In this episode of E-coffee with Experts, Ivan Palii, Head of Product at Sitechecker, explains what actually matters in SEO in 2026, and why many agencies are still reporting the wrong metrics.
We talk about how AI Overviews and LLM search are changing how people discover brands, why rankings and Search Console clicks don’t tell the full story anymore, and what agencies should measure instead to prove real SEO ROI.
Ivan also shares how Reddit is becoming a powerful organic growth channel for SaaS companies, why contextual backlinks now matter more than traditional link building tactics, and how stronger communication helps agencies keep clients even when traffic drops.
If you’re a founder, SEO strategist, or agency leader trying to adapt your strategy for the AI search era, this episode will change how you think about performance, attribution, and long-term visibility.
In this episode, we cover:
- How to measure SEO performance beyond rankings
- Why Reddit is driving the pipeline for SaaS brands
- The impact of AI Overviews on organic traffic
- Running SEO experiments that build long-term insight
- How link building is changing in the AI era
- Why brand visibility affects AI search results
- How agencies retain clients when traffic declines
Takeaways:
- SEO success now depends more on revenue than rankings
- AI Overviews are reducing traditional organic traffic
- Agencies must communicate strategy more frequently
- Reddit is becoming a strong organic acquisition channel
- Context around backlinks matters more than anchor text
- Brand visibility influences performance in AI search
- Experiments help teams learn faster than static plans
- Removing low-value pages can improve site-wide rankings
- Attribution is harder as AI changes discovery paths
- Strong messaging matters more than technical SEO alone