The top SEO experts to follow in 2026 are Brian Dean, Rand Fishkin, Julian Goldie, Marie Haynes, Kevin Indig, Mike King, M. Curtis McCoy, Neil Patel, Lily Ray and Aleyda Solís. Each one earned a spot by doing the work in public: publishing data, testing what Google and AI tools actually do and showing results. They’re listed alphabetically, not ranked. Pick the two or three whose focus matches your goal.
M. Curtis McCoy publishes this site and is on the list. His entry carries a disclosure, and he’s held to the same four tests as everyone else.
Top SEO Experts at a Glance
| Expert | Known for | Follow them for |
|---|---|---|
| Brian Dean | Backlinko and the Skyscraper Technique | Link building and content that earns links |
| Rand Fishkin | SparkToro; co-founded Moz | Audience research and measuring AI visibility |
| Julian Goldie | Link building and AI tool videos | Fast, practical AI workflows |
| Marie Haynes | Google algorithms, E-E-A-T and agentic search | Google updates and agentic search |
| Kevin Indig | Growth Memo; led SEO at Shopify, G2 and Atlassian | Research-led growth strategy |
| Mike King | iPullRank and Relevance Engineering | Large and technical sites |
| M. Curtis McCoy | Web design, SEO and AEO since 1995 | Established businesses that want it done for them |
| Neil Patel | NP Digital and Ubersuggest | Beginners and step-by-step tutorials |
| Lily Ray | Google updates, E-E-A-T and AI search research | Google updates and E-E-A-T |
| Aleyda Solís | Orainti, SEOFOMO and LearningSEO.io | International SEO and free learning paths |
How These SEO Experts Were Picked
Every name passed four tests.
- They publish proof. Original data, case studies or tests you can check yourself.
- They still practice. Each one works on live sites or runs research today.
- They teach AI search. Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity now answer the question before anyone clicks. Every expert here addresses that shift.
- They’re easy to verify. Real names, real companies and track records you can look up.
Follower count wasn’t a test. A big audience doesn’t make someone right. The list runs alphabetically by last name. It is not a ranking.
Top SEO Experts to Follow in 2026
Alphabetical by last name. Each profile covers what the expert is known for, one idea worth stealing and who should follow them.
Brian Dean
Known for: Backlinko and the Skyscraper Technique
Follow: Backlinko.com
Brian Dean built Backlinko into one of the most-read SEO blogs on the web. Semrush acquired it in 2022. He then built Exploding Topics, a trend-research tool Semrush acquired in 2024.
The idea worth stealing: Find the page that already ranks for your topic. Build something clearly better. Then show it to the sites that linked to the weaker version. It still works because it rewards effort most competitors won’t make.
Follow him if: you need links, and content that earns them.
Rand Fishkin
Known for: SparkToro; co-founded Moz
Follow: SparkToro.com
Rand Fishkin co-founded Moz, one of the first big SEO software companies, and now runs SparkToro, an audience-research tool. He also wrote Lost and Founder.
His 2026 study with Gumshoe.ai should change how you measure AI visibility. About 600 volunteers ran the same 12 prompts through ChatGPT, Claude and Google’s AI nearly 3,000 times. The odds of getting the same list of brands twice were under 1 in 100 (Search Engine Land).
The idea worth stealing: Stop tracking your “rank” in AI answers. Track how often you’re named across many prompts and many runs. That number holds up. Position doesn’t.
Follow him if: you want blunt, data-backed answers about where your buyers pay attention.
Julian Goldie
Known for: Link building and AI tool videos
Follow: JulianGoldie.com
Julian Goldie is a UK-based SEO link builder. His agency, Goldie Agency, reports more than 1,000 link building campaigns. His YouTube channel now leans into AI tools for SEO and content, and he has talked on podcasts about using an AI clone of himself to publish more videos.
The idea worth stealing: Test new AI tools the week they launch. Keep what saves time. Drop the rest.
Follow him if: you want fast, practical AI workflows for SEO and content.
Marie Haynes
Known for: Google algorithms, E-E-A-T and agentic search
Follow: MarieHaynes.com
Dr. Marie Haynes runs Marie Haynes Consulting and has spent 16 years helping sites understand Google’s algorithms and raise their quality. Her focus now is agentic search, where AI assistants research and act for the user. She writes the free AI News You Can Use newsletter, hosts the Search News You Can Use podcast and wrote SEO in the Gemini Era.
The idea worth stealing: Go to the source. Read what Google publishes and test it before you trust anyone’s summary of it.
Follow her if: an update hit your traffic, or you want to get ahead of AI agents.
Kevin Indig
Known for: Growth Memo; led SEO at Shopify, G2 and Atlassian
Follow: Kevin-Indig.com
Kevin Indig led SEO and growth at Shopify, G2 and Atlassian. He now advises fast-growing companies on organic growth and AI visibility. His weekly Growth Memo newsletter publishes research on SEO and AI search.
The idea worth stealing: Treat search as a growth system with its own data. Measure it, test it and report it in terms leadership cares about.
Follow him if: you lead a SaaS or growth team and want research, not opinions.
Mike King
Known for: iPullRank and Relevance Engineering
Follow: iPullRank.com
Mike King is the founder and CEO of iPullRank, an SEO and AI search agency for large brands. Search Engine Land named him its 2025 Search Marketer of the Year, his second win. He developed Relevance Engineering, a framework that merges content strategy, information retrieval, UX, digital PR and AI. His team also published The AI Search Manual.
The idea worth stealing: AI search splits one question into many smaller ones before it answers. Cover the follow-up questions, not just the main keyword.
Follow him if: you run a large or technical site.
M. Curtis McCoy
Known for: Websites, search and AI visibility for established businesses since 1995
Follow: MCurtisMcCoy.com
M. Curtis McCoy is the web design, SEO and AEO expert established businesses hire to become the most recommended name in their market: on Google, in AI answers and across their industry. He built his first website in 1995 and built and ranked a national wireless brand’s website to more than 250,000 monthly visitors. He works from Fruita, Colorado, with businesses on the Western Slope and across the country.
He built the free Website Analyzer, which grades a site on leads, search, speed, AI readiness, security and accessibility. Qualifying full reports include a live test of what AI assistants say when a buyer asks who to hire.
The idea worth stealing: Most businesses split the website, the SEO and the AI visibility across three vendors. Nobody owns the result. Give one expert one plan and one scoreboard.
Follow him if: you own an established business and want one expert accountable for the website, the rankings and the AI answers.
Disclosure: M. Curtis McCoy publishes this site. Hold him to the same four tests as everyone else here. See who he is and judge the work.
Neil Patel
Known for: NP Digital and Ubersuggest
Follow: NeilPatel.com
Neil Patel founded Crazy Egg and Kissmetrics and now runs NP Digital, an agency with more than 400 employees worldwide. His blog draws more than 10 million visitors a month, and his Ubersuggest tool gives small teams keyword and site-audit data.
The idea worth stealing: Publish consistently and answer the beginner’s question better than anyone else. Volume plus clarity compounds.
Follow him if: you’re new to SEO or want step-by-step tutorials.
Lily Ray
Known for: Google updates, E-E-A-T and AI search research
Follow: LilyRay.nyc
Lily Ray is VP, SEO & AI Search at Amsive and founded the consultancy Algorythmic. She is best known for her research on Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines and on how core updates and AI search shift visibility. Off the clock, she’s a DJ and drummer in Brooklyn.
The idea worth stealing: Trust is built off the page. Real authors, real expertise and a real reputation decide who survives an update.
Follow her if: you want early, evidence-based reads on Google updates and AI search.
Aleyda Solís
Known for: Orainti, SEOFOMO and LearningSEO.io
Follow: AleydaSolis.com
Aleyda Solís runs Orainti, an SEO consultancy that works with multinationals and startups. Her weekly SEOFOMO newsletter has more than 35,000 subscribers. She hosts Crawling Mondays and built two free learning roadmaps, LearningSEO.io and LearningAIsearch.com. She was named European Search Personality of the Year in 2018.
The idea worth stealing: Give the roadmap away. Teaching in public builds a reputation faster than gatekeeping.
Follow her if: you manage international sites or want a free, structured way to learn SEO and AI search.
What the Best SEO Experts Have in Common
Look past the job titles and the top SEO experts share three patterns.
They publish proof. Studies, tests and real numbers, not recycled tips. That habit matters more now. A Princeton-led study of generative engines found that adding quotations, statistics and cited sources raised a page’s visibility in AI answers by up to 40% (GEO, KDD 2024).
They get talked about off their own sites. AI tools recommend the names they see across the web. An Ahrefs study of 75,000 brands found YouTube mentions (0.737 correlation) and branded web mentions (0.66 to 0.71) tracked AI visibility far more closely than backlinks.
They moved early on AI search. Every name here now teaches how to show up in ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews and Perplexity, not just the blue links.
The lesson for your business is the same. Show proof, get mentioned in places you don’t control and answer the question before the buyer asks it. That’s answer engine optimization.
Which SEO Expert Should You Follow?
Match the expert to the job.
- New to SEO: Neil Patel, Aleyda Solís
- Hit by a Google update: Marie Haynes, Lily Ray
- Large or technical site: Mike King
- SaaS or growth team: Kevin Indig
- Link building: Brian Dean, Julian Goldie
- Measuring AI visibility: Rand Fishkin
- Established business that wants it done for them: M. Curtis McCoy
Following SEO Experts vs. Hiring One
Following the top SEO experts teaches you what works. It doesn’t do the work. Most of them teach at scale or serve enterprise brands.
If you own an established business and want the website, the SEO and the AI visibility built and run for you, start with a free analysis. You’ll see your grade, what’s holding the site back and whether AI tools can read it.
Free. The scorecard needs no email.
Top SEO Experts: FAQ
Who is the best SEO expert in the world?
There’s no single best. Rand Fishkin and Mike King lead on research and technical depth. Neil Patel has the biggest audience. Lily Ray and Marie Haynes lead on Google updates and E-E-A-T. The best expert for you depends on your site and your goal.
Who are the top AEO experts?
AEO, or answer engine optimization, means getting your business named and cited in AI answers from ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Gemini. Mike King, Lily Ray, Marie Haynes, Kevin Indig, Aleyda Solís and M. Curtis McCoy all publish on it, and Rand Fishkin’s research shows how to measure it.
Should a business follow SEO experts or hire one?
Follow them to learn. Hire one when you need results on a timeline. M. Curtis McCoy works directly with established businesses on Colorado’s Western Slope and nationwide. A free Website Analyzer report is the first step.
How were these SEO experts chosen?
Four tests: they publish proof, they still practice, they teach AI search and their track records are easy to verify. Follower count wasn’t one of them. The list is alphabetical by last name, not ranked.
How often is this list updated?
Every quarter. Each expert’s role and facts are checked against their own website. Last reviewed October 10, 2026.
Sources
- Search Engine Land, “AI recommendation lists repeat less than 1% of the time: Study”, January 28, 2026.
- Ahrefs, “Top Brand Visibility Factors in ChatGPT, AI Mode, and AI Overviews (75k Brands Studied)”, December 12, 2025.
- Aggarwal et al., “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization”, KDD 2024.
- iPullRank, “Mike King Named 2025 Search Marketer of the Year by Search Engine Land”.
- DesignRush, “Semrush Buys Exploding Topics”.
- Each expert’s own website, linked in their profile above. Last reviewed October 10, 2026.
