E-commerce SEO in 2026: 9 experts predict what's coming (and what's changing)

"My boldest prediction for eCommerce SEO in 2026 is that 'Organic Shopping' will overtake both revenue and traffic generation from category pages. Historically, category pages (PLPs) were a core driver of non-brand revenue for eCom businesses. With Google's recent AI Mode changes and ChatGPT using shopping feeds, I believe this will accelerate growth from organic shopping sources.

One even larger prediction is that in-SERP checkouts will slowly start to become normalised as 'agentic' commerce features are rolled out by Google and others."

"I believe that eCommerce SEO is going to have its biggest moment in the last 5-10 years. Previously, many brands have ignored SEO in favor of paid ads. And while SEO is not a requirement for a successful eCom brand (there are plenty of 8-9 figure brands that have never invested in SEO), I believe that the circumstances have changed, and brands will pour more money, time, and overall resources into SEO x GEO.

I believe the main reason is FOMO (fear of missing out), as LLMs are a blue ocean channel that helps brands reduce their reliance on paid ad platforms while also reaching completely net-new customers. I think SEO is no longer going to be a nice-to-have in 2026; it'll be a must-have."

"Don't believe the rumors, SEO is NOT dead. Instead of chasing after new AI tools, go back to the basics.

Customers shop from brands they trust, and you can't replace that with AI. Focus on creating a great product customers will love and make sure that's visible on your website. Word-of-mouth marketing (which, surprise! helps SEO) will always be important.

A clean, well-optimized product feed for 2026 should also be your focus. The better Google understands your products, the better they can serve them. Google Shopping will only continue to take over SERPs, and the cleaner the data, the more opportunities to capitalize on visibility."

"E-commerce brands are tired of paying $5K-$15K monthly for vague SEO 'optimization' with unclear returns, especially because for many ecom brands, SEO is an add-on to their existing paid strategy.

In 2026, I expect a decisive shift toward focused, sprint-based SEO projects. Brands will demand specific projected revenue outcomes before signing anything - not rankings, not traffic, but projected dollar impact tied to fixable revenue gaps.

Each sprint will have a cost, a projected capture, and a measurable before/after. Conservative math will beat vague promises, and a narrow focus on a fixable gap will bring more revenue than doing 'a little bit of everything'."

"My boldest prediction for e-commerce SEO in 2026:

Agentic shopping will quietly break traditional SEO measurement long before most teams realise it has happened.

As AI shopping agents increasingly research, compare, shortlist and even transact on behalf of users, the line between 'human' and 'non-human' behaviour will become almost impossible to reliably measure. We are already seeing the early signs: LLM referral black holes, missing attribution, and a complete lack of clarity around AI Mode, AI Overviews and agent-driven journeys in GSC and GA.

By 2026, standard performance metrics will lag reality. Traffic, CTR and even conversion paths will tell only part of the story. The brands and SEOs who win will be those who can rebuild measurement from first principles, blending structured data visibility, product-level retrieval signals, log-level analysis, experimentation and proxy indicators to infer agent behaviour with confidence."

"In 2026, product feeds in Belgium and the Netherlands will become more important than ever. This is driven not only by the continued growth of organic product listings within search engines, but also by the rise of AI-driven search and shopping interfaces, such as ChatGPT. Increasingly, these environments serve as the starting point of the purchase process, where products are directly shown, compared, and selected based on structured product data.

For webshops, this means that e-commerce SEO is shifting further from traditional page optimization to product feed optimization. Quality, completeness, and timeliness of product data (such as titles, descriptions, prices, availability, and images) become decisive for organic visibility and conversion opportunities.

Webshops that already invest in high-quality, well-maintained product feeds are building a scalable foundation for multiple organic channels. Not only for search engines, but also for emerging AI platforms where product discovery and purchase increasingly take place within the same interface."

"I would say something we're already seeing and will continue to be even bigger in 2026 is agentic e-commerce. Google and LLMs are looking to shorten the buyers journey as much as possible, so brands should expect to continue to lose even more traffic, but the traffic that does end up on your site will convert even higher than traditional search!

Additionally, I feel AI SEO and tracking how you're showing up in LLMs will be imperative and not just a nice to have. Since, you can't improve something that you're not able to track."

"E-commerce is shifting from search engines to answer engines, fundamentally changing product discovery. By 2026, consumers will ask conversational questions rather than typing keywords, and AI assistants will provide single recommendations instead of result lists. Visibility depends on being mentioned in that answer. AI systems use Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), scanning top results to synthesize responses. To be included, you need contextually enriched product data across three layers: detailed product pages with use cases and Q&As, strategic product feeds (ideally split between paid and organic to enable safe experimentation), and flawless structured data using Product and FAQPage schema.

Transactions are moving inside AI interfaces through 'instant checkout' and autonomous agents. Google and OpenAI are enabling purchases directly within their platforms, while autonomous AI agents will soon shop independently—comparing prices, checking reputations, and placing orders without human intervention. This requires optimizing for "Bot Experience" (BX): real-time API connections for inventory and pricing, perfect technical accessibility, and strong reputation signals across all platforms. The 2026 winners won't have the biggest marketing budgets, but will be the most reliable, structured, and trustworthy information sources for AI systems."

"Google has innovated a lot over the past three years, largely driven by the need to catch up with OpenAI. Now that Google finds itself in a comfortable position in the AI race, I predict they'll ease off the accelerator somewhat. I don't believe AI Mode will become the dominant search experience anytime soon. Google first needs to prove it can replace their primary cash cow (Search) without cannibalizing it.

Instead, I expect Google to focus on refining and fine-tuning everything they've launched recently, and make sure that their grip on the (AI) market remains tight. For e-commerce SEO, this means significant growth opportunities lie in optimizing for the current reality: a SERP increasingly dominated by organic shopping carousels and product listings. While agentic commerce may be emerging, I'm skeptical it will become a meaningful revenue source for e-commerce brands in 2026. The real wins will come from mastering today's SERP landscape, not chasing tomorrow's uncertain formats."