terms of search sessions. And when we talk about Google, it’s not just about the shape of content, but also its essence.”
Search is moving from single-query answers to ongoing, AI-interpreted interactions where meaning matters more than format.
The coming impact
You’ll lose visibility if your content can’t carry its meaning across formats, sessions, and AI-generated reinterpretations—because targeting single queries won’t be enough anymore.
How to stay ahead
To stay discoverable as search becomes session-based and essence-first, you should:
Structure your content so AI can easily extract and reinterpret the core meaning.
Create multi-format assets (video, text, PDPs, interactive content) that serve multiple stages of a search journey.
Build content clusters that support long, evolving AI-driven sessions.
Prioritize clarity, completeness, and semantic depth over keyword-matching.
Giorgio Taverniti is the Head of SEO at Search On Consulting and the Founder of Search On Media Group. He is the author of Google Liquido and the creator of the “liquid search” concept.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Jes Scholz
Visibility will only matter when it builds brand salience at key category entry points.
“An impression only becomes valuable when, in the user's mind, they see the branding, they connect those brand assets to the category entry point, and that connection builds brand salience.”
In the AI era, visibility alone won’t move the needle. You need users to actually recognize, remember, and associate your brand with the moments that matter.
The coming impact
You’ll struggle to grow or even maintain your presence if your brand appears in search surfaces without triggering recognition at the category entry points where decisions begin.
How to stay ahead
To ensure your visibility contributes to real brand salience, you should:
Identify and prioritize the category entry points that matter for your brand.
Ensure consistent, recognizable branding across every surface.
Update all external profiles and mentions with current brand assets.
Build topical authority to appear consistently in personalized surfaces.
Create only high-value content that reinforces brand salience.
Jes Scholz is a marketing consultant at Jes Scholz Consulting. She is an SEO futurist and keynote speaker, and she authors The SEO Brief newsletter.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Judith Lewis
AI hallucinations will increase as queries get more specific.
“The near-match algorithm mistakes happen more frequently as queries become more specific because the algorithm struggles to match like-for-like.”
The more detailed and technical your query becomes, the more likely AI is to produce a confident but completely wrong answer.
The coming impact
You’ll misinform users and undermine your credibility if you rely on AI to handle nuanced, expert-level questions without strict human review.
How to stay ahead
To protect both accuracy and trust as hallucinations increase, you should:
Avoid using AI unsupervised for specific, technical, or high-stakes topics.
Validate every AI-generated insight against real expert knowledge.
Use AI to summarize, not to act as an authority.
Put human-in-the-loop review processes in place for all AI-assisted content.
Train teams to recognize and challenge near-match hallucinations.
Judith Lewis is the founder of Decabbit Consultancy. She is a digital marketing veteran with nearly 30 years of experience across SEO, analytics, and paid media.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Natalia Witczyk
Prediction: International SEO will shift toward International UX Personalization.
“Instead of relying on all the things SEOs traditionally do when specializing in international SEO, maybe we’ll move towards International UX Personalization.”
Global visibility will depend less on technical setups and more on delivering dynamic, localized experiences that adapt to each user’s language, context, and expectations.
The coming impact
You’ll become less effective internationally if you rely solely on separate URLs, language folders, and old SEO structures while users increasingly receive AI-personalized, interface-level localization.
How to stay ahead
Start adapting your international approach by:
Treating language quality as UX, not just translation.
Making sure localized users land on pages that match their expectations.
Reducing dependence on hreflang and strengthening on-page language signals.
Preparing for dynamic localization (language, currency, experience) instead of fixed URL variants.
Checking that local content feels native, culturally correct, and human, not AI-translated.
Natalia Witczyk is the founder of Mosquita Digital. She is an international SEO consultant and previously collaborated with Jademond Digital in China.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Rishi Lakhani
Paid LLM listicles will unintentionally boost your competitors, not just you.
“A competitor is paying to be at the top of that list, but all the rest are still in there, so all the competitors are being included in that listicle as well.”
Buying the way into LLM-influencing listicles won’t give exclusive visibility; instead, it elevates every competitor included in the same source.
The coming impact
You’ll waste budget and accidentally strengthen competing brands if you rely on pay-to-play listicles to influence AI results.
How to stay ahead
Treat visibility as a strategic advantage built through:
Creating authoritative content that earns inclusion organically.
Investing in trusted publications rather than paid list schemes.
Building brand signals across communities and review platforms.
Using PR and partnerships to appear in sources LLMs consistently cite.
Prioritizing genuine authority instead of shortcut tactics.
Rishi Lakhani is a Digital Communications Strategist at Pwani Consulting. He has over two decades of experience in SEO, affiliate marketing, and performance-led content strategy.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Mark Williams-Cook
Google’s classic ranking signals will fade, and AI models will rely on a language graph instead of the link graph.
“Traditional metrics will essentially decay over time and become less useful. And we’re left with, from a model’s point of view, instead of a link graph, a language graph of how codified language fits together.”
Search will gradually move from ranking pages based on links and clicks to ranking (or citing) content based on how well the meaning fits into the semantic “language graph” that AI models use to understand the world.
The coming impact
You’ll lose visibility if your content only performs well in link-based ecosystems and not in the semantic, entity-driven language models shaping AI search.
How to stay ahead
To start optimizing for a world where meaning outweighs backlinks, you should:
Build content that clearly defines entities and their relationships.
Strengthen semantic structure with schema, glossaries, and contextual cues.
Create topic clusters that reinforce conceptual connections.
Publish authoritative explanations, examples, and comparisons that LLMs can reuse.
Ensure your brand appears consistently across reputable sources LLMs learn from.
Mark Williams-Cook is the Digital Marketing Director at Candour and the founder of AlsoAsked.com. With over 22 years of SEO experience, he shares practical, research-driven insights through newsletters, courses, talks, and tools.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Rand Fishkin
Zero-click will reshape search far more than AI, as the number of available clicks will keep shrinking for the next decade.
“Ten years from now, there will be far fewer clicks available than there are today. I think this is the biggest shift SEOs are undergoing right now. AI is secondary to zero-click.”
The real disruption isn’t AI itself, but the disappearance of clicks, a long-term shift that transforms SEO from traffic acquisition into in-SERP brand influence.
The coming impact
Even if you rank well, you’ll steadily lose organic traffic because Google will give users answers without sending them to your site.
How to stay ahead
Shift your mindset from chasing clicks to earning recognition directly in the SERP by doing the following:
Target the SERP features where your audience sees you without clicking, like Featured Snippets, Videos, AI Overviews, and other zero-click surfaces.
Craft memorable messaging that reinforces brand recall even without a visit.
Strengthen your presence across YouTube, Reddit, TikTok, and other high-attention platforms.
Publish content that stands out visually and semantically in rich results.
Focus on becoming the brand people search for by name, not just the answer they click.
Rand Fishkin is the Co-Founder and CEO of SparkToro and Snackbar Studio. Formerly the founder of Moz (originally SEOmoz), he is known for his pioneering insights into audience research and the evolution of search.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Yagmur Simsek
Communities will thrive only when value comes before monetization and genuine connection stays at the center.
“People will want to be with you and support you. The key is to keep doing what’s right for your community—creating meaningful connections, content, and value.”
The future of successful communities, whether brand-led, SEO-focused, or audience-driven, will depend on consistently providing real value rather than pushing sales or self-promotion.
The coming impact
If you treat your community like a marketing channel instead of a value-driven ecosystem, you’ll lose trust, momentum, and member loyalty.
How to stay ahead
Focus on actions that keep your community strong, supportive, and growing:
Prioritize genuine connections over promotion or sales messaging.
Create content and conversations that serve the community, not yourself.
Offer value that makes members feel seen, supported, and included.
Build spaces where people help each other and take shared ownership.
Show consistency through aligned values, mission, and clear community guidelines.
Yagmur Simsek is the Founder of Search ’n Stuff and the Co-Founder of Global Cyber Security Network. She is an independent SEO & content strategist with a strong background in project management, data analysis, and reporting.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Shelley Walsh
SEOs will have to rediscover real marketing, and only the most creative, strategic ones will thrive.
“SEOs are going to have to get very creative. They’re going to have to get back to their marketing roots, and they’re going to have to shift their mindsets to approach SEO through fundamental marketing principles, with creativity.”
Technical checklists and unoriginal content won’t be enough—SEO success will depend on creativity, strategic thinking, and true marketing fundamentals.
The coming impact
You’ll fall behind if you rely on SEO tactics alone instead of building content that connects, persuades, and solves real problems.
How to stay ahead
Start developing the creative and strategic modern SEO demands by:
Reconnecting with essential marketing principles like positioning, audience insight, and brand storytelling.
Focusing on content that provides genuine value, depth, and expertise, not just traffic.
Designing experiences that solve user problems and build trust, not just rank.
Exploring diverse content formats beyond articles to meet audiences where they already spend time.
Investing in creativity, originality, and strong editorial standards that LLMs cannot replicate.
Shelley Walsh is the Managing Editor at Search Engine Journal and the founder of ShellShock Ltd. With over 20 years of experience in creative marketing, content strategy, and SEO, she also hosts the IMHO podcast and the Pioneers Show.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Ian Lurie
The SEO industry will have to relearn lift-based measurement to prove marketing impact.
“We have to retrain the industry around the idea that lift-based measurement is valid and important, and it's part of how you measure the performance of marketing.”
As clicks shrink, attribution disappears, and AI surfaces take over discovery, lift-based measurement will become the standard way to prove SEO impact.
The coming impact
You’ll need to demonstrate value through incremental lift, not just rankings or traffic, as clients and stakeholders expect clearer proof of contribution.
How to stay ahead
To keep pace with this shift, focus on:
Implementing lift-based testing frameworks in your SEO reporting.
Prioritizing experiments that isolate SEO’s contribution from other channels.
Educating stakeholders on why incremental lift is a more reliable success metric.
Tracking multi-touch influence instead of relying solely on last-click or vanity metrics.
Ian Lurie is a Digital Marketing Consultant at Ian Lurie Consulting. He is an SEO pioneer and digital strategist with over 25 years of experience in the field. He is also a guest instructor at UW Foster School of Business.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Andy Chadwick
To appear in AI answers, brands must achieve “ambient visibility” across every source LLMs draw from.
“What AI models are doing now is not just looking at one thing. They’re pulling from multiple sources—synthesizing all of that. And so, you want to be ambiently visible across all of it.”
AI now blends signals from video, social platforms, forums, and websites at once. Brands must stay visible across all these surfaces if they want LLMs to consistently recognize and surface them.
The coming impact
If you only stay visible on your website, models won’t have enough external signals to understand or surface your brand.
How to stay ahead
To strengthen your ambient visibility, you should:
Turn long-form guides into distributed content across YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, and social platforms.
Maintain top- and mid-funnel content to fuel topical authority.
Create formats AI can easily extract: video, chunks, Q&A, and clear expertise signals.
Build engagement and mentions across the web to boost cross-platform recognition.
Use AI to scale distribution while preserving human insight and differentiation.
Andy Chadwick is Co-Founder of Snippet Digital and Keyword Insights. He is a data-driven SEO consultant who specializes in multi-platform search strategy and topical authority.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Joanna Lord
The next competitive edge will shift from reach to resonance, and AI will become essential to build deeper, more memorable connections.
“Reach is easy to buy, whereas resonance is hard to earn. Resonance is about recall. And I think that’s where the next frontier will be, and that’s where AI will be wildly powerful.”
In an AI-driven landscape crowded with content, brands will stand out through resonance—emotional alignment, recall, and cultural relevance—powered by AI’s ability to surface insights and sharpen ideas.
The coming impact
Focusing on reach alone instead of building the depth and recall that AI now rewards will make it harder for your brand to stay visible and memorable.
How to stay ahead
To strengthen brand resonance, concentrate on:
Using AI to surface real-time cultural and behavioral insights.
Crafting messages that align with your brand’s values and unique point of view.
Prioritizing content and creative that build emotional recall, not just impressions.
Designing consistent experiences across channels to reinforce brand memory.
Leveraging AI to refine and elevate ideas, not just scale output.
Joanna Lord is a Partner at Reforge and a trusted advisor to Northzone and Index Ventures. She is a global brand leader with more than 20 years of experience and the author of the Building Beautiful Things newsletter.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Martin MacDonald
Ranking in Google’s top 10 will determine whether LLMs can even see your content.
“Now that Google has removed &num=100… it suddenly becomes exponentially more important to rank in the top 10 results for the terms ChatGPT is searching for in its ‘query fan-out’ model.”
Because LLMs now pull from the first page of Google instead of the top 100 results, only pages in the top 10 will be included in the source corpus that AI systems use to build answers.
The coming impact
If you don’t reach Google’s top 10, your content may disappear from AI-generated answers entirely.
How to stay ahead
To align your strategy with the way LLMs surface content, make sure to:
Analyze long, zero-click GSC queries to detect AI demand.
Improve indexation efficiency and crawlability at scale.
Use structured data to strengthen parsing and inclusion in the source corpus.
Monitor ranking shifts at the top 10 level, where LLMs pull data.
Run ongoing experiments to determine what strategies are effective for your website as LLM behavior continues to shift.
Martin MacDonald is the founder of MOG Media, SERPERE.ai, and BarbadosSEO. He is an enterprise SEO strategist with over 25 years of experience, specializing in product-led SEO, AI workflows, and technical frameworks.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Tom Critchlow
SERP links will make a contextualized, purposeful, and essential comeback in AI-driven search.
“I do think links are going to survive—very similar to how they show up in Web Guide today, where they’re contextualized, and there’s a reason for linking and clicking to that link.”
AI search will shift from walls of text to rich, link-supported results where each link is justified, curated, and tied to clear user intent, restoring the value of linking out.
The coming impact
You will need to provide clear, meaningful reasons for LLMs and search engines to link to your content instead of generating everything inline.
How to stay ahead
To strengthen your link-worthiness in AI search, focus on:
Creating content that offers unique perspectives or firsthand expertise that AI cannot replicate.
Providing depth, visuals, and resources that enhance LLM summaries.
Writing sections that provide a clear explanation of "why this link matters" through clarity, authority, or differentiation is crucial.
Structuring pages so key insights are easy for models to extract and cite.
Building reputation signals that justify inclusion in curated, link-rich responses.
Tom Critchlow is EVP of Audience Growth at Raptive. He is an SEO, content, and product strategist with experience dating back to 2007. He also founded the SEO MBA platform to help professionals develop leadership and executive skills.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Marco Loguercio
LLMs will become the primary gatekeepers of how consumers perceive your brand and products.
“These new LLMs are becoming the new gatekeepers of the narrative, both of the brand and of the products.”
As people increasingly research through chat-based search, the first story they hear about your brand will come from an AI system, shaped by the data, reviews, and signals it pulls from across the web.
The coming impact
If you don’t actively shape the information LLMs retrieve about your brand, you risk losing control of your narrative to incomplete, outdated, or competitor-influenced signals.
How to stay ahead
To influence how LLMs shape your brand narrative, you should:
Ensure your product content across all channels is complete, accurate, and up-to-date.
Strengthen reviews, testimonials, and community sentiment that AIs rely on.
Publish authoritative content that reinforces your positioning and value.
Maintain consistent messaging across web, social, marketplaces, and press.
Monitor how LLMs describe your brand to detect gaps or inaccuracies early.
Marco Loguercio is an advisor in e-commerce and e-business, supporting B2C companies and DTC brands at I Search. He has nearly 30 years of experience, and he leads Osservatorio Search in Italy, a long-running study on how Italians search and shop.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
MJ Cachón
Website migrations will become high-stakes quality exams in Google’s AI-driven ecosystem.
“Every time there’s a migration, Google is going to come back to your website to analyze it—it’s like an exam. And if you want to pass that exam, you need to show and demonstrate that your new website is better.”
As Google relies more on AI systems to reassess site quality, every migration will trigger a full re-evaluation. If the new site isn’t clearly better, visibility will drop, even when the technical migration is correct.
The coming impact
If you don’t improve quality during a migration, Google will treat your relaunch as a downgrade, resulting in lost rankings, slower recovery, and reduced trust signals.
How to stay ahead
To avoid failing Google’s “migration exam,” you need to:
Launch only when redirects, canonicals, and IA are flawless.
Ensure the new site is objectively better: faster, cleaner, and more helpful.
Improve content clarity, depth, and alignment with intent.
Audit staging and production environments with full crawls.
Avoid migrating during core updates or high volatility periods.
MJ Cachón is the founder and CEO of LAIKA. She is an SEO specialist and digital strategist with more than 15 years of experience, leading technical SEO, migrations, international SEO, and data-driven strategy for clients across industries.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Ivano Di Biasi
Google’s current AI Mode is only a stopgap, a temporary interface that will evolve into something entirely different.
“Google had no choice, it had to release AI Mode because of ChatGPT. So, they published something that is not complete — it’s just an interface. Actually, it’s not what we’ll see in the future.”
AI Mode, as it exists today, is not Google’s real vision for AI search. It was rushed to market as a defensive move against ChatGPT, not as a finished product. The true, more integrated version of AI-powered search is still coming.
The coming impact
As Google evolves beyond this temporary AI Mode toward the more advanced experience, you’ll need a clearer structure, stronger citations, and broader multi-format visibility.
How to stay ahead
To prepare for the next version of AI-powered search, focus on:
Optimizing for extractability with clean structure, clear paragraphs, and concise insights.
Prioritizing multi-surface visibility across web, video, and UGC — the sources Google now blends into SERPs.
Strengthening your presence across clusters and topics so AI systems can confidently surface and cite your content.
Monitoring how AI tools summarize your pages, since these summaries influence what will be surfaced in new SERP formats.
Staying adaptable as Google continues testing and evolving the AI-driven experience.
Ivano Di Biasi is the CEO & Co-Founder of SEOZoom. He is an SEO specialist, software developer known for his deep research into search intent, SERP behavior, and keyword clustering, and for pioneering data-driven SEO tools in the Italian market.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Sophie Brannon
AI fluency will become a core requirement for every SEO role, not an optional skill.
“When it comes to employees generally, making sure they’re utilizing AI, leveraging it, and trying to stay ahead of the game, that’s going to be really important. For agencies, for in-house brands, that’s really what they’re going to be looking for.”
SEOs who master AI tools, experimentation, and automation will define the next generation of the profession, while those who don’t adapt will quickly fall behind.
The coming impact
As an SEO, you’ll be expected to demonstrate AI proficiency across strategy, content, analysis, and operations to stay competitive in the job market.
How to stay ahead
Here’s how you can stay ahead and lead as AI reshapes SEO:
Integrate AI into daily tasks without sacrificing human judgment.
Experiment regularly with new tools, workflows, and automation.
Build AI literacy across technical, content, and analytical areas.
Document repeatable AI-assisted processes for consistency and quality.
Stay proactive with continuous learning rather than waiting for directives.
Sophie Brannon is the Co-Founder & Director of StudioHawk US and the Founder & CEO of MARO Digital. With nearly a decade in SEO, she specializes in strategy, team development, and helping brands improve their technical SEO, content, and digital PR.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Arnout Hellemans
Google will tighten control over PPC through full automation.
“I think we’re getting into an age where Google wants to take more control, that’s truly where they want to be.”
As AI-driven ad platforms mature, Google will increasingly centralize decision-making, using advertiser profit targets to autonomously run, optimize, and scale campaigns with minimal human input.
The coming impact
You’ll have less granular control and visibility over campaigns as Google’s automation takes over more decisions in the ad account.
How to stay ahead
To keep PPC effective as Google centralizes control, you should focus on:
Feeding Google clean, rich first-party data so automation optimizes toward the right outcomes.
Basing decisions on profit or blended ROAS, not precise multi-touch attribution.
Setting clear guardrails to limit waste and protect brand safety.
Watching for brand-term cannibalization and separating brand vs. non-brand where possible.
Testing automated campaign types early, so you understand their behavior before they become the default.
Arnout Hellemans is the Founder of OnlineMarkethink. He is an SEO, PPC, and analytics consultant with more than a decade of experience across search, conversion optimization, and data strategy.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Cyrus Shepard
Trusted brand signals will become the foundation of visibility across Google and AI search.
“Google will crank up the authority and trust signals of the people being mentioned. They don’t want just anybody. We’re going to see Google, and by extension, OpenAI and Perplexity and Gemini, really amp up those trusted brand signals.”
The coming impact
You’ll have less granular control and visibility over campaigns as Google’s automation takes over more decisions in the ad account.
How to stay ahead
Strengthen your authority footprint everywhere that matters. That means:
Earning mentions and citations from reputable publishers and industry authorities.
Investing in off-site reputation assets, like reviews, partnerships, and expert profiles.
Publishing content that demonstrates real expertise and personal experience.
Avoiding “listicle spam” tactics that dilute trust signals rather than build them.
Cyrus Shepard is the Founder of Zyppy SEO. He’s an SEO consultant and online marketer, known for his evidence-based research on Google updates and the real factors that influence modern search visibility. He also writes a newsletter and blog.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Dawn Anderson
Structured data becomes a strategic advantage in AI-driven search because it strengthens disambiguation, precision, and grounding.
“Structured data is a clarification factor, a disambiguation factor. If you can disambiguate, then you’ll probably rank better as a result of more precision to the topic. And then, you’re probably more likely to be fetched as part of grounding.”
Structured data helps search engines understand content more precisely, improving both ranking stability and inclusion in AI-generated answers.
The coming impact
Your visibility in AI search will depend increasingly on how clearly your content can be understood, aligned, and pulled into grounded responses.
How to stay ahead
Focus your efforts on strengthening how machines interpret and contextualize your content:
Implement structured data that clarifies entities, relationships, and attributes.
Write with semantic clarity and tight topical focus.
Reduce ambiguity in product, service, and people descriptions.
Align on-page content with schema-defined concepts for stronger retrieval and grounding.
Dawn Anderson is the Managing Director at Bertey. With nearly two decades in the field, she is an international SEO consultant who bridges academic research and real-world SEO strategy.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Michelle Robbins
Brand building will remain the core of marketing, even as channels and AI interfaces change.
“I’ve always believed that building a brand is building a brand. How you acquire an audience will change—as channels change, platforms change, and audience behavior changes—but the fundamentals of how you reach your audience have never changed.”
AI introduces new surfaces, not new marketing laws. The work of building trust, relevance, and resonance stays the same.
The coming impact
You’ll succeed only if you apply the same marketing principles across every new channel and interface.
How to stay ahead
To stay visible across changing channels and AI-driven interfaces, you need to:
Invest in brand messaging that travels across platforms and formats.
Focus on understanding human behavior, language, and intent—not just tools.
Build presence beyond Google, across social media, communities, and paid channels.
Treat SEO as part of a broader brand and audience strategy.
Michelle Robbins is the Manager of Strategic Initiatives & Intelligence at LinkedIn. She is an analyst and engineer with deep experience across data, AI, search, and automation.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Gaetano DiNardi
Gated content will eventually stop working in B2B SaaS unless it delivers truly unique value
“I think gated content will eventually die. Now you have to offer something really compelling. It has to be a great, unique report with amazing data or something like that for people in B2B to complete a form and engage with it.”
Gated PDFs are easier to access and share, which makes them less special. Only genuinely original, high-value research will still justify a form.
The coming impact
You’ll see form performance decline unless gated assets are genuinely worth the effort. Most standard PDFs won’t justify a form anymore.
How to stay ahead
To adapt to this shift in B2B discovery and lead generation, you need to:
Ungate content that doesn’t offer truly unique value.
Reserve forms only for truly original research and proprietary data.
Repurpose gated PDFs into ungated, SEO-led HTML content.
Align SEO and content teams around visibility, not just form fills.
Gaetano DiNardi is a Growth Advisor for B2B SaaS and the Principal Consultant at Marketing Advice. He helps software companies drive sustainable growth through AI-driven SEO, demand capture, and full-funnel strategy.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Gianluca Fiorelli
Understanding how people express needs will matter more than keywords in SEO.
“If I had to suggest one specific field of study right now, it would be sociolinguistics, because it’s the perfect combination of sociology—how people behave, and how people transmit and communicate a need.”
Search is shifting from literal queries to contextual, conversational intent, where success depends on interpreting socially and culturally shaped language, not matching terms.
The coming impact
Keyword-based optimization alone won’t be enough anymore. Expect visibility to drop if your content relies only on keywords instead of real intent.
How to stay ahead
Succeeding in search and AI-driven discovery will depend on:
Analyzing language patterns, tone, and context across platforms and cultures, not just query data.
Creating content that mirrors how users explain problems and refine intent in conversation.
Understanding cultural nuance, situational intent, and emotional cues in language.
Combining SEO, UX, content, and audience research around real human behavior.
Observing how LLMs interpret and rephrase input to spot emerging intent patterns.
Gianluca Fiorelli is a Strategic and International SEO and AI Search Consultant at IloveSEO.net, with almost 20 years of experience in web marketing. He is also a writer and the director and host of The Search Session podcast.
Find the full episode on YouTube, our blog, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Wrapping Up
That’s all for now, but we’re far from done. Search doesn’t pause, and neither does The Search Session. With so many sharp voices pushing this industry forward, we’re ready to learn, challenge, and adapt.
We anticipate another wave of transformative shifts across SEO, AI search, and content strategy this year, and having a sense of what’s ahead remains a valuable compass.
So stay tuned for the upcoming episodes.
Article by
Irina Diaconu
I’m a passionate content writer who loves researching and exploring new topics. With a keen eye for detail, I am dedicated to creating well-informed pieces that captivate and inform readers. Sharing knowledge and arousing curiosity is at the heart of my writing journey.
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