SEO doesn’t sit still anymore, and 2026 is proving that more than any year before it. AI search is rewriting how people find answers, core updates keep landing with less warning, and the gap between practitioners who stay current and everyone else keeps growing. The good news is you don’t need to read fifty blogs a week to keep up. You just need the right SEO newsletters in your inbox, written by people who are actually testing this stuff with real clients and real sites. Here are 20 worth your attention.
1.SEOFOMO
Aleyda Solis | Beehiiv
Aleyda’s weekly roundup is one of the most widely read SEO newsletters in the industry, and it earns that reach. It covers the most important SEO and AI search news each week, curated by someone who tests these changes with real clients rather than just summarizing press releases.
This one is for anyone who wants a single, reliable weekly digest instead of piecing news together from a dozen sources.
What sets it apart is the curation itself. Aleyda has been doing this long enough to know what’s actually worth your attention versus what’s just noise.
Subscribe at: seofomo.co
2.The Growth Memo
Kevin Indig | Beehiiv
Kevin led SEO at Shopify before going independent, and The Growth Memo reflects that background. It focuses on how AI search is reshaping organic growth strategy, particularly for SaaS and enterprise teams.
If you’re in-house at a SaaS company trying to figure out where organic growth fits into the bigger picture, this is built for you.
It stands out for treating SEO as a growth lever tied to business strategy, not a standalone tactic.
Subscribe at: www.growth-memo.com
3.Search News You Can Use
Marie Haynes | Substack
Marie is one of the most trusted analysts of Google core updates working today. Her newsletter breaks down why sites gain or lose traffic after an update in a way that’s actually useful, not just descriptive.
Subscribe if you’ve ever stared at a traffic drop after an update and had no idea what caused it.
What makes this one different is the analytical rigor. Marie digs into patterns across many sites rather than guessing from a handful of examples.
Subscribe at: www.mariehaynes.com/marie-haynes-newsletter
5.SEO For Lunch
Nick LeRoy | Substack
Short, practical, and aimed squarely at SEO consultants and agency teams. Nick covers the operational side of running SEO work, not just the tactics themselves.
This one’s a good fit for consultants and agency folks who need the business side covered too, not just the technical playbook.
It’s different because it treats SEO as a service business, covering client management and operations alongside strategy.
Subscribe at: www.seoforlunch.com
6.The SEO MBA
Tom Critchlow | Substack
Tom focuses on the organizational and strategic side of SEO: how to get internal buy-in, build a team, and present SEO work in a way leadership actually understands.
Subscribe if your biggest SEO challenge right now is internal, not technical.
What makes this one stand out is that it barely touches tactics. It’s almost entirely about navigating organizations, which most SEO content ignores.
Subscribe at: newsletter.seomba.com
7.Detailed
Glen Allsopp | Independent (Ghost)
Detailed publishes deeply researched industry audits that show how the biggest sites in a given niche actually build links and generate traffic. These are long-form, data-heavy pieces, not quick takes.
This is for anyone who wants original research rather than another summary of someone else’s findings.
It’s different because Glen does the digging himself. These audits aren’t aggregated from other sources, they’re built from scratch.
Subscribe at: detailed.com
8.BibiBuzz Link Building
Bibi Raven | Substack
One of the few newsletters that treats link building as the main subject rather than a side note inside broader SEO content. Bibi focuses on creative outreach and relationship-driven link acquisition.
Subscribe if link building is your specific job, not just one tactic among many.
What sets it apart is the emphasis on relationships over templates. This isn’t about mass outreach scripts.
Subscribe at: substack.com
9.Search Intelligence Insights
Fery Kaszoni | Substack
Fery runs Search Intelligence, a digital PR agency, and his newsletter sits at the intersection of editorial link building and brand visibility.
This is useful for anyone trying to connect link building work to broader brand and PR goals.
It stands out for bridging two worlds that usually stay separate: technical link building and PR strategy.
Subscribe at: substack.com
10.TL;DR SEO
Rich Sanger | Substack / Independent
Does exactly what the name promises. It covers the most important SEO news of the week in the shortest amount of time possible.
Subscribe if your inbox is already too full and you just need the headlines.
The differentiator here is brevity itself. There’s no filler, just the news.
Subscribe at: substack.com
11.Fazillion Insights
Cyrus Shepard | Substack
Cyrus spent years at Moz before going independent, and that background shows. The newsletter covers ranking factors and algorithm updates with more data rigor than most SEO publications attempt.
This is a good fit for practitioners who want evidence behind claims, not just opinions.
What makes it different is the level of data analysis behind each issue, rather than anecdotal takes.
Subscribe at: substack.com
12.SEO Notes
Brodie Clark | Substack / Independent
Brodie documents SERP feature changes and AI search behavior with more consistency than almost anyone else covering this space.
Subscribe if you need to track how search results pages are actually changing, feature by feature.
It stands out for the sheer consistency of tracking. Few people document SERP changes this regularly.
Subscribe at: substack.com
13.Ryan Law’s Content Strategy
Ryan Law | Substack
Focused specifically on content strategy for SaaS companies, covering what actually drives organic growth rather than what sounds good in a planning meeting.
This is for content and SEO teams at SaaS companies who want strategy grounded in results.
It’s different because of the SaaS focus. The advice is built for that business model specifically, not general content marketing.
Subscribe at: substack.com
14.Programmatic SEO Newsletter
Ian Nuttall | Beehiiv
The most focused resource available on programmatic SEO, covering tooling, templates, and case studies from real programmatic builds.
Subscribe if you’re building or considering a programmatic SEO strategy and need real examples, not theory.
What sets it apart is the singular focus. There’s no other newsletter covering programmatic SEO this thoroughly.
Subscribe at: www.beehiiv.com
15.Digital PR and Content Notes
Amanda Milligan | Substack
Amanda works at the intersection of content, PR, and link building, and the newsletter reflects that with practical advice on earning links through editorial coverage rather than outreach templates.
This is useful for anyone trying to build links through genuine media coverage instead of cold outreach.
It stands out for focusing on editorial earn rather than ask, which is a different skill set entirely.
Subscribe at: substack.com
16.Digitaloft Insights
James Brockbank | Substack
Covers digital PR campaign strategy with an emphasis on data-led campaigns that earn editorial links from major publications.
Subscribe if you’re running or planning digital PR campaigns and want to see what data-led work looks like in practice.
What makes this different is the campaign-level detail. It’s not general advice, it’s built around specific campaign mechanics.
Subscribe at: substack.com
17.Core Updates
Mark Williams-Cook | Beehiiv
Covers Google updates and AI search changes with specific, tactical advice, and is unusually honest about what AI tools can and cannot actually do for SEO.
This is a good fit for anyone tired of inflated claims about AI tools and looking for a straight assessment instead.
Honesty is what sets it apart. Mark doesn’t oversell what AI can do for your SEO work.
Subscribe at: www.beehiiv.com
18.SEO Weekly and Marketing Notes
Garett Sussman | Substack
Covers AI search and GEO with a practical marketing lens, written to be accessible for broader marketing teams who need to understand SEO without becoming specialists themselves.
Subscribe if you’re on a marketing team that touches SEO but isn’t made up of SEO specialists.
It stands out for accessibility. This is written for marketers first, not just SEO insiders.
Subscribe at: substack.com
19.Local SEO Search Notes
Joy Hawkins | Substack
Joy runs Sterling Sky and her newsletter is widely considered one of the most reliable sources of local SEO intelligence, including how AI search is changing local pack visibility.
This is essential if any part of your work touches local SEO or Google Business Profile strategy.
What makes it different is the singular focus on local, an area most general SEO newsletters barely touch.
Subscribe at: substack.com
20.Product-Led SEO
Eli Schwartz | Substack
Eli wrote the book on product-led SEO, and this newsletter extends that thinking into how SaaS companies should approach organic growth today.
Subscribe if you’re trying to connect your product itself to your SEO and growth strategy.
It stands out for the product-first lens, which is a different angle than most content-focused SEO advice.
Subscribe at: substack.com
SEO for Journalism
Barry Adams | Substack
A niche but valuable pick covering SEO specifically for news publishers and media organizations.
This is especially useful for agencies working with media clients or anyone in publisher-side SEO.
What makes it different is the specificity. Publisher SEO has its own rules, and this is one of the only newsletters built entirely around them.
Subscribe at: substack.com
Where to start
Twenty newsletters is a lot, so don’t subscribe to all of them at once. Pick three to five that actually match your role and focus. A good starting combination is one general SEO newsletter for broad coverage, one niche newsletter that matches your specialty (link building, technical, local, or otherwise), and one newsletter focused specifically on AI search. You can always add more once you know which voices you trust.
At Yaaply, we build the editorial backlinks that give your brand the authority to rank in traditional search and get cited in AI-generated answers. Every placement is editorial. Every link carries a lifetime guarantee.