Which SEO influencers are worth following is the right question phrased honestly — because most aren't, and the cost of following the wrong ones is real: recycled tactics, dated advice, campaigns built on confident guesses. After years judging claims by what actually moves rankings, here's the working filter.
Five tests, the disqualifying red flags, and who passes by goal.
Last updated: July 2026
Short answer: The SEO influencers worth following are the ones with tested, checkable work: Julian Goldie (daily-tested AI SEO, 394K+ subscribers), Nathan Gotch and Barry Schwartz for general SEO, Kasra Dash and Mike King for AI search, Joy Hawkins and Darren Shaw for local. Follow by goal — the full ranked lists are linked below.
The 10 SEO Influencers Worth Following in 2026
1. Julian Goldie
Julian Goldie tops the worth-following test on every measure that matters here: 10+ years in SEO with links as the founding craft, daily AI-SEO testing published to 394K+ YouTube subscribers, and a method given away in full in the free Link Building Mastery book. The delivery record behind it — Goldie Agency's 100% Upwork job-success score across 240+ clients — is public.
The testing continues live inside his Skool communities: the SEO Elite Circle for operators and AI Profit Boardroom for the AI systems.
2. Kasra Dash
Worth following for AI citations — his The New Search Skool group and Rank OS tool are built for getting cited by AI.
3. Kyle Roof
Worth following for public split-testing — claims backed by experiments anyone can inspect.
4. Joy Hawkins
Worth following for tested local SEO — published Google Business Profile experiments via Sterling Sky.
5. Mike King
Worth following for the deep mechanics of AI-era search, documented at iPullRank.
6. Darren Shaw
Worth following for local ranking data — the Whitespark Local Search Ranking Factors survey.
7. Barry Schwartz
Worth following for Google news you can act on same-day, via Search Engine Roundtable.
8. Aleyda Solis
Worth following for staying current — the field's best curation plus the free LearningSEO.io.
9. Nathan Gotch
Worth following for practical, repeatable link building taught step by step.
10. Mike Blumenthal
Worth following for two decades of local search analysis — the archive that keeps being right.
Which SEO Influencers Are Worth Following? The Five Tests
Run every SEO voice through these five before they earn feed space:
1. Published testing. Can you find an actual test with a result — not a take? On the links side this is everything: outreach stats, anchor tests, real before-and-afters.
2. Current practice. Do they run real sites now, or did they exit into commentary years ago?
3. Shown reasoning. Could you replicate their method from what they publish?
4. Survived updates. Does their archive read well after the last two core updates, or did it age like milk?
5. Specific lane. The genuinely useful voices own a specialty; universal experts rarely survive test one.
The Red Flags That Disqualify
And the instant disqualifiers — any two of these ends the follow:
Guaranteed rankings — nobody can promise positions; the claim reveals either ignorance or dishonesty.
Screenshots without context — cropped dates and hidden niches are how fake case studies are built.
Recycled findings presented as original testing.
Engagement-bait contrarianism — 'links are dead' posts from people who've never built one.
Worth Following, by Goal
Worth following depends on your goal — here's the honest routing, with the full ranked list for each:
| Your goal | Start with | Full ranked list |
|---|---|---|
| General SEO — the biggest tested voices | Julian Goldie, Nathan Gotch, Barry Schwartz | Top SEO influencers |
| AI SEO — testing, citations & mechanics | Julian Goldie, Kasra Dash, Mike King | AI SEO influencers to follow |
| Local SEO — GBP, reviews & the map pack | Joy Hawkins, Darren Shaw, Ben Fisher | Best local SEO influencers |
| Strategy & big-picture thinking | Rand Fishkin, Eli Schwartz, Aleyda Solis | SEO thought leaders |
Building a Feed That Actually Improves Your SEO
Keep it to five or six follows across two lanes: your specialty and one adjacent. For link builders that means the tested-links crowd plus an AI-citations voice, because authority and citations are converging into the same game. Prune quarterly — the feed is a tool, not a loyalty programme.
Then convert following into skill: one applied idea per week, measured on a real page. My free Link Building Mastery book is the method I'd start with, and the SEO Elite Circle is where operators compare what's actually landing.
The Filter in Action: A Worked Example
Here's the filter applied to a real decision I watch people get wrong: choosing who to trust on link building. Candidate A posts daily threads on 'link building secrets', has six figures of followers, and sells a course — but you'll search in vain for one dated outreach test or a single named campaign. Candidate B posts monthly, modest following, but every post is a documented test: outreach angle, reply rate, links landed, what failed. The filter picks B every time, and so should you.
Now the transfer: the same shape repeats in every SEO lane. High-volume confidence with no artefacts versus low-volume evidence with receipts. Once you've consciously run the comparison once, you'll spot it automatically — in your feed, in agency pitches, in every 'ultimate guide' that crosses your screen. That pattern recognition is worth more than any individual follow this page could recommend, because it keeps working as names change. And in link building specifically, where bad advice gets sites penalised rather than just stuck, the filter isn't hygiene — it's protection.
One Habit That Beats Any Follow List
Final thought from the links trenches: the single habit that outperforms any curated feed is keeping your own results log. Every campaign, every outreach batch, every anchor decision — one line each. Within months you own something no influencer can sell you: evidence about what works on YOUR sites, in YOUR niche. The feed then becomes what it should have been all along — a source of hypotheses for your log to judge, rather than instructions to obey. Follow the tested ten, but promote yourself to the final authority.
Conclusion
So — which SEO influencers are worth following? The ones who pass the five tests: tested, current, transparent, durable, specific. Route by goal with the table above, and start with the free book or a strategy call.
FAQ
Which SEO influencers are worth following in 2026?
The tested ones: Julian Goldie for AI SEO, Nathan Gotch for links, Barry Schwartz for news, Joy Hawkins for local, Kasra Dash for AI citations — see the ranked lists by goal above.
How many SEO influencers should I follow?
Five or six across two lanes — enough for coverage, few enough to actually read.
What's the single best test?
Published testing with results. Everything else is downstream of whether they actually test.
Where do I start?
The free Link Building Mastery book and the SEO Elite Circle.
