As we enter 2026, it is worth pausing and reflecting on what actually happened on the ground over the past year. Not what platforms promised. Not what conferences hyped. But what worked, what became harder, and what businesses need to be realistic about moving forward.
This roundup reflects our experience at Lead Experts, working hands-on with clients across SEO, Local SEO, Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and AI SEO.
SEO in 2025: Fundamentals Still Win, but the Bar Is Higher
One clear pattern stood out across our SEO clients.
SEO continued to drive the highest session time and the strongest key event rates compared to other channels. Organic traffic, when it ranked, was still the most engaged traffic on most websites.
However, ranking a new business from scratch became noticeably more competitive year on year.
From our execution experience, the SEO factors that continued to matter the most were not new or flashy:
- Strong internal linking structures
- Clear and distinct context pages for each keyword theme
- High-quality backlinks rather than volume
- Well-written and intent-aligned meta titles and descriptions
- Clean technical foundations and crawlability
What changed was the margin for error. Cutting corners showed up faster. Thin pages stalled sooner.
Another key learning was around expectation setting and budget allocation. Businesses that performed best were those where SEO strategy was aligned with:
- Scale of business
- Competitive intensity of keywords
- Available budgets
- Willingness to wait for compounding returns
For newer brands, going all-in on highly competitive head terms rarely made sense. We consistently saw better early momentum by targeting long-tail and low-competition keywords first, building topical authority, and then expanding upward. The “low-hanging fruit first” approach remains one of the most effective strategies for new SEO campaigns.
Local SEO: Still One of the Strongest Lead Drivers
Local SEO continued to be one of the most reliable and consistent lead generation channels throughout the year, especially for service-based and location-driven businesses.
From our experience at Lead Experts, Local SEO remains the leading growth driver for local businesses, and its effectiveness becomes even stronger when the strategy is built around the right fundamentals rather than surface-level optimisation.
While Google Business Profile optimisation still plays a critical role, it does not work in isolation.
The strongest local performance consistently came from businesses that focused on:
- Local keywords with clear commercial intent
- Location-based search volumes rather than broad national terms
- Dedicated service and location pages on the website
- A well-optimised and actively managed Google Business Profile
Local keywords such as “near me,” city-specific services, and neighbourhood-based searches continued to drive the highest-quality calls and enquiries. These searches are driven by urgency and proximity, which makes Local SEO far more conversion-focused than broader discovery channels.
Another important observation was the role of authority signals beyond the GBP. Backlinks pointing to the website and, where applicable, citations and references tied back to the Google Business Profile played a meaningful role in improving local visibility. Businesses with stronger local backlink profiles consistently showed better stability in local pack rankings.
It also became clear that relying solely on a Google Business Profile is risky. GBP rankings fluctuate more frequently, are sensitive to changes such as business hours or category updates, and are limited in the number of keyword variations they can rank for. Website-based local rankings, on the other hand, remained far more stable and scalable.
The most successful local strategies treated the website as the primary asset and the Google Business Profile as an accelerator, not a replacement. When both worked together, Local SEO continued to deliver some of the strongest ROI across all digital marketing channels.
Google Ads: Powerful, Expensive, and Less Forgiving
Google Ads continued to deliver results, but the environment became more demanding.
From our experience:
- CPCs reached all-time highs across most competitive verticals
- AI Overviews reduced traffic primarily on informational queries, which ironically improved lead quality for Ads
- Automation became unavoidable, but often not optimal without oversight
One of the most positive developments was greater visibility into search terms for Performance Max. This allowed us to filter low-quality traffic and regain some control, making P Max a more viable alternative in cases where Meta Ads underperformed.
Accounts starting from scratch still required higher initial spends during the learning phase than they did a few years ago. Broad match keywords were heavily encouraged by Google, placing a greater responsibility on agencies to monitor search terms closely and act quickly.
In short, Google Ads still worked, but discipline mattered more than ever.
Meta Ads: Creative and Lead Quality Became the Deciding Factors
Meta Ads continued to be effective, but success depended heavily on execution details.
From our observation:
- Creatives did not need heavy text overlays, but they did need to be interesting and scroll-stopping
- The algorithm appeared to learn faster based on CTR signals from creatives, although this is an experience-based observation, not a proven claim
- SMS-verified lead forms significantly improved lead quality compared to standard lead forms
- Advantage+ audiences were strongly favoured by Meta, and results appeared biased in their favour
Lead quality remained a challenge, particularly around non-contactable leads. The best Meta performance came when lead generation was paired with:
- Clear offers
- Strong qualification steps
- Follow-up processes outside the platform
Meta Ads remained volatile but rewarding for teams willing to iterate continuously.
LinkedIn Ads: Strategic, Not Volume-Driven
LinkedIn Ads remained expensive, but effective when used correctly.
From our experience, LinkedIn Ads worked best for:
- Brand awareness in B2B
- Enterprise and high-ticket services
- Account-based marketing strategies
They rarely made sense for volume lead generation. The businesses that saw value were those that treated LinkedIn as a credibility and influence channel, not a direct response engine.
AI SEO: A Lot of Noise, Limited Immediate Impact
AI SEO dominated industry conversations throughout the year.
In execution, the impact was far more modest.
From our experience and based on patterns across multiple client websites:
- LLM mentions typically represented a very small percentage of overall visibility
- AI-driven traffic was largely informational
- Direct lead contribution from AI SEO remained minimal
We consistently observed that LLMs seemed to reflect authority already established through traditional search engines, rather than creating new demand independently. This is an experience-based observation, not a claim of how any specific AI system is engineered.
There was also no viable short-term AI SEO strategy. Meaningful AI visibility required:
- Significant brand mentions
- Sustained digital PR
- High-authority backlinks
- Presence across trusted third-party sources
For most small and mid-sized businesses, this level of investment was difficult to justify relative to returns.
AI SEO emerged as a long-term, brand-led play, not a lead generation channel.
Cross-Channel Insight: Integration Outperformed Isolation
One of the strongest lessons from the year was that no channel performed well in isolation.
SEO supported paid performance. Paid campaigns informed keyword and intent strategies. Brand visibility from social Ads improved conversion rates elsewhere.
The best-performing accounts treated digital marketing as an ecosystem, not a collection of independent tactics.
An Insight From Vaibhav Kandpal, Founder, Lead Experts
“What stood out this year was not any single channel, but how fundamentals kept winning. SEO still delivered the most engaged traffic, Local SEO drove consistent leads, and paid media worked when expectations were realistic. AI added value, but it did not replace intent. The businesses that stayed patient and disciplined saw growth. The ones chasing shortcuts struggled.”
— Vaibhav Kandpal, Founder, Lead Experts
What We Are Carrying Forward Into 2026
As we move into 2026, our priorities are clear:
- Get the SEO basics right, always
- Treat Local SEO as a core asset, not a side activity
- Run paid media with tighter controls and clearer intent
- Use AI to support strategy, not replace it
- Set expectations early and revisit them often
Closing Thoughts: Less Noise, More Direction
The past year was noisy. AI accelerated conversations faster than results could keep up.
But underneath the noise, the signals were consistent.
People still search. Intent still matters. Leads still come from clarity and trust.
As we step into 2026, the winners will not be the loudest adopters of new tools. They will be the most disciplined executors of proven strategies.
And that is the most important lesson the past year gave us.
