The 14 Best SEO & AI-Search Podcasts of 2026 (Ranked & Reviewed)
By Matthew Bertram · Updated July 2026 · Every show checked against Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and its own feed.
The best SEO and AI-search podcasts to follow in 2026 are Google’s Search Off the Record, Voices of Search, The Best SEO Podcast, Search News You Can Use with Marie Haynes, and The Long Game. All five are actively publishing in 2026 and all cover how AI answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google’s AI Overviews — are reshaping search, not just traditional Google rankings. The full ranked list of 14 active shows is below, with how we chose them and answers to the questions people ask most.
Comparison: the 14 best SEO & AI-search podcasts in 2026
| # | Podcast | Host(s) | Focus | AI-search | Cadence | Since |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Search Off the Record | Google Search Relations | How Google Search & crawling work | Core | ~Monthly | 2020 |
| 2 | Voices of Search | Benjamin Shapiro | Enterprise SEO & content, SEO→GEO | Core | Daily | 2018 |
| 3 | The Best SEO Podcast | Matthew Bertram & Chris Burres | SEO, AI search & LLM visibility for operators | Core | Weekly | 2009 |
| 4 | Search News You Can Use | Dr. Marie Haynes | Google updates, AI Overviews, AI Mode | Core | ~10 days | 2018 |
| 5 | The Long Game | Omniscient Digital | Content strategy, GEO, business outcomes | Core | ~Biweekly | 2020 |
| 6 | Crawling Mondays | Aleyda Solís | International SEO & AI search | Core | Irregular | 2020 |
| 7 | The Edward Show | Edward Sturm | Daily SEO & AI-search experiments | Core | Daily | 2023 |
| 8 | GEO Research Suite | Olaf Kopp | Patents, research, LLMO/GEO | Core | 1–2×/wk | 2024 |
| 9 | Experts on the Wire | Dan Shure | Practitioner interviews, AI shift | Occasional→Core | Irregular | 2016 |
| 10 | Search with Candour | Chambers-Ward & Williams-Cook | UK/EU SEO, technical depth | Occasional→Core | Weekly | 2019 |
| 11 | EDGE of the Web | Erin Sparks | SEO news, analytics, AI traffic | Occasional→Core | Weekly | 2016 |
| 12 | The Authority Hacker Podcast | Breton & Webster | AI tools & automation for marketers | Occasional | Weekly | 2016 |
| 13 | The SEO Show | Costin & Fabik | Local/technical SEO (APAC) | Occasional | ~Weekly | 2021 |
| 14 | Marketing School | Neil Patel & Eric Siu | Broad daily marketing & SEO tips | Occasional | Daily | 2016 |
“Core” = AI search / answer-engine optimization is a recurring, central theme. “Occasional” = covered, but not the main focus.
How we ranked these podcasts
Four things decided the order, in this priority:
- Actively publishing in 2026. A show has to still be releasing episodes to make the ranked list. Several well-known shows have gone quiet since 2024–2025; those are in a “notable but dormant” note at the end rather than presented as current.
- AI-search relevance. The 2026 story is answer engines, not just ten blue links. Shows that treat AI search, AEO, and GEO as a core theme ranked above shows that mention it occasionally.
- Editorial depth and credibility. Named, verifiable hosts with a track record. We checked each host’s current role and each show’s most recent episode.
- Longevity and reach. A tiebreaker, not the headline.
Every fact below — host names, roles, first-air years, and most-recent-episode dates — was checked against at least three independent sources (each show’s own site plus Apple Podcasts and Spotify). Where a commonly repeated number couldn’t be verified, we left it out.
Full disclosure: The Best SEO Podcast is our own show. We’ve placed it where its 2009 start, 680+ episodes, and current LLM-visibility focus honestly put it — not at the top. Judge the rest of the list on its own merits regardless of where we sit.
The 14 best SEO & AI-search podcasts of 2026
1. Search Off the Record
The closest thing to a primary source in the industry: Google engineers explaining how crawling, indexing, and Search decisions are actually made. In 2026 they addressed LLM optimization head-on — the January 2026 episode on optimizing for LLMs is required listening precisely because it pushes back on several popular third-party AEO claims.
Best for: technical SEOs and product managers who want Google’s own position, not a guess about it.
2. Voices of Search
A daily, ~17-minute briefing that has leaned hard into the move from SEO to GEO. Recent episodes cover LLM citation analysis, AI-agent governance in search, and how enterprise teams restructure for answer engines. The daily cadence and deep back catalog make it a workhorse for staying current.
Best for: enterprise SEO and content leads who want a short daily signal.
3. The Best SEO Podcast
Full disclosure — this is our show, and one of the longest-running in the category, with 680+ episodes since 2009 and millions of downloads across 100+ countries. Formerly “The Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing,” it now centers on LLM visibility: making a brand citable by AI answer engines, not only rankable on Google. The angle is deliberately operator-first — built for founders and marketing leaders, not only SEO specialists.
Best for: operators and CMOs who want AI-search strategy in plain terms.
4. Search News You Can Use — with Marie Haynes
Haynes is known for careful, evidence-led analysis of Google’s algorithm and E-E-A-T, and the show has followed the industry straight into AI search — recent episodes tackle AI Overviews, AI Mode data in Search Console, agentic search, and how to become a preferred source for AI answers. Measured analysis, not hot takes.
Best for: site owners who want rigorous, current reads on every major update.
5. The Long Game
A content-strategy show that thinks in programs and business outcomes rather than tactics. GEO has become a recurring theme, and the hosts are usefully skeptical — their “GEO Gold Rush” episode is a good antidote to vendor hype, separating what actually moves AI visibility from what just sounds good in a pitch.
Best for: content strategists and in-house leads who want the strategic view.
6. Crawling Mondays
Solís is one of the most respected independent voices in international and technical SEO, and she rebranded the show explicitly around “SEO and AI search optimization.” Episodes mix full interviews with fast news recaps, and she consistently turns AI-search developments into concrete process changes.
Best for: international and technical SEOs who want practitioner-grade depth.
7. The Edward Show
A daily, short-form show built on live experiments: what actually gets cited in ChatGPT and Perplexity, how AI Overviews shift traffic, and where GEO and SEO diverge. Sturm co-published 2026 research suggesting expert quotes can lift AI-Overview citations within hours — the kind of testable claim the show is known for.
Best for: listeners who want a fast daily habit and experiment-driven takes.
8. GEO Research Suite
The most research-grounded show on this list. Kopp works through Google patents, academic papers, and E-E-A-T signals to reason about how generative engines actually retrieve and cite — a recent episode dissected an OpenAI patent on distilled response engines. If most AEO advice feels too hand-wavy, start here.
Best for: technical readers who want the mechanics behind AI-search behavior.
9. Experts on the Wire
A long-running interview show known for depth over volume. After a quiet stretch it rebooted in 2026 with a clear AI-search bent, including a named framework for optimizing on-page content for LLM retrieval. Fewer episodes, but each goes deep.
Best for: intermediate-to-advanced SEOs who prefer long, substantive interviews.
10. Search with Candour
A dependable weekly news-plus-interview show with strong technical grounding and a candid UK-market perspective. Recent episodes cover tracking AI-search visibility in GA4 and Google’s AI Mode rollout, and the AI focus is clearly increasing.
Best for: UK/EU practitioners who want a reliable weekly briefing.
11. EDGE of the Web
A veteran weekly show covering the full digital-marketing spectrum, with a recurring “AI/SEO news” segment and practical episodes on measuring AI-driven traffic in GA4 — a gap most shows still haven’t addressed at a technical level.
Best for: agency practitioners who want a broad weekly roundup.
12. The Authority Hacker Podcast
Once a pure authority-site SEO show, it has pivoted to hands-on AI tools and automation for marketers — testing models and building revenue-generating workflows. Less about AI-search visibility as a discipline, more about using AI to run a lean content business, with a refreshingly against-the-hype tone.
Best for: solo operators and small teams building with AI tools.
13. The SEO Show
An applied, no-hype show strong on local and technical SEO from an APAC perspective. A 2026 episode on how a typical local service business shows up (or fails to) in ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini is a rare practitioner-level look at local AI visibility.
Best for: local businesses and APAC-market SEOs who want applied guidance.
14. Marketing School
One of the highest-volume marketing shows anywhere, with thousands of short daily episodes. SEO is a regular topic and AI comes up often — usually from a business-strategy angle rather than a technical AI-search one. Best as a broad daily pulse, not a deep AEO resource.
Best for: busy generalists and founders who want a two-minute daily marketing hit.
Two to watch
Two newer, AEO-native shows are worth a subscription even though their episode counts are still small: The AI Search Report by Nathan Gotch of Rankability, and The AEO Show by Kasim Aslam. Both are built entirely around AI search; both are early enough that cadence is still finding its footing.
Notable but dormant
A few excellent shows have gone quiet but still have back catalogs worth mining: Rankable (iPullRank) closed with a 20-chapter “AI Search Manual” series that stands alone as a GEO curriculum; SERP’s Up (Mordy Oberstein & Crystal Carter at Wix); and Contrarian Marketing (Kevin Indig & Eli Schwartz). If any resume, they’d earn a place on the active list.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best SEO podcast in 2026?
For most listeners, Search Off the Record (Google’s own show) and Voices of Search are the two strongest all-round picks: one gives you the source of truth on how Search works, the other a daily briefing that now centers on AI search. For an operator-focused take on AI visibility specifically, The Best SEO Podcast is built for that audience.
Which podcast is best for AI search, AEO, or GEO?
For the mechanics, GEO Research Suite with Olaf Kopp is the most research-grounded. For practical, current coverage, Search News You Can Use, The Long Game, and Voices of Search all treat AI search as a core theme. AEO and GEO both refer to optimizing to be cited by AI answer engines rather than only ranked in traditional search.
What is the best free SEO podcast?
Every podcast on this list is free to listen to on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and most major players.
What’s the best SEO podcast for beginners?
Marketing School and The Best SEO Podcast are the most approachable starting points — short episodes, plain language, and enough context that you don’t need a technical background. Search with Candour and Crawling Mondays add depth as you get more comfortable.
How did you choose and rank these podcasts?
We limited the ranked list to shows actively publishing in 2026, then weighted AI-search relevance, editorial credibility, and longevity. Every fact was checked against at least three independent sources. One show, The Best SEO Podcast, is our own — disclosed plainly and placed on merit rather than at the top.
About the author
Matthew Bertram is the CEO of EWR Digital and host of The Best SEO Podcast, which has published since 2009. He created the LLM Visibility® framework, speaks on AI search and discoverability, and writes on SEO and AI search for outlets including Search Engine Journal. More about Matthew Bertram.
Last reviewed: July 2026. We update this list as shows launch, pause, or shift focus.
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