Growth notes
Startup SEO in 2026
Where a small team should start when Google and AI answers overlap.
Buyers still use Google, but they also ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity for recommendations. The same pages and outside sources often shape both routes.
Start with the pages closest to a customer decision. Explain the category, answer the questions that come up before a sale and give people evidence they can check.
For a small team, the first 90 days should cover search intent, the main commercial pages, crawl health, internal links, structured data and proof. Measure whether the work brings the right visitors, leads and sales.