How to Rank Higher on Google Searches & AI Overview in 2026

Want to get your clients’ websites noticed on Google? You’re in the right place. Ranking higher on search results drives more organic traffic, builds credibility, and grows their online presence. As search engines evolve with AI integration, the strategies you need have become more focused and practical. This guide will walk you through actionable steps to climb those search rankings in 2026.

We’ll break down how to master keyword research, create valuable content, and optimize your technical SEO. You’ll also discover how the right tools can make this process smoother and why building a strong SEO foundation helps you succeed on both traditional search and new AI-driven platforms.

Master Keyword Research and Intent

Let’s start with the foundation of a successful SEO strategy: understanding what your client’s audience is actually searching for. Simply targeting popular keywords won’t cut it anymore. To rank in 2026, you need to focus on user intent—the real reason behind someone’s search query.

Target Reasonable and Relevant Keywords

Begin by identifying the keywords your ideal customers use. Instead of going after highly competitive, broad terms, focus on long-tail keywords. These are longer, specific phrases that usually have lower search volume but much higher conversion rates, maximizing SEO impact.

Key Factors for Keyword Selection:

• Volume: How many people search for this term each month?
• Competition: How difficult will it be to rank for this keyword?
• Relevance: Does this keyword attract the right audience for your client’s business?

Understand the Four Types of Search Intent

1. Informational: The user wants information (e.g., “how to improve website speed”).
2. Navigational: The user wants to find a specific website (e.g., “DAXRM login”).
3. Transactional: The user is ready to buy (e.g., “buy SEO audit tool”).
4. Commercial Investigation: The user is comparing options before buying (e.g., “DAXRM vs. competitor”).

Your content must match the intent behind your target keyword. If someone searches for information, give them a helpful guide, not a sales pitch. When there’s a mismatch between your content and user intent, they’ll bounce quickly—and Google will notice.

Create High-Quality, Optimized Content

Content is still crucial for SEO success. But you can’t just publish any content and hope for the best. To rank higher, you need to create in-depth, valuable, and well-optimized content that serves both users and search engines.

Focus on E-E-A-T

Google’s quality guidelines emphasize Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). This means your content should demonstrate real knowledge and come from a credible source.

• Experience: Show that you have hands-on experience with the topic.
• Expertise: Display your deep knowledge. Author bios, credentials, and links to trusted sources help here.
• Authoritativeness: Build your site’s reputation as a trusted source in your industry. Getting backlinks from respected websites sends a strong signal.
• Trustworthiness: Be transparent. Clearly show who created the content, provide contact information, and ensure your site is secure (HTTPS).

Tools like DAXRM can help you evaluate and improve your E-E-A-T score by reviewing your content and spotting areas that need more depth or credibility.

Optimize Your On-Page Elements

On-page SEO involves optimizing individual elements of your web pages. It’s essential for showing Google what your content is about.

• Keyword Placement: Include your main keyword in the title tag, meta description, URL, and at least one H1 or H2 heading. Use it naturally throughout your content, image alt text, and file names.
• Internal Linking: Link to other relevant pages on your website. This helps search engines discover your content and understand your site’s structure.
• Readable Content: Use short paragraphs, bullet points, bold text, and clear headings (H2s, H3s). This makes your content easier to read and helps Google pull snippets for features like AI Overviews.
• Helpful Visuals: Use high-quality images, infographics, and videos that add real value. Custom visuals that explain concepts work much better than generic stock photos.

Nail Your Technical SEO

Technical SEO ensures search engines can crawl, index, and display your website properly. A technically sound website provides a better user experience, which directly impacts your rankings.

Prioritize Core Web Vitals and User Experience

Core Web Vitals are metrics Google uses to measure how well your pages load, respond, and stay stable. These directly affect your rankings.

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures loading performance. Aim for 2.5 seconds or less.
• First Input Delay (FID): Measures interactivity. Aim for 100 milliseconds or less.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures visual stability. Aim for a score of 0.1 or less.

You can use Google PageSpeed Insights or run a comprehensive audit with DAXRM to find pages with poor Core Web Vitals. Common fixes include compressing images, using browser caching, and reducing JavaScript.

Implement Structured Data

Structured data (or schema markup) is code you add to help search engines understand your content better. While it doesn’t directly boost rankings, it can make your pages appear as “rich results,” which can significantly improve click-through rates. Common schema types include:

• FAQ
• How-to
• Article
• Product
• Local Business

For example, adding FAQ schema to a page with questions and answers can make those questions appear directly in Google’s search results, taking up more space and getting more attention.

Use the Right Tools for the Job

Managing all these SEO tasks manually is practically impossible. Essential SEO tools give you the data and automation you need to scale your efforts effectively. A tool like DAXRM combines several essential functions in one place.

• SEO Audit: It crawls your entire website to find technical issues like broken links, slow pages, and duplicate content that might be hurting your rankings.
• Content Analysis: Reviews your content for E-E-A-T alignment and finds improvement opportunities.
• Rank Tracker: Monitors your keyword rankings over time so you can measure your SEO progress.

With an integrated solution, you can spot problems quickly, fix them efficiently, and track your progress toward ranking higher on Google.

A Note on SEO and Large Language Models (LLMs)

The rise of AI Overviews and other AI-driven search experiences doesn’t mean SEO is dead. Actually, it makes SEO more important. These AI models learn from the vast amount of web information available. They use the same fundamental SEO principles to determine which sources are credible, relevant, and trustworthy.

If your website has poor SEO, weak content, and a low E-E-A-T score, it’s unlikely to appear in Google’s AI Overviews or get cited by other AI models. Ranking well in traditional search is essential for visibility in this new AI-powered landscape. By following the strategies we’ve covered, you’re not just optimizing for today’s Google—you’re building a foundation to stay ahead of algorithm changes.