The top SEO experts in 2026, one per speciality, are Julian Goldie for link building and AI agent SEO, Aleyda Solis for international SEO, Lily Ray for AI search, Areej AbuAli for technical SEO, Darren Shaw for local SEO, Andy Crestodina for content, Luke Carthy for e-commerce SEO, John Shehata for news SEO and Derral Eves for YouTube SEO.
I'll be straight with you before we go any further.
This is my own list on my own site, so I've put myself at number one, and you should weigh the evidence rather than trust my ranking.
Every other person is here because they have a public track record that you can check on their own website.
I picked one expert per speciality because nobody is the best at every part of SEO.
Below you'll get the short list first, then the exact process I'd use as an operator to learn from each of them and hand the repetitive work to AI agents.
The Top SEO Experts By Speciality At A Glance
This table is the whole answer in one place.
| Rank | Speciality | Expert | Where to find them |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Link building and AI agent SEO | Julian Goldie | Goldie Agency |
| 2 | International SEO | Aleyda Solis | Orainti |
| 3 | AI search and E-E-A-T | Lily Ray | lilyray.nyc |
| 4 | Technical SEO | Areej AbuAli | Women in Tech SEO |
| 5 | Local SEO | Darren Shaw | Whitespark |
| 6 | Content marketing | Andy Crestodina | Orbit Media |
| 7 | E-commerce SEO | Luke Carthy | lukecarthy.com |
| 8 | News SEO | John Shehata | NewzDash |
| 9 | YouTube SEO | Derral Eves | VidSummit |
The order after number one is my opinion of how useful each speciality is to a typical operator, and it isn't a score.
Why I Ranked The Top SEO Experts By Speciality
Most lists of SEO experts are sorted by fame, and that doesn't help you fix a real problem.
A shop owner with a slow category page needs a different expert from a plumber who wants more calls from Google Maps.
I've been doing SEO for over a decade, and the people who helped me most were always specialists.
I used three rules to build this list.
- The first rule is that each expert must be clearly known for one speciality, so you know exactly why you're following them.
- The second rule is that their role and their work must be confirmed on their own site or in reputable coverage.
- The third rule is that you must be able to learn from them for free before you spend any money.
I also kept this list different from my earlier posts on the best SEO professionals and the best SEO consultant, so most of these names are new.
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The 9 Top SEO Experts, One Per Speciality
1. Julian Goldie — Link Building And AI Agent SEO
I'm Julian Goldie, and my speciality is link building combined with AI agents that do the repetitive SEO work.
I started with a cryptocurrency website while travelling in Asia, and I wrote content for months without getting any traffic from Google.
That failure pushed me to learn link building, and it worked on my own affiliate sites before I ever sold it to a client.
I started Goldie Agency completely solo, and today it's a 7-figure SEO and link-building agency in Bangkok with 70+ people.
In mid-2025 I shifted my focus to AI agents that do the SEO for you, which is why I built the Agent Operating System.
I teach this daily on YouTube to 400,000+ subscribers, and I wrote the book "Link Building Mastery".
Learn from me: You can watch the daily tutorials on my YouTube channel or join the free AI Money Lab.
Work with me: You can book a free SEO strategy session or join the SEO Elite Circle.
2. Aleyda Solis — International SEO
Aleyda Solis founded Orainti in 2014, and it's a boutique SEO and AI search consultancy.
Her consultancy lists international SEO, e-commerce and SaaS search growth among its specialities.
She was named European Search Personality of the Year in 2018, and her site says she has spoken at more than 200 events in over 30 countries.
She also publishes the SEOFOMO newsletter and curates LearningSEO.io, which is a free roadmap for learning SEO.
Learn from her: I'd start with the free LearningSEO.io roadmap and then subscribe to SEOFOMO.
3. Lily Ray — AI Search And E-E-A-T
Lily Ray's own site says she is the founder of Algorythmic, an SEO and AI search consultancy.
The same page lists her as VP of SEO and AI Search at the digital marketing agency Amsive.
She's known for her work on E-E-A-T, AI search, Google Discover and the analysis of Google algorithm updates.
Learn from her: I'd read the research posts on her official site whenever a big update rolls out.
4. Areej AbuAli — Technical SEO
Areej AbuAli founded Women in Tech SEO in 2019, and it's a free global community for SEOs and marketers.
The community runs the WTSFest conferences, which its site lists in London, Portland and Philadelphia.
Her speaker bios describe her as a technical SEO consultant and the founder of the consultancy Crawlina.
Search Engine Land gave her its award for Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Search Marketing in 2020.
Learn from her: I'd follow the Women in Tech SEO newsletter and watch the WTSFest talks on crawling and site architecture.
5. Darren Shaw — Local SEO
Darren Shaw founded Whitespark in 2005 as a web design and development firm.
His bio says he moved the company's focus to local search in 2010, and it now builds local search software and services.
He leads the Local Search Ranking Factors survey, which is one of the most cited pieces of research in local SEO.
Learn from him: I'd read the latest Local Search Ranking Factors report before touching a Google Business Profile.
6. Andy Crestodina — Content Marketing
Andy Crestodina is the co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Orbit Media Studios.
He wrote "Content Chemistry: The Illustrated Handbook for Content Marketing", which is now in its seventh edition.
Orbit Media also runs an annual survey of more than a thousand bloggers, and that data is quoted all over the marketing world.
Learn from him: I'd read the Orbit Media blog for practical content and analytics lessons.
7. Luke Carthy — E-commerce SEO
Luke Carthy describes himself on his site as an e-commerce consultant who specialises in growth through SEO, Google Analytics and conversion optimisation.
His services include e-commerce audits, conversion rate optimisation, Google Analytics consulting and e-commerce SEO.
He's based in the UK, and he has spoken at well-known search events such as BrightonSEO and MozCon.
Learn from him: I'd watch his conference talks on site search, category pages and wasted crawl budget in online shops.
8. John Shehata — News SEO
John Shehata founded NewzDash, a news and editorial SEO tool for publishers.
The tool helps newsrooms grow visibility in Google Top Stories and Google News.
His company bio says he was previously Global VP of Audience Development at Condé Nast, and he co-created the News and Editorial SEO Summit with Barry Adams.
Learn from him: I'd follow his talks if you publish anything time-sensitive, because news SEO has its own rules.
9. Derral Eves — YouTube SEO
Derral Eves founded VidSummit in 2013, and it's an annual conference for YouTube creators.
He wrote "The YouTube Formula", which Wiley published in 2021.
He's also known as an executive producer of the series The Chosen.
Learn from him: I'd read "The YouTube Formula" for the way it explains how viewers and the algorithm respond to titles, thumbnails and retention.
🔥 Want AI agents to do the repetitive SEO work for you? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom, I share the installable Agent OS, step-by-step AI SEO training and four coaching calls a week. You'll be building alongside 3,400+ members. → Get access here
How To Judge Whether Someone Is Really An SEO Expert
Anyone can put "SEO expert" in a profile, so here is the checklist I use.
- A real expert has published work you can read, such as research, case studies, a book or a long-running blog.
- A real expert is specific about their speciality and doesn't claim to be the best at everything.
- A real expert shows numbers with dates, and they explain how they got those numbers.
- A real expert talks about AI Overviews, AI Mode and answer engines, because search in 2026 includes all of them.
- A real expert never guarantees a number one ranking, because nobody controls Google.
- A real expert follows Google's spam policies and will happily explain their methods.
If someone fails two or more of those checks, I'd keep looking.
Learn From Them Or Hire Them: The Operator's Decision
Most people on this list are best used as teachers, and a few can be hired.
| What you need | Best move | Who to start with |
|---|---|---|
| You want to understand a speciality | Learn from their free material | Any name in the table above |
| You want someone to look at your own site | Book a one-to-one session | My free SEO strategy session |
| You want links built for you | Hire an agency | Goldie Agency |
| You want ongoing coaching with other SEOs | Join a mastermind | The SEO Elite Circle |
| You want agents to do the volume work | Learn an agent workflow | The AI Profit Boardroom |
Before you try to hire a named expert, check their own site to see whether they take clients, because many of them focus on software, research or events.
The Operator Walkthrough: Build Your Learning Stack In 5 Steps
This is the part I care about most, because a list of names does nothing on its own.
Step 1: Pick the one speciality that matches your biggest problem
If you run a local business, your first speciality is local SEO.
If you run an online shop, your first speciality is e-commerce SEO.
If your site has good content and no rankings, your first speciality is link building.
Step 2: Follow one expert for that speciality for 30 days
I'd subscribe to one newsletter or one blog and ignore everything else for a month.
One clear voice will teach you more than nine voices that you only skim.
Step 3: Turn each lesson into a checklist
Every time the expert explains a process, I'd write it down as numbered steps.
A checklist is something you can hand to a team member or an AI agent.
Step 4: Give the checklist to an agent
In my own Agent OS, each speciality becomes a skill that an agent can run.
- One agent runs the technical checklist and flags broken links and missing schema.
- One agent pulls queries from Google Search Console and drafts answer-first content.
- One agent builds a prospect list for link building and drafts outreach for a person to approve.
- One agent checks the Google Business Profile tasks for local clients each week.
A human still checks everything before it goes live, because agents can be confidently wrong.
Step 5: Add a second speciality only when the first one is running
I see operators try to learn nine specialities in one week, and they finish none of them.
I'd get one workflow running on its own before adding the next.
Which Top SEO Experts Should You Follow First?
Here's a simple way to choose your starting point.
| Your situation | First expert to follow | Second expert to add |
|---|---|---|
| You have content that doesn't rank | Julian Goldie | Andy Crestodina |
| You sell in several countries | Aleyda Solis | Areej AbuAli |
| You lost traffic after a Google update | Lily Ray | Areej AbuAli |
| You run a local service business | Darren Shaw | Julian Goldie |
| You run an online shop | Luke Carthy | Aleyda Solis |
| You run a publication | John Shehata | Lily Ray |
| You're growing a YouTube channel | Derral Eves | Andy Crestodina |
If your situation is closer to "who led SEO this year", my post on the top SEO professionals in 2026 takes that angle instead.
Mistakes Operators Make When Following SEO Experts
I've made most of these mistakes myself, so I'll save you the time.
- Following too many experts at once means you collect ideas and never ship anything.
- Copying a tactic without checking the date means you might be using advice from before AI search.
- Treating a talk as a strategy means you skip the boring work of fitting it to your own site.
- Skipping the measurement step means you never learn which lesson actually moved clicks.
- Handing everything to AI with no review means you publish mistakes at scale.
The fix for all five is the same, and it's one speciality, one expert, one checklist and one measured test.
🔥 Want the exact agent workflow I use for SEO every day? The AI Profit Boardroom includes the Agent OS, step-by-step SEO agent tutorials and four live coaching calls a week with 3,400+ members. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom
Where To Get Help From Me Directly
I've got a few routes, and each one fits a different stage.
- The free SEO strategy session is a call where we look at your site and choose your best next move.
- The SEO Elite Circle is my mastermind for people who want to rank with AI SEO at a high level.
- The AI Profit Boardroom is where I teach AI agents and automation, and FatRank named it the number one AI community after testing 27 communities.
- The AI Money Lab is my free community if you want to start without paying anything.
- My guide to AI SEO training explains how I'd learn this skill from scratch today.
FAQ: Top SEO Experts
Who are the top SEO experts in 2026?
My list by speciality is Julian Goldie, Aleyda Solis, Lily Ray, Areej AbuAli, Darren Shaw, Andy Crestodina, Luke Carthy, John Shehata and Derral Eves.
It's my own list, so I put myself first, and you should judge the evidence for yourself.
How do I know if someone is a real SEO expert?
I'd look for published work, a clear speciality, numbers with dates and an understanding of AI search.
I'd avoid anyone who guarantees rankings or hides their methods.
Should I learn from SEO experts or hire one?
I'd learn from them when you have time and want the skill in-house.
I'd hire when you have budget and little time, and I'd still use AI agents for the repetitive work.
Can AI agents replace SEO experts?
AI agents can run checklists, pull data and write drafts.
An expert still sets the strategy, and a person should check the work before it goes live.
How can I talk to Julian Goldie about my SEO?
You can book a free SEO strategy session or join the SEO Elite Circle.
Also On Our Network
- 🌐 Which SEO expert fits your type of business
- 🌐 Our ranked verdict on nine SEO specialists
- 🌐 The Agent OS quick-start for learning from SEO experts
- 🌐 The AI models I'd pair with each SEO speciality, with real scores
📺 Video notes + links to the tools 👉
🎥 Learn how I make these videos 👉
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About Julian
I'm Julian Goldie, an SEO entrepreneur, author and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.
I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.
- I've built a 7-figure SEO and link-building agency, Goldie Agency, with 70+ people in Bangkok.
- I've grown a YouTube channel to 400,000+ subscribers.
- I wrote the book "Link Building Mastery", which covers nine link building strategies.
- My Udemy courses have taught 29,000+ students.
→ Get my best AI training inside the AI Profit Boardroom
Pick one speciality, follow one name for 30 days, and you'll get far more from this list of the top SEO experts.
