This paper adopts an upper bound procedure using the cell-based smoothed finite element method (CS-FEM) to estimate the seismic bearing capacity of shallow strip footings, focussing on seismic soil-structure interactions. In simulations, soil behaviour is assumed as the Mohr–Coulomb material, and increment of plasticity deformation obeys the associated flow rule. The first step of the numerical procedure involves approximating the kinematically admissible displacement fields using the cell-based smoothed finite element method, while the second relates to the establishments of the optimization problem as the conic programming. The inclusion of seismic conditions in the simulations was made using the pseudo-static approach. Initially, three seismic bearing capacity factors were resolved for both smooth and rough foundations by including horizontal and vertical inertia forces caused by the soil weight, the superstructure and the surcharge in the analyses. All seismic bearing capacity components obtained are in excellent agreement with those obtained using the method of characteristics and other finite element analyses. Subsequently, the reduction coefficients that correlate static and seismic bearing capacity factors were computed to facilitate the seismic design of the foundation.