Last Updated on February 18, 2026 by Michael Moshkovich
The SEO landscape never stops evolving, and February 2026 is proving to be one of the most transformative months in recent memory. From AI-driven search experiences reshaping how users find information to Google’s continued push toward entity-based understanding, staying ahead means adapting fast. Here are 10 SEO trends you need to know right now.
1. AI Overviews Now Dominate 40% of Search Results
Google’s AI Overviews (formerly SGE) have expanded dramatically. As of February 2026, AI-generated summaries appear in roughly 40% of informational queries. The impact on organic CTR is real – pages that get cited in AI Overviews see a 2-3x boost in traffic, while those that don’t are seeing significant drops. The key to getting cited? Structured, authoritative content with clear entity relationships and direct answers to specific questions.
Sources: Search Engine Land, Search Engine Roundtable
2. Entity SEO Has Replaced Keyword SEO
Google’s March 2025 core update made it crystal clear: the algorithm now thinks in entities, not keywords. Pages that establish clear relationships between entities (brand + service + location + attributes) consistently outrank keyword-stuffed competitors. If your content doesn’t align with Knowledge Graph expectations, you’re invisible. Build your pages around semantic triples – subject, predicate, object – and watch your rankings stabilize.
Related: How Google Uses Graph Foundation Models to understand entity relationships
Sources: Search Engine Journal, Moz
3. Zero-Click Searches Hit 65%
Nearly two-thirds of all Google searches now end without a click to any website. Between AI Overviews, featured snippets, People Also Ask, and Knowledge Panels, Google is answering more queries directly on the SERP. The strategy shift? Optimize for brand visibility within these SERP features rather than fighting exclusively for blue link clicks. Schema markup, FAQ sections, and concise answer formatting are non-negotiable.
4. LLM-Friendly Content Is the New Technical SEO
ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini are now significant traffic sources for many sites. Optimizing for LLM citation – sometimes called Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) – requires a different approach than traditional SEO. Clear definitions, structured data, authoritative sourcing, and content that reads well when extracted out of context all increase your chances of being cited by AI assistants. If your content can’t be cleanly parsed by an LLM, it won’t be recommended by one.
Related: The truth about using AI content for SEO
5. Google’s Site Reputation Abuse Policy Is Reshaping Link Building
Google’s crackdown on “parasite SEO” that started in late 2024 has fundamentally changed how link building works in 2026. Third-party content on high-authority domains (think Forbes Advisor-style affiliate pages) is being actively demoted. The winners are sites building genuine topical authority through original research, expert content, and earned media. Digital PR and thought leadership content are outperforming traditional guest posting by a wide margin. This evolution in link building traces back to the original principles of how the Google PageRank patent still influences modern SEO.
Sources: Google Search Central, Search Engine Land
6. Core Web Vitals 2.0: Interaction to Next Paint (INP) Is King
Google’s replacement of First Input Delay (FID) with Interaction to Next Paint (INP) has been fully rolled out, and sites that ignored it are paying the price. INP measures responsiveness across ALL interactions, not just the first one. JavaScript-heavy sites with poor INP scores are seeing ranking drops of 5-15 positions. The fix? Lazy loading, code splitting, and aggressive reduction of main thread blocking time.
Sources: web.dev, Google Developers
7. Video SEO Is Exploding (Especially Short-Form)
Google is surfacing video content in more SERP positions than ever, and short-form video (under 60 seconds) is dominating. YouTube Shorts, embedded TikToks, and Instagram Reels are appearing in standard search results alongside traditional web pages. For service businesses, this means creating short explainer videos for your core services and embedding them on landing pages. Pages with relevant video content are seeing 30-40% higher engagement metrics.
Sources: Google Blog, Think with Google
8. Local SEO: Google Business Profile AI Features
Google Business Profile has rolled out AI-powered features that auto-generate business descriptions and suggest services based on review analysis. While convenient, businesses that let Google auto-populate are missing a huge opportunity. Manually crafting your GBP description with strategic entity alignment, service keywords, and location signals still significantly outperforms the AI defaults. Also new: GBP now supports structured FAQ sections that appear directly in local pack results.
Sources: Google Business Profile Help, BrightLocal
9. Topical Authority Scoring Is Now Measurable
Multiple SEO tools (Semrush, Ahrefs, and Surfer) have released topical authority metrics in early 2026, making it possible to quantify what Google has been doing algorithmically for years. Sites with deep coverage of a topic cluster – interconnected content covering a subject from multiple angles – consistently outrank sites with thin, scattered coverage. The takeaway: publish depth, not breadth. A site with 50 deeply interlinked pages on one topic will outrank a site with 500 shallow pages across many topics.
Sources: Semrush, Surfer SEO
10. First-Party Data SEO: Privacy-First Optimization
With third-party cookies finally dead across all major browsers, SEO and first-party data strategies are converging. Smart marketers are using on-site engagement data (scroll depth, time on page, internal search queries) to identify content gaps and optimize conversion paths. Google Analytics 4’s enhanced measurement combined with server-side tracking gives SEOs unprecedented insight into user behavior – but only if you’ve set it up correctly. The sites winning in 2026 are the ones treating their own data as their most valuable SEO asset. If you need a practical framework for this, check out our guide to making your digital marketing campaign data-driven.
Sources: Google Privacy Sandbox, Search Engine Journal
The Bottom Line
February 2026 is all about one theme: intelligence over volume. Whether it’s entity-based content, LLM-friendly formatting, or first-party data strategies, the common thread is that smart, structured, authoritative content wins. The days of brute-forcing rankings with keyword density and mass link building are over. Build for entities, optimize for AI citation, and invest in genuine topical authority. That’s how you win in 2026.
And for a deep dive into the cognitive science behind why these strategies work, explore how Information Foraging Theory explains why some pages rank and others don’t.