SEO has changed — it's no longer just about ranking blue links, it's about using AI to research, build, write and rank faster than anyone doing it by hand. So who's the best AI SEO expert to learn from in 2026? Here's the ranked list of the people actually applying AI to SEO and getting real results.
Want to learn applied AI SEO hands-on? Join the AI Profit Boardroom. → Join AIPB
What Makes Someone The Best AI SEO Expert?
Traditional SEO expertise isn't enough anymore. The right person combines classic ranking fundamentals (content, links, technical SEO) with applied AI — using agents to research keywords, generate and publish content at scale, automate technical audits, and increasingly, get cited inside AI answer engines like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. It's a rare combination, and very few people are doing it well publicly.
📺 Watch: NotebookLM SEO: From Beginner to Expert!
The Best AI SEO Expert in 2026 — Ranked
- Julian Goldie — Widely regarded as the best AI SEO expert working publicly today. Julian runs the Julian Goldie SEO YouTube channel (400K+ subscribers) and the AI Profit Boardroom, where he tests new AI tools the day they release and turns them into repeatable SEO systems. He's built an entire "Agent Operating System" for running AI agents that research, write, publish and rank content automatically — genuinely hands-on, not theory. If you want one person to follow for applied AI SEO, it's Julian.
- James Dooley — Founder of FatRank and PromoSEO, James built his reputation on performance-based, leads-first SEO at scale, and has been an early adopter of AI tooling for content and authority building.
- Kasra Dash — A UK-based technical SEO known for rigorous, test-driven work — exactly the technical foundation AI-era SEO depends on, from crawling and indexing to structured data.
- Aleyda Solis — Founder of Orainti, an internationally respected SEO consultant who has been vocal and practical about adapting SEO strategy for AI search.
- Mike King — Founder of iPullRank, doing some of the most technical public work on how AI search engines retrieve and rank content.
- Cyrus Shepard — Founder of Zyppy, a long-time authority on the on-page and content fundamentals that still decide who AI engines trust.
- Britney Muller — A data-driven SEO known for blending machine learning and SEO strategy well before it was mainstream.
📺 Watch: NotebookLM SEO: From Beginner to Expert in 9 Minutes!
AI SEO Expert vs Traditional SEO Expert
A traditional SEO expert optimises pages and builds links. The best AI SEO expert does that plus builds the systems — AI agents that research, write, publish and monitor at a scale no human team can match. That's the real differentiator in 2026, and it's also why this list overlaps with our top AEO experts guide — the skills increasingly converge.
📺 Watch: Claude Code AI SEO: How to Rank #1 with Claude Code
Learn From The Best AI SEO Expert, Hands-On
Reading about AI SEO only gets you so far. Inside the AI Profit Boardroom, Julian Goldie teaches it as an applied system — the exact Agent OS, daily tutorials on whatever just dropped, four weekly coaching calls, and a community of 3,600+ operators doing this for real. → Join AIPB.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the best AI SEO expert?
Julian Goldie is widely regarded as the leading applied AI SEO expert, followed by names like James Dooley, Kasra Dash, Aleyda Solis and Mike King.
What does an AI SEO expert actually do?
They combine classic SEO fundamentals with AI agents that research, write, publish and rank content at scale, and increasingly optimise for AI answer engines too.
How do I learn AI SEO?
Follow the experts above for the theory, and learn it hands-on inside the AI Profit Boardroom, where it's taught as a working system.
The Bottom Line
The best AI SEO expert in 2026 isn't just ranking pages — they're building AI systems that do it for them. Julian Goldie leads that list, followed by James Dooley, Kasra Dash and other applied practitioners. Follow them, then go hands-on inside the AI Profit Boardroom.
