We love digital 0330 353 0300
There are many factors that determine how well a website ranks in search engines. Google has confirmed it uses over 200 ranking signals to decide which pages to show for different searches.
On top of this, the search engine is constantly updating its algorithms, with recent years seeing these changes happen more frequently. The one thing we can be certain of is that Google will continue adjusting its ranking signals to best match what users are looking for.
All of this can make it hard to know where to focus your SEO efforts. With so many potential factors and limited clarity from Google on what really moves the needle, it is easy for anyone starting out to spend time on areas that don’t have the biggest impact.
Experience and studying real-world results are key to understanding which actions make the most difference. For this reason, we asked a panel of SEO experts to share what they found to be the most underrated ranking factors in 2025 and which ones they expect to matter most in 2026.
We received some very helpful advice from these highly regarded SEOs, which we are delighted to share with you here. So in no particular order, here are the most underrated ranking factors to look out for:
Optimised headings make pages easier to understand for both users and search engines. Adding related questions and answers helps a page cover more search intent and appear for a wider range of queries.
Daniel Dracott, SEO and Content Manager at Away Resorts Ltd, says: “The three things that seem to have worked over the last 12 months, as ‘underrated’ optimisations we’ve seen help rankings, are optimising H1 and H2 tags on our commercial /holiday/ pages to reflect follow-on queries that customers might be searching for. Alongside this, adding extra queries such as FAQs at the commercial pages has contributed to improved rankings and also visibility for AI overviews and overall AI search visibility. We’ve been tracking this by monitoring Share Of Voice in Sistrix and AI visibility in Peec.ai.”
Tom Beck, SEO Manager at H.Samuel & Ernest Jones, adds: “For me, adding FAQs to landing pages will be one of the most underrated yet influential SEO ranking factors in 2026. As search behaviour continues shifting towards AI-generated results, Google and LLMs increasingly prioritise clean, structured answers that can be easily extracted, cited, and surfaced within AI overviews and LLM results. They also act as strong signals of EEAT by demonstrating expertise and a deep understanding of the topics users care about. When built out thoughtfully, FAQ frameworks help strengthen topical authority, allowing brands to cover a subject comprehensively and coherently. This not only boosts traditional organic rankings but also increases the likelihood of being referenced within AI-powered results, ensuring far greater visibility across the evolving search landscape.”
Internal linking is one of the simplest ways to support rankings. It helps search engines understand which pages matter most and guides users to the information they need.
At Koozai, we have seen many clients get fantastic results simply by improving their internal linking, so it is not surprising that this seems to be a popular SEO tactic.
Tara Bevan, Senior SEO Manager at ASOS.com, explains: “I think internal linking is a hugely underrated ranking factor. We’ve seen positive results this year, focusing on improving our topical authority. You have complete control over your internal links and they can be just as powerful as backlinks. They play a huge role in building semantic relevance, topical relevance and user experience. I think semantic SEO and sentiment will be important for 2026.”
Chené Smith, Search Engine Optimisation Manager at Oak Furnitureland, adds: “Internal linking remains one of the most vital SEO factors across any website, by creating a website that ‘paints the whole picture’ and guides the users along their journey from inspiration and education to purchase. This worked really well for us (at Oak Furnitureland) in 2025 and will continue to be a key part of our strategy in 2026. A good internal linking strategy allows you to create a website that gives users everything they need with the least amount of effort required. In addition to generating a good user experience, it also creates a sense of authority, as Google will factor in all the links and content on a particular subject or product and, in essence, should see your website as a product/subject matter expert, thereby increasing your rankings and driving organic traffic.”
Brand visibility in search is more important than ever. Signals such as mentions, authority, and sentiment can affect how AI tools and search engines assess your brand.
Valentin Boulan, SEO & Website Content Manager at Audley Travel, explains: “In the exciting age of AI-driven search and constant algorithmic shifts, SEOs are often fixated on chasing the next big trend or ranking breakthrough – whether it’s generative experiences, multimodal content, or entity-first indexing. But in that scramble for innovation, we frequently overlook one of the most controllable and commercially valuable areas of SEO: brand SERP optimisation. When users search for your name or site, they’re already primed to engage – yet, many brands neglect to shape their own narrative. From Knowledge Panels and People Also Ask to social profiles, review snippets, and brand name consistency, this is where reputation meets conversion. It’s not just about visibility, it’s about owning your digital first impression.”
Lee Savery, SEO & PPC Lead at npower Business Solutions, adds: “In the age of AI, one of the most underrated factors making a comeback is brand signals. Large Language Models (LLMs) rely on strong indicators – such as mentions, authority, and sentiment – to decide whether your brand is credible enough to appear in response to a query. We faced a unique challenge after a takeover that took place a few years ago, where reputable sites like Wikipedia referred to us as a company that no longer existed. This confused not only LLMs but also potential leads searching for the services we provide. Fixing that was straightforward, and it changed the conversations AI assistants were having about us. However, we had to go further by ensuring our brand appeared on trusted business profiles, directories and industry regulators, reinforcing our position in the industry. We also paired this with Digital PR and YouTube content featuring prominent figures from our business commenting on news that matters most to our customers. Gone are the days of aggressively chasing backlinks. Brand mentions now feel like the dominant factor for getting noticed. As SEOs, we’ve accepted that more searches will result in zero clicks, so it’s crucial to stay mentioned and part of the conversation, playing the long game for conversions down the line.”
Content that directly answers user questions often performs better than pages written only to target keywords. Grouping related content and keeping it updated strengthens trust and rankings.
Francesco Mercuri, SEO Lead at Santander UK, says: “From an SEO perspective, the most successful achievement in 2025, in terms of ranking performance as a high-street bank, was building strong organic visibility by executing one powerful tactic: aligning content with clear customer intent through a customer-centric approach (one of our bank’s key strategic drivers) while continuously sending freshness signals to search engines, operating in an agile environment where sprint velocity is key.
Having ranking as an objective from a purely SEO perspective, focusing on answering specific financial questions with transparent, trustworthy information and linking product pages using SEO-friendly anchor text were successful ranking factors: by fully adopting the principles of E-E-A-T, we significantly improved rankings across several product lines.
As we move into 2026, the focus is shifting from simply matching intent to proving topical authority and capitalising on LLMs’ disruption/ opportunity.
Maintaining consistently high-quality copy will be essential to strengthen the visibility of both indexed and new keywords.
To follow up on ranking factors, for financial institutions like Santander UK, this means demonstrating consistent expertise across related products and advisory content, not just publishing more, but developing structured, expert-driven content clusters that reflect real depth and authority.
From my perspective, banks that succeed in connecting these ecosystems and following on what worked in 2025, as described above, will lead the next wave of organic growth, leveraging AI-driven visibility to enhance performance not only for non-branded keywords, but also for both partial-match and branded keywords, which historically have never been the focus from an SEO ranking/ visibility point of view.
Ultimately, from my point of view, the most underrated ranking factor for 2026 may be the one that worked best in 2025 for us: authentic customer-centric relevance, grounded in trust, transparency, and expertise with proper webpage architecture and internal linking structure.”
Sharing insights from your own team can help demonstrate expertise and build trust with both users and search engines. Highlighting the knowledge of internal experts through author bios, profiles, and multimedia content can strengthen credibility across multiple channels.
Hannah Bryce, Head of SEO at Attraction Tickets Ltd, explains: “The internet can be a scary place so using the names, faces and thoughts of your internal experts can be a bit daunting. But in reality – they’re experts, so what they have to say is actually really helpful. And not just to potential customers – to Google and LLMs too. Authors, author bios, expert profile pages, links to their LinkedIn pages, contact details and even getting in front of the camera for webinars and podcasts (that are then transcribed and posted on YouTube) can give your brand’s credibility a mighty multi-channel boost.”
Creating content that adds something new and valuable is increasingly important for search visibility. Pages that offer unique insights, data, or examples help your site stand out and encourage users to engage, which can positively influence rankings.
Harry Clarkson-Bennett, SEO Director at The Telegraph, says: “It’s definitely gained more prominence, but I would say information gain – the idea that each piece of content needs to add something new and unique to the wider corpus of information – is undervalued.
Google’s re-ranking pipeline relies on user engagement. Good clicks at a query level improve how your page ranks, while bad clicks have the opposite effect.
By adding something new and innovative to the SERPs, you increase the likelihood that you will be boosted. Add something of value. Something different. Google may test how users feel about it – using data, videos, infographics, and real case studies.
Show why you are the experts in the field.”
Using clear, structured schema helps search engines understand your products and brand better.
Georgian Tanaselea, Head of SEO at RS Group plc, explains: “Strong structured data matters more than most teams admit. Few signals work in isolation. Most progress comes from many small steps that point in the same direction. Richer schema stands out because it makes the knowledge graph of your brand more accurate as it helps search engines read a product catalogue with real clarity.
We added clearer attributes to our product markup. Search engines then associate the full range of products with far more accuracy. Visibility improved and the set of queries that brought users to the site grew. Traffic now comes from a wider mix of terms because Google holds more context and sees the links between products and other entities that are clearly defined.
The value does not sit in schema as a direct ranking factor. It sits in the way schema anchors each page, product and brand to the right entities. This gives a clean map of what the business offers and removes guesswork for the algorithm. Search engines then build a sharper and more relevant entity graph for the brand. This work pays off now and sets the base for stronger performance as AI search experiences become more important for the bottom line.”
Focusing on a clear area of expertise can strengthen authority and content relevance.
Liam Fernie, Strategic SEO Specialist at Koozai, explains: “One of the most underrated factors to content, EEAT and authority in general is picking your area of expertise and owning it. I often see many SEOs, agencies, and companies try to build extremely complex content maps for various thinly related topics and niches in an attempt to catch as much of the search market as possible. In reality, we as humans are more inclined to trust experts who dedicate themselves to a sole expertise and so why would Google’s approach be any different? You wouldn’t take your Tesla to a BMW specialist just because they’re in the ‘car’ industry, so it’s of more benefit to understand your area and build upon it than trying to build content at scale that offers no real value to your actual target market and dilutes Google’s contextual understanding of your site.”
Soft 404s drain crawl budget and can limit ranking potential. Fixing or removing these pages ensures Google focuses on your most important content.
Ensuring consistency across your pages is key here, as Google’s John Mueller recently highlighted. Consistency remains one of the biggest technical SEO factors, helping search engines clearly distinguish valid pages from soft 404s.
Lindsey Fenton, SEO Manager at ProCook, says: “I would say one of the most underrated SEO ranking factors would be fixing your soft 404s. To identify any soft 404s on your site, you can use Google Search Console. Then, to fix, you should do one of the following: Add high-quality content. Add product information (for e-commerce, this could be compiling a new product category). De-index the page and delete it from your site. If left, Google will continue to index and use valuable crawl budget, when this could be used for more important pages on your site.”
Improving CTR is one of the easiest ways to lift rankings. Small changes to page titles, descriptions, or favicons can have a measurable effect.
Ash New, SEO / AIO Lead at Virgin Media (O2): “Click-through rate is one of the most underrated ranking factors. Google has long denied it plays a role, but the search api leaks last year confirmed what many in the industry already suspected – user signals do influence rankings. From my personal experience, making page titles more unique, aligning them closely with search intent, or even tweaking something as small as a favicon can lift CTR. Those engagement improvements feed back into the algorithm, driving stronger organic performance.”
At Koozai, we’ve noticed that AI-generated search overviews can reduce click-throughs to traditional listings. With lots of discussion in the industry about CTR being impacted by these AI overviews, now more than ever, it’s crucial to make page titles and meta descriptions as unique and compelling as possible so that when someone sees your listing, they are encouraged to click on it.
Longer sessions and higher engagement can help a site stand out in competitive markets. Features that encourage visitors to explore more pages can make a big difference.
Richard Hargreaves, Head of SEO at On the Beach, explains: “Website engagement and time on site are possibly the most underrated ranking factors. If you’re lacking visibility, then you probably have issues with tech or content or even trust. However, if your site is well ranked on page 1 for all your key terms, the factor that could push you ahead of the competition is site engagement.
We saw a significant overall increase in P1 and P2 rankings during a campaign that had users searching the site for an Easter egg earlier this year, results that we’re keen to replicate through increasing the overall average time on site without increasing the drag on the users experience.
If you asked me how to do end-to-end SEO ‘well’… the answer would be very different, but in terms of underrated factors for last year and into 2026, I think engagement is my surprising top pick!”
Well, that’s it! I hope you’ve found the insights from our SEO experts on the most underrated ranking factors for 2026 useful for your digital strategy. If you have any thoughts on any of this, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you. And of course, if you need any support with your SEO, Digital PR or Content then please do reach out to us.
