Does my business really need SEO in 2026?
(Real questions from real business owners)
Over the past few months, I have had the same conversation with very different business owners again and again.
A ceramicist with 30 years of experience whose Instagram is full of beautiful work (I want to buy it all) but whose online shop is not converting.
A funeral director who invested in keyword research but has no idea how to turn it into results.
Different businesses. Different stages. But almost identical questions about SEO.
Here is what came up, and what I told them.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
SEO is not dead. AI still uses SEO foundations to decide which businesses to recommend.
A beautiful website means nothing if no one can find it.
Keyword research is only the recipe. Until it is cooked, nothing changes.
Instagram followers are not clients. Google is where people go when they are ready to buy.
Every month you delay SEO, you fall further behind. Start now.
IS SEO still relevant in 2026?
There is a lot of talk about AI replacing Google or SEO becoming obsolete. But here is my take on what I see every day as an SEO-accredited consultant.
AI is evolving, yes. But AI still uses SEO foundations to pick one business over another. Keyword research, content strategy, and backlinks. I still search on Google when I need to find a local service. Like me, millions of people still do that every day. Google handles around 14 billion searches a day, compared to 2.5 billion for ChatGPT. Pretty big difference.
AI reads the standard SEO work that we do. It learns from it.
If you wait two years to start, you will be behind on Google rankings and AI visibility. The businesses starting now will be ready when the landscape shifts again.
My website looks fine. Why isn't it getting sales?
Katherine makes some of the most beautiful ceramics I have ever seen. Clean website, stunning photography, genuinely appealing product. And yet.
When I looked at her shop, more than half the products were sold out. Not hidden. Just sitting there with a sold-out badge, one after another. When you see that, you stop scrolling. You assume everything is unavailable and leave.
One of the reasons Katherine is losing customers is that her shop looks closed. The fix is simple: move sold-out pieces to a Past Products gallery. But here is the bigger point.
SEO brings people to your door. Your website has to do the rest.
But first, people need to find you. Imagine if every time someone in Sydney searched for handmade ceramics, Katherine's name came up. That's exactly what SEO does.
I already paid for keyword research. Isn't that enough?
Olivia had done the work. Around 20 documents full of SEO data: keyword strategy, copy briefs, and suburb clusters. None of it was implemented. Sitting in a folder for two months.
Keyword research is the plan. Implementation is the build. Most people stop at the plan.
Until those words are on your pages, in your image file names, in your headings and meta descriptions, Google has nothing to read. For Olivia, the path forward was clear: get it onto the pages, optimise every image, and build out the suburb pages. That is the difference between a strategy and actually ranking.
Instagram is working for me. Why do I need SEO too?
Instagram is brilliant for building an audience and showing expertise. But followers are not customers. Likes are not bookings. And you are only visible to people who already follow you or catch your post at the right moment.
SEO works differently. When someone searches for a service in their area, they are not browsing. They are ready to hire. They just need to find the right person.
Instagram is where people discover you.
Google is where people decide.
I need to admit something. I put off SEO in my own business for years. Not systematic. Not consistent. And I missed out on 2 to 3 years of potential growth.
In the last two years, I got serious. New leads come in every week from Google and AI, people are actively looking for exactly what I offer. (Both business owners in this post found me through Google. That is my SEO working.)
Get the foundations right over three months, and you are set up for years. The sooner you start, the sooner you grow.
What should I actually do first?
So after all these conversations, here is what I tell people to do first.
If you are just starting out:
Set up Google Search Console and submit your sitemap.
Set up Google My Business and ask your three favourite clients for a review.
Name your images properly. Not IMG_4832.jpg. Something like ceramic-soap-dish-sydney.jpg.
If you already have a website:
Remove anything from your shop or services page that is not currently available.
Check every page has a clear title and meta description.
Write one blog post a month answering a question your clients ask all the time.
And if you are ready to hand this over to someone seeing real results, I am opening a limited SEO retainer service with only five spots. Three months, personalised strategy, real implementation, month by month.
Apply below
FAQ
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Small business owners, coaches, consultants, and service providers who are wondering whether SEO is worth it. If your website is not bringing in leads (not from referrals), or you have been putting off SEO because it feels slow or complicated, this is for you.
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Most businesses see movement within three to six months of consistent effort. (Some within a few weeks, depending on the industry and competition) Local SEO can move faster. The key word is consistent.
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Both are valid. Start with the basics yourself: Google Search Console, Google My Business, clean page titles, consistent blogging. Bring in a specialist when you are ready to go deeper, and you can commit to 3 to 6 months.
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Absolutely. Squarespace has solid built-in SEO tools. As a Squarespace Expert and SEO-Accredited Consultant, I specialise in exactly this. The platform is not the limitation. Content and consistency are.
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Not even close. AI tools still rely on SEO signals to surface and recommend businesses. Strong SEO makes you more visible on Google and in AI results. The foundations you build now serve you across both.
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Think about what your clients actually type into Google. Search for tools to do keyword research. Use real words. Funeral director in Inner West Sydney. Squarespace designer Sydney. Start there and build from it. Find tools to help you do keyword research, like Google Keyword Planner.
