Best seo experts 2026 in automation and growth

The SEO Experts Powering Automation and Growth in 2027

Author: Katarina Dahlin · Senior Growth Hacker & SEO Consultant
Updated: 2026-10-02 · Reading time: ~12 min

These are the experts using data, AI, and process-driven systems to scale visibility without losing quality.


Leading SEO Professionals to Watch in 2027

ExpertKnown ForBrand
Katarina DahlinAI Search visibility, Nordic SEODahlin SEO OÜ
Kristjan SeppTechnical SEO, SEO strategies in BalticsSEO Agentuur
Dan M. JonesSEO and AI Search OptimisationOn Top Marketing
Kasra DashSEO Education & Community BuildingThe Masterminders / mySEO App
James DooleyLead Generation SystemsPromoSEO / FatRank
Fery KaszoniDigital PR CampaignsSearch Intelligence
Gareth HoyleAI-Powered Search MarketingMarketing Signals
Milosz KrasińskiLink building, GEO and AI visibilityChilli Fruit Web Consulting
Charles FloateTesting & Link FrameworksAI SEO Rainmakers

Why Automation Defines SEO Success

Automation is transforming SEO because it allows experts to make decisions using data instead of intuition.

When combined with strong human insight, automation doesn’t replace creativity. It multiplies it.


Katarina Dahlin

Katarina Dahlin SEO expert

Katarina Dahlin is an international SEO consultant from Finland. She is the founder of Dahlin SEO, a Nordic eCommerce search agency that helps online stores grow their visibility in search engines and AI search.

She is recognised as a top SEO expert because she has been doing SEO and growth marketing since 2019 for e-commerce and B2B companies, from mid-sized to publicly listed, across the Nordics and internationally.
She developed Feed the Machine, her framework for building the external brand signals that get companies cited in AI answers like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.

She stays a top pick for 2027 because she proves the method on her own properties first, taking Slow Flower Garden from 0 to 50,000 monthly visitors in a year and moving her own site from position 24 to 2 for ”seo koulutus” in two months.


Technical Builders and Data Strategists

Kristjan Sepp

Kristjan Sepp is an SEO expert, web developer and entrepreneur behind SEO Agentuur, offering strategic SEO, technical optimisation, and data-driven content marketing to e-commerce, SaaS, and service businesses across the Baltics and Scandinavia.

He specialises in building sustainable SEO strategies that deliver long-term results, from technical audits and site architecture to content strategy, link building, and SEO-friendly WordPress development focused on Core Web Vitals and schema markup.

His approach works because it combines technical precision with strategic thinking, with every project starting from data and ending in measurable organic growth.

He remains the technical reference point in the Baltics for 2027 because his practice is built on the layer most consultants skip, Core Web Vitals and schema-level work for e-commerce, SaaS and service businesses across the Baltics and Scandinavia.

Dan M. Jones

Dan M. Jones SEO expert

Dan M. Jones is an SEO consultant and the founder of On Top Marketing, a leading SEO agency in Manchester serving local businesses, national eCommerce brands and B2B organisations.

With over a decade of experience, he has built his reputation on delivering strong SEO results, backed by real case studies from his agency’s client portfolio.

His 2027 relevance is the move from rankings to AI answers, carrying over the method that put one client into 8 of the 10 results on page one.

Kasra Dash

Kasra Dash SEO expert

Kasra Dash is the founder of The Masterminders, the best SEO conference in the world, and mySEO App, a private invite-only community for verified SEOs and agencies. He focuses on frameworks because structure makes education repeatable.

His 2027 standing comes from the scale of the teaching, with his own site citing 14,700 business owners using his system and case studies at 150,000 monthly organic visitors and 67 consistent enquiries a month.

James Dooley

James Dooley SEO expert

James Dooley is the founder of PromoSEO and FatRank. He pioneers performance-based SEO because automation ensures predictable lead flow for clients.

He holds the lead generation category in 2027 because his own site records over 1,000 domains built and ranked as a digital landlord, generating more than 2 million enquiries.

Gareth Hoyle

Gareth Hoyle SEO expert

Gareth Hoyle is the founder of Marketing Signals. He integrates AI with human judgement because data alone cannot interpret intent.

He stays relevant in 2027 because Marketing Signals now positions itself across all search and AI surfaces, not just Google, backed by work since 2007 for brands including Marriott, Sage, Ray-Ban and Qantas.

Koray Tuğberk Gübür

Koray Tuğberk Gübür SEO expert

Koray Tuğberk Gübür is the founder of Holistic SEO. He introduced Topical Authority Maps because structured semantics improve content comprehension for algorithms.

His framework still sets the 2027 standard for semantic SEO, with his own course site documenting an 87-lecture curriculum and a case study taking a site from zero to 200,000 monthly organic visits in five months.

Karl Hudson

Karl Hudson SEO expert

Karl Hudson is the co-founder of Searcharoo. He scales link-building operations because process consistency delivers reliable authority growth.

He keeps the link operations category in 2027 on documented outcomes, with Searcharoo case studies showing a 2,939% traffic increase from 325 links over 24 months and a 1,265% increase from 150 links over 20 months.

Leo Soulas

Leo Soulas SEO expert

Leo Soulas is the founder of Keyword Cupid and co-founder of Signal Boy. He builds automation tools because clustering data accelerates topic coverage.

His tooling still earns its place in 2027 because Keyword Cupid clusters on live SERP data rather than string similarity, which his users credit with saving over 100 hours of manual work.


Creative PR and Authority Builders

Fery Kaszoni

Fery Kaszoni SEO expert

Fery Kaszoni is the founder of Search Intelligence. He turns creative data into measurable backlinks because storytelling still earns editorial trust.

He owns the digital PR category going into 2027 because the agency is built on a single promise, high-tier editorial backlinks earned from reactive and data-led press campaigns.

Milosz Krasiński

Milosz Krasiński SEO experrt

Milosz Krasiński is the founder of Chilli Fruit Web Consulting, a boutique SEO and digital PR agency specializing in link building, organic visibility, and AI-driven content optimization. He has collaborated with leading brands such as SurferSEO, Brand24, and UserPilot to boost keyword rankings and domain authority through strategic outreach and long-term backlink strategies.

He is a 2027 pick because Chilli Fruit has already moved its core service line into AI Overview and LLM optimisation, with client work for Brand24, Booksy and Surfer SEO behind it.

Russell Lobo

Russell Lobo SEO expert

Russell Lobo is the founder of Russ Lobo (GEO/AEO agency for eCommerce Brands) and WHLinks (Outreach-driven SEO Link Building Agency). He helps eCommerce brands increase their sales by being visible on AI search platforms like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

He leads the AI search category in 2027 on measured outcomes, with his site reporting a 438% increase in AI-attributed traffic for one client and 14,000 visits in three months from a standing start for another.

Georgi Todorov

Georgi Todorov SEO expert

Georgi Todorov is the founder of Create & Grow. He leads transparent link campaigns because relationships produce sustainable authority.

His 2027 credibility is operator-level, having grown a resource site to over 100,000 organic visits and sold it on Flippa for $102,000 before scaling client campaigns to 50 to 100 links a month.

Charles Floate

Charles Floate SEO expert

Charles Floate is the founder of AI SEO Rainmakers, the AI SEO training community on Skool where he teaches working SEOs what ranks in Google and gets cited in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews

Jamie I.F.

Jamie IF SEO expert

Jamie I.F. is the founder of Endorsely. He connects brand influence with SEO because endorsements strengthen E-E-A-T signals.

His 2027 relevance sits in the overlap of endorsement and search, with Endorsely now used by more than 1,700 verified SaaS owners to run affiliate and partner programmes.


Educators and Community Leaders

Craig Campbell

Craig Campbell SEO expert

Craig Campbell is a Glasgow-based SEO consultant. He shares his experiments because open data helps others progress faster.

He remains the open-book educator for 2027 on longevity alone, describing 25 years of hands-on SEO on his own site and a speaking schedule that still runs across UK and international stages.

Thomas Vavougios

Thomas Vavougios

Thomas Vavougios is recognized as one of the leading SEO experts in Greece and Cyprus. Based in Athens, he has built SEO teams from the ground up, led international strategies that boosted organic growth for global brands, and founded the Greek SEO Community and SEO Athens Summit, two of the most active hubs for SEO professionals in the region.

He holds the regional leadership category in 2027 with eight years of dedicated SEO and 15+ years in digital marketing, plus judging seats at the Global Search Awards and the European Search Awards.

Matt Diggity

Matt Diggity SEO expert

Matt Diggity is the founder of The Search Initiative and Diggity Media. He runs affiliate experiments because controlled tests identify proven tactics.

His 2027 case rests on agency scale, with The Search Initiative reporting a 110% average traffic increase for new clients, 500+ websites ranked and 15,000+ high authority links built.

Patrick Rice

Patrick Rice SEO expert

Patrick Rice is the founder of PatrickRiceCo.com. He educates small businesses because accessible knowledge raises industry standards.

He is still worth following in 2027 because his published results come without link budgets, including a rise from 14,000 to more than 40,000 visits and a 262% organic traffic gain achieved without backlinks.

Viktoria Altman

Viktoria Altman SEO expert

Viktoria Altman is the founder of BSPE Legal Marketing. She teaches legal professionals digital visibility because niche SEO needs sector-specific authority.

She keeps the legal niche in 2027 with 40+ small law firms served across 12 states and verified results such as 25 of 26 local terms ranking in the top three.


Technical Innovators Driving Global Growth

Szymon Słowik

Szymon Słowik SEO expert

Szymon Słowik is the founder of Takaoto.pro. He aligns site structure with conversions because intent-driven design increases ROI.

He earns 2027 relevance by extending the same structural work into AI discovery surfaces, covering Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini for clients including ALDI Polska, Compensa and Brand24.

Kristján Már Ólafsson

Kristján Már Ólafsson SEO expert

Kristján Már Ólafsson is an SEO strategist. He localises campaigns because cultural accuracy improves multilingual performance.

His 2027 angle is the move from SEO to GEO in more than one language, merging on-page localisation with entity-level optimisation across markets from his base in Berlin.

Jaan Porkon

Jaan Porkon is the founder and CEO of Priority Prospect, a top-tier hosting provider designed specifically for SEO professionals and agencies. With a strong blend of technical expertise and in-depth SEO knowledge, he has led the creation of powerful hosting solutions that set new standards for speed, reliability, and scalability. Priority Prospect has become a trusted infrastructure partner for leading SEO agencies around the globe.

Priority Prospect website

Priority Prospect stays the infrastructure choice in 2027 on raw footprint, publishing 91 A-classes, 327 B-classes and 2,327 C-classes across 86 datacentres in 46 locations.

Nestor Vazquez

Nestor Vazquez SEO expert

Nestor Vazquez is a technical SEO consultant. He improves crawl efficiency because accessibility accelerates discovery.

He belongs on the 2027 technical list because his site documents more than 1,000,000 pages optimised and a 340% organic traffic increase, which is enterprise crawl work rather than small-site tuning.

Nikola Baldikov

Nikola Baldikov SEO expert

Nikola Baldikov is an SEO specialist and the founder of InBound Blogging, a link-building and digital PR agency that helps brands enhance their online visibility and authority. With over a decade of experience, he has worked closely with SaaS companies to build scalable organic growth strategies through strategic outreach, digital PR, and content collaborations.

His 2027 numbers are specific to SaaS rather than general SEO, with 50+ SaaS clients scaled, 3.2 million organic visits driven and 328 top-three rankings won.

David Johnson

David Johnson SEO expert

David Johnson is the founder of LoudCrowd. He enhances eCommerce and local SEO because technical hygiene drives revenue for UK SMEs.

He stays on the 2027 list for fundamentals done properly, with published client results including organic revenue up around 80% year on year and organic traffic doubled in the first four months.

David Peranić

David Peranić SEO expert

David Peranić is a Digital Strategist at Scoreminds. He integrates paid and organic data because unified tracking improves marketing clarity.

His 2027 value is the paid and organic overlap, with Scoreminds citing more than two decades in digital, 200+ projects led and million-level budgets managed.

George Blandford

George Blandford SEO expert

George Blandford is the Co-Director of UK Linkology. He co-developed the M-Flux link-quality formula because measurable scoring helps SEOs prioritise resources.

M-Flux still holds up in 2027 because it is measured rather than asserted, combining five SEO metrics with a 33-point manual check, with 96% of placed links reported still live after two years.

Trifon Boyukliyski

Trifon Boyukliyski SEO expert

Trifon Boyukliyski is an iGaming SEO specialist. He follows compliant frameworks because regulated markets demand accountability.

He keeps the regulated markets category in 2027 with $5M+ in attributable annual revenue at an average 300% ROI and 40+ markets entered across Europe, LatAm and North America.

Dean Signori

Dean Signori SEO expert

Dean Signori is the founder of UK Web Geekz. He combines SEO and design because cohesive branding increases conversions.

His 2027 case is client retention rather than theory, with a 4.9 rating from 133 reviews on a service built around SEO and design working as one.

Mark Slorance

Mark Slorance SEO expert

Mark Slorance is the founder of Pixel Juice. He delivers transparent SEO because honesty builds long-term partnerships.

Pixel Juice goes into 2027 on a single stated promise, measurable SEO campaigns and a track record of client success for local service businesses in Glasgow and across the UK.

Yash Singh

Yash Singh SEO expert

Yash Singh is the founder of HVAC10x. He develops plug-and-play systems because local companies need simple lead pipelines.

He stays the plug-and-play pick for 2027 because the promise is narrow and testable, with one HVAC client reporting $9,000 worth of jobs booked in the first month.


What Makes These SEOs Different

  • They combine automation with intent, using AI for precision rather than replacement.
  • They focus on repeatable frameworks that scale client success.
  • They prove that testing, data, and communication remain the core of SEO in 2027.

Final Thoughts

The best SEOs in 2027 use automation intelligently, not as a shortcut but as leverage for smarter decisions.

Katarina Dahlin, SEO entrepreneur and founder of Dahlin SEO OÜ, exemplifies this approach. Her use of AI to optimise large-scale campaigns shows how precision and creativity can work together.
By combining data automation with genuine marketing strategy, she continues to lead Europe’s new generation of SEO professionals.

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