The last two years brought nonstop shifts in search—from GEO rollout to LLM referrals to entire keyword categories shape-shifting overnight. But entering 2026, something important has happened: we can finally see the contours of the new search landscape.

It’s certainly not calm. But it is looking understandable.

Our testing reveals the same message again and again:

• SEO is still foundational

• GEO isn’t “the same” as SEO, but it relies on many of the same guiding principles

• Brands investing in quality, authority, and technical excellence are gaining on the rest

Despite all the change, somehow the opportunity seems clearer than it’s been in. . . well, years! But so is the cost of the wrong strategies. 

Here are 3 things B2B marketers should know in 2026.

1. The Fundamentals Still Win—But They’ve Evolved

Technical excellence, authoritative content, and backlink strength remain the foundation of organic and GEO success. What’s changed is the threshold required to compete.

Search is more demanding. LLMs are more selective. Users are less patient.

High-Value Content LLMs Want to Cite

Google and LLMs are no longer rewarding pages that merely repackage existing ideas. They want clarity, expertise, and something original—and users want the same. The pages that consistently perform well in blue links and AI Overviews have a few traits in common:

• Original insights or commentary—especially about your niche

• Proprietary data, visuals, and graphs, even lightweight ones

• Clear answers (AKA “answer capsules”) that get to the point quickly

• Logical, scannable structure LLMs can digest easily

If the page doesn’t add new value, the algorithm shrugs and moves on.

Technical SEO is Important as Ever

If great content is the engine, technical SEO is the foundation that keeps the whole structure from collapsing. It’s one of the clearest differentiators between sites growing in 2026 and sites quietly sinking.

Common issues we still see far too often:

• Sluggish LCP and INP

• Overly complex URL structures

• Orphaned or underlinked pages lost in an archipelago of content

None of this is very glamorous. But resolving these issues directly improves both human trust and machine trust—and everything we’ve tested shows that GEO visibility, LLM citations, and organic rankings all rely on the same underlying stability.

Backlinks and Authority are Still Essential

Backlinks are not a nostalgic artifact from SEO’s early years. They’re one of the few durable signals Google and LLMs still use to determine whether your content is worth returning, ranking, or citing. 

As for those traditional organic blue links, they still drive the majority of high-value traffic, especially for B2B in high-intent actions like demos, consultations, pricing requests, and enterprise decision-making. In other words: traditional authority still dictates who users trust when and where it matters most.

2. The Landscape Is Changing—You Need to Adapt

The foundation matters, but marketers can’t rely on the same static playbook. User behavior is still evolving, AI tools are reshaping query patterns, and new channels are impossible to ignore.

Keyword Research Is Shifting (Yes, Those Weird Long-Tails Are Real)

Many new, hyper-specific long-tail queries entering tools are LLM-influenced, coming from AI chatbots with elaborate or oddly phrased prompts that later spill into search and referral traffic. The important thing: These oddball keywords convert.

AI referral traffic has consistently shown to provide above-average engaged sessions and conversion rates. Treat it as a different channel—but one worth pursuing. If you’re quick, you can own these emerging long-tail spaces before competitors even notice they exist.

That said, don’t think you need to exact match these elaborate keywords to captialize on their traffic. That’s a strategy that lost it’s value (many!) years ago. Develop content that answers that long and awkward keyword question, not that replicates the keyword exactly.

Count LLM Referral Traffic as Organic

LLM traffic is still messy in GA4—sometimes “direct,” sometimes “referral,” sometimes “other,” sometimes custom-tagged if you configured it manually. But the behavior shows what’s happening:

• Users starts with an information need

• The LLM rewards authority, expertise, and clarity

• The session leads to meaningful conversions on B2B sites

In other words: LLM referral traffic is organic traffic. Fold it into your organic reporting. It belongs there.

Expect Users to Tire of AI Video and Images

Some industry voices in late 2025 still recommend filling your content with auto-generated images and videos. We are very tired of hearing this. Our engagement data shows a consistent pattern:

• Users scroll past AI images faster

• Time on page drops when there’s too much synthetic media

• Trust decreases when visuals feel uncanny or generic

Use AI visuals sparingly, only when they legitimately enhance comprehension (like diagrams), not as decoration.

Google and ChatGPT Will Crack Down Harder on AI Slop

Content mills didn’t suddenly become high-quality because of AI—they just became much more efficient at producing mediocrity. And search platforms are responding.

We’re already seeing:

• Faster performance drop-off for poor content

• Reduced GEO visibility for derivative pages

• Lower LLM citation rates for generic summaries

Your best-performing content in 2026 will likely be the posts you invested real time and expertise into—not the ones auto-generated on a Tuesday night.

The SEO Rich Will Get Richer

There’s a lot of chatter about shrinking web traffic, and yes—many sites are seeing declines. But here’s the part we’re seeing: highly optimized, authoritative sites are growing. Sometimes dramatically.

Across Saltbox’s dataset, the strongest domains aren’t losing traffic. They’re actually pulling away.

3. Some New SEO/GEO Strategies? They’re a Waste of Time

Resources are finite, and not every “future-proofing” idea deserves your attention. In 2026, knowing what not to spend time on is just as important as knowing what works.

llms.txt (The Easiest “No” of the Year)

Our Saltbox analysis was unambiguous: llms.txt does nothing measurable.

llms.txt is fine to experiment with if you enjoy tinkering, but it’s not a growth lever—nor will it fix deeper SEO issues. If time and resources are limited, focus on the tactics that actually correlate with performance.

Backlink Packages are Still a Waste of Money

It’s 2026, and somehow backlink packages are still being sold like they’re insider shortcuts. They aren’t. They’re the fastest way to:

• Pollute your backlink profile

• Pay for links you’ll later have to disavow

• Signal to Google you’re more interested in shortcuts than authority

If someone promises “50 high-DA links delivered in 7 days,” you already know what you’re buying—nothing.

Hidden Prompt Injection and Other Sketchy LLM Directives?

A new (and terrible) tactic has been circulating: embedding hidden prompts or covert instructions in your site’s code to influence how LLMs or LLM-powered browsers behave. Think invisible text that tries to tell ChatGPT what to output, metadata that includes “secret” commands, or JavaScript hacks meant to override the model’s judgment.

If an agency pitches this kind of “LLM optimization” with a straight face, that’s your cue to end the call, close the tab, and maybe reevaluate the partnership that led you there.

The B2B Gap Is Widening—How to Stay on the Right Side

Despite all the upheaval, 2026 may be one of the strongest years for brands that are willing to do SEO and GEO the right way. The gap between high-performing sites and everyone else is widening, not because of new tricks, but because of effective strategy.

The platforms will keep evolving. User patterns will shift again. But the companies that anchor their strategy in these durable principles are the ones poised to win—not just in 2026, but in each and every version of search comes next.

If you want to understand where your site stands today (or how to get where you need to be), reach out to the team. Saltbox is ready to dig in with you.