CMO’s Guide: SEO Budget Priorities for 2026 Q1 & H1

The digital discovery landscape has fundamentally changed, requiring marketing leaders to build resilient strategies that go beyond traditional search rankings. The rapid integration of AI into how people find information throughout 2025 has made organic traffic less predictable, placing greater pressure on CMOs to justify spending while still driving growth. Success now depends on securing stable visibility across AI platforms, building stronger content operations, and ensuring technical foundations are robust enough for both users and intelligent systems. The first half of 2026 is the critical window to fund and execute these priorities.

Effective budget planning for this period should be guided by core principles that balance stability with necessary innovation.

First, protect a baseline allocation for core SEO. This non-negotiable funding covers technical health, site performance, information architecture, and ongoing content maintenance. These activities support every marketing channel; cutting them introduces significant risk just as discovery patterns are becoming more complex.

Second, create a separate experimental fund dedicated to AI discovery. With generative engines and AI Overviews changing how users encounter brands, it’s vital to ring-fence investment for testing answer-focused content, entity development, new schema patterns, and measurement frameworks for AI visibility. Without a dedicated budget, these forward-looking initiatives will stall or cannibalize essential maintenance work.

Third, invest in measurement that explains real user behavior. Since AI-driven visibility is still evolving and inconsistent, analytics must capture complete user journeys, track where AI systems mention the brand, and identify which content shapes those outcomes. This deeper insight is crucial for defending and strategically adjusting budgets later in the year.

For the first quarter, the focus should be on stabilizing the foundation while preparing for new discovery patterns. The work completed in Q1 directly shapes the results achievable by mid-year.

Begin with technical foundations. Prioritize site health by improving core performance metrics, resolving crawl barriers, modernizing internal linking, and strengthening information architecture. AI systems and large language models depend on clean, consistent signals; a robust technical environment supports every subsequent content and measurement initiative.

Develop entity-rich, question-led content. Users are asking broader, more nuanced questions, and AI engines favor content that clearly defines concepts, addresses queries in detail, and builds authoritative topical depth. Invest in structured content programs aligned to genuine customer problems, emphasizing clarity, usefulness, and authority over sheer volume.

Initiate early experimentation with Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). There is substantial overlap between SEO and inclusion in LLMs, as both rely on strong technical signals, consistent entity representation, and helpful, interpretable content. View LLM discovery as a natural extension of SEO. For instance, developments like the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) are influencing how AI systems understand and transact with products. Whether called GEO, AEO, or LLMO, the principle remains: brands must now optimize for multiple platforms and an expanding array of discovery engines. Use Q1 to assess your brand’s presence across these systems, review answer hubs, evaluate entity relationships, and see how your structured data is interpreted. These initial tests will inform where to expand budget in H1.

The first half of the year is when insights from Q1 mature into scalable programs.

Integrate winning experiments into business-as-usual operations. When early tests in LLM discovery or structured content show clear traction, formalize those practices into ongoing SEO activities. This allows them to grow consistently without requiring new budget approvals each quarter.

Audit and cut low-ROI tools, reinvesting in people and process. Many organizations overspend on redundant or underutilized platforms. H1 is the time to review tool usage, eliminate duplication, and retire what doesn’t deliver value. Redirecting those funds toward skilled personnel, content quality, and operational improvements typically yields a stronger return. The industry-wide rush by tool providers to incorporate AI will begin to settle, making truly valuable solutions clearer.

Adjust the budget mix as concrete data emerges. By late H1, there should be clearer evidence showing where visibility is shifting and which activities genuinely influence discovery and engagement. Reallocate funds to support what’s working, maintain core SEO, expand successful content areas, and reduce investment in experiments that haven’t produced results.

• Before finalizing any budget, CMOs should ensure it reflects a balanced view of both offensive and defensive tactics, funding both movement and momentum.
• Defensive tactics protect existing gains: stable rankings, reliable technical performance, dependable content structures, and preserved visibility across both search and AI-driven experiences.
• Offensive tactics are designed to create new visibility, unlock new demand categories, and strengthen the brand’s presence within emerging discovery engines.
• A balanced budget funds both. Without a strong defense, the brand becomes fragile. Without a smart offense, it risks becoming invisible.
• Movement involves activities that help the brand adapt to evolving environments, like early LLM discovery tests, entity expansion, and modernizing content formats.
• Momentum is the compounding effect of sustained investment in core SEO and consistent optimization of key user journeys.
• CMOs should evaluate budgets based on their ability to generate both: the movement that positions the brand for the future, and the momentum that sustains current growth.

With this framework in mind, key questions for final budget approval include:

• To what degree does this budget balance defensive activities, like technical stability, with offensive initiatives that expand future visibility?
• How clearly does the plan identify where movement will originate in early 2026, and how momentum will be protected and strengthened throughout H1?
• Which program elements directly enhance the brand’s presence across AI surfaces, GEO, and other emerging discovery engines?
• How effectively does the content strategy support immediate user needs and longer-term category growth?
• How will we track changes in brand visibility across multiple platforms, including traditional search, AI-driven answers, and sector-specific discovery systems?
• What roles do teams, processes, and first-party data play in sustaining movement and momentum, and are they funded appropriately?
• What reporting improvements will allow leadership to judge the success of both defensive and offensive investments by the end of H1?

(Source: Search Engine Journal)