Best AI Search (AEO/GEO) Marketing Conferences (2026-2027 Reviews)

For most search marketing people, going to a flagship conference is one of the highest-ROI things you can do for yourself and your business.

That is just pattern recognition after 10+ years in SEO, PPC, and now AEO (or GEO). The people who keep growing show up in the room. The people who fade out after a few years usually do not.

AI search made that more true, not less. The news that actually matters still breaks on stage first. Krishna Madhavan did not announce Bing Webmaster Tools’ AI Visibility update in a press release. He broke it in the opening session of SEO Week 2026. Half the room ran to their phones.

The other half of the value is people. Planned networking, roundtables, happy hours, side conversations. You will not get that from a webinar.

I am the CEO and cofounder of Cairrot and obsessive search marketer of 10+ years. I attend, sponsor, and speak at conferences in the US and Asia. These are the top conferences I recommend SEO and AEO/GEO experts and marketing leaders for 2026 and 2027; events that combine useful information, strong speakers, real networking, and logistics a marketing leader can live with.

If you take SEO and AEO seriously, pick at least one of these in the next twelve months and go.

Running an event you think belongs here? Get in touch->

Why every marketer should go to an SEO conference in the next 12 months

If you are in leadership, this is not optional.

If you have been doing SEO for more than five years and you are still talking about it the same way, get in a room.

What you get

1. Learning. The language is moving. AI search does not wait for your newsletter queue.
2. Networking. This is where peer relationships and pipeline actually start.
3. Social proof. Showing up still signals you are part of the working community, not just commenting on it.

If you are new, the same trip does different work. You learn faster. You get reps talking to people who are better than you. You leave less unsure than you arrived.

For leaders, the job is staying current on the language, staying visible, and staying in the rooms where decisions get made.

How I ended up taking events more seriously

SEO Week 2025 was the turning point.

I had been to conferences before. That one made the calendar a strategy. The content was ahead of what I was reading. The people stayed on the floor. The news broke in the room. We also saw a real lift in AI visibility when we showed up, sponsored, and talked about it after. That pattern repeated at every event we did in 2026.

So I stopped treating conferences like a nice-to-have. I now plan the year around a mix of US and international rooms. The list below is that mix.

How I ranked these events

I am not using Must-Attend stickers. I am using three tiers and five things I actually care about when I spend the travel budget.

Tiers

• Tier 1. Industry-wide impact. Global draw. Elite. It has an X factor you cannot copy-paste onto another agenda.
• Tier 2. National authority. Gold-standard execution. A safe, strong yes if it matches your market or specialty.
• Tier 3. Regional leaders and niche-specific rooms. Worth it for the right person, the right industry, or the right geography.

What I am scoring

• Speaker quality and whether the information is actually new
• Breaking news and innovative thinking
• Past performance. If an event has historically kicked ass, it gets credit for that
• Networking opportunities, accessibility to experts
• How much I enjoyed being there

This list covers events I have attended recently, am attending, or am actively watching. If I have not been, I say so.

The World’s Best Search Marketing Conferences (2026 and 2027 events)

My Top Event Recs for Marketing Leaders and Growth Experts

1. SEO Week: Best Overall AI Search Conference

Overview

• Location: New York City
• Organizer: iPullRank, Michael King
• Timing: Annual, April
• Best for: Mid-to-advanced practitioners, in-house leads, agency operators, founders, and content marketers trying to level up

Why SEO Week Is One of My Favorite Conferences

SEO Week is my WrestleMania.

That is the best way I can describe it. iPullRank runs the most cutting-edge event in search marketing. Themed days, Day 1 The Science, then content, psychology, ecosystem, and the future of AI search, best production quality in the industry, and speakers who actually stay late to coach instead of bolting for dinner.

What Makes SEO Week Different

• Real news breaks here. Not leaked, not previewed on X. On stage.
• Entertainment unlike any marketing conference. Wednesday night rap concert featuring Method Man, with Mike King himself performing. How many conferences can say that?
• Speakers stay on the floor. You can walk up to someone mid-break and get into a real conversation.
• iPullRank’s multimedia production makes dense AI talks actually followable.

Standout Moments and Takeaways

• Krishna Madhavan from Microsoft announced the next phase of Bing Webmaster Tools AI Visibility on stage. Influencers literally ran to their phones mid-talk.
• Mike King called out legacy SEO tools and VC-funded AEO platforms for failing to innovate, then showed what people should actually build. Bold move when most sponsors were AEO platforms.
• Jori Ford was one of the most helpful speakers I’ve seen. I bought a Search SEOul ticket specifically to catch her again.
• Brie Anderson and Annie Cushing are the analytics A-listers you actually want in the room.
• Garrett Sussman proved on stage, with real experiments, that direct mail can influence AI search results. That one got a lot of LinkedIn love from me.

Jori’s optimization scoring language maps directly to the revenue-focused dashboards we’re building at Cairrot. A GA4 view Brie demoed pushed a real change to our product roadmap. The people in that room shape our product.

Potential Drawbacks for Some Marketers

This is not a hand-holding event. It is a firehose. NYC logistics are genuinely hard: airport to city, hotel to venue, late after-parties on high floors… it takes an energetic person to get the most out of this week. If you want low-stress and easy logistics, that is SMX.

About the Organizers: iPullRank

SEO Week is run by iPullRank, Mike King’s performance marketing agency and the team behind Relevance Engineering. iPullRank has the best multimedia design team in NYC. Mike is a trendsetter. I respect his work and admire what he has built between his personal brand, iPullRank, and now SEO Week. Garrett Sussman is a workhorse, good to people and expecting nothing in return, and I legitimately think he’s the best content marketer / demand generator in our space. Shoutout also to Francine Monahan and Zach Chahalis, who round out the team that puts on the biggest event of the year for the people actually moving the SEO and AEO industry forward.

More About SEO Week

I went to the original SEO Week in 2025 and then wrote a whole blog about my experience at the second SEO Week in 2026 –>

Going to SEO Week 2027 next April? Let’s connect!

2. SMX Advanced: Best Overall Search Marketing Event on the East Coast

Overview

• Location: Boston, Westin Boston Seaport (plus new San Diego edition starting in 2027)
• Organizer: Search Engine Land and Third Door Media, a Semrush company
• Timing: June annually in Boston, March 2027 for the new San Diego edition
• Best for: Agencies, consultants, software founders, and in-house marketers newer to AEO/GEO
• Attended: Boston 2026

Why SMX Advanced Is My Most Recommended Conference (Networking and Accessibility)

If you’re already hitting other conferences, you do not come to SMX Advanced for the slides. You come to meet awesome people.

SMX feels different than other conferences. Institutional and prestigious, but relaxed, like it was organized by your friends who are happy to see you. Third Door Media hospitality is legitimately great. Being a Search Engine Land attendee carries weight. It raises your credibility in the room.

What Makes SMX Advanced Different

• Fewer SEO influencers, more marketing leaders and experts from large companies and institutions. Friendlier, shyer, nerdier crowd than SEO Week. I mean that as a compliment.
• SEO and PPC tracks running simultaneously enable more holistic conversations, which is good for agencies pitching full-funnel.
• Venue layout, including outdoor seating and open spaces at the Westin Seaport, makes casual networking easy.
• This is where Danny Goodwin announced the new SMX San Diego edition. Real news does break here too.
• When I walked in, I literally thought I was at Brighton SEO for a second. Layout and vibe are that similar.

Standout Moments and Takeaways from 2026

• Monica Ho, CMO of SOCi, gave Beyond Rankings: How Enterprise Brands Win Visibility in AI-Powered Local Search. My favorite talk of the conference, it was the best presentation on “local” AI visibility measurement at the enterprise-level, which happens to be a focus area for Cairrot.
• Ask the Experts: SEO Unfiltered with Duane Forrester, Mike King, and Martha van Berkel was the most fun session. I’m already a Mike King fan. Martha and Duane were my top two new discoveries of this conference, along with Monica Ho.
• Dawn Anderson keynoted on RAG, context graphs, and agents. I foolishly signed up for one of the morning harbor runs and she patiently paced with me in the back me through a morning harbor run. She’s legitimately kind on top of being super smart.
• Aleyda Solis is a top-10 influencer. I consider her one the most well established international SEO leaders already, but I still see her putting in her hours on the floor of every other search event I travel to. She’s still a role model to me many years after first discovering her while learning SEO early in my career.
• Sam Tomlinson on behavioral PPC and Sam Torres on rendering/JS for AI crawlers are both worth tracking. Sam Torres is putting in a lot of rounds at these events, I see her everywhere lately.
• Speakers on the rise and worth following: Allie Lutin from CallRail, Chris Sachs from seoClarity, and Maggie Humphrey in ecommerce PPC.

My Honest Take

Boston is an easy conference city. Hotel is usually the venue. Airport is close. Lobster is legitimately great. The barrier to entry is much lower than SEO Week.

You do not come for fireworks. Most presentations were skippable. Production is not SEO Week. For the sharpest content, still go to New York. This event wins on people. Lauren Donovan and her team at Third Door Media are hugely responsible for that. 

About the Organizers: Third Door Media & Search Engine Land

SMX Advanced is run by Search Engine Land and Third Door Media (a Semrush company). Search Engine Land has built up so much authority over the years that the event feels official in a way most marketing conferences don’t. It “gives” credibility, yet the whole experience is warm, relaxed, and easy to navigate. Institutional and prestigious, but like it was organized by your friends who are happy to see you. Third Door Media deserves major compliments for the high hospitality, and Lauren Donovan in particular crushed it as the event organizer all week. She’s a lovely person on top of it, as I noticed all week and confirmed on the harbor walk after the final presentations ended. I’m glad that crew is continuing to host events in the space!

More about SMX Advanced

For more about my personal experience, read my review of SMX Advanced 2026 ->

Going to the March or San Diego editions in October? Let’s connect!

3. brightonSEO San Diego: My Favorite Search Marketing Conference on the West-Coast

Overview

• Location: San Diego, USA (there is also a UK edition held in Brighton every year)
• Timing: September 15–16, 2026
• Last Attended: San Diego in 2025, scheduled for San Diego 2026
• Best for: Beginners who want to learn, and marketing leaders who want an easy networking room

Why I recommend going to brightonSEO San Diego at least once

Everybody should go to a brightonSEO at least once. That is why it sits this high on the list.

Not because it is the most advanced room on the calendar. Because it keeps delivering the same thing, year after year, in a city that is easy to get to: a friendly floor, a usable agenda, and enough open space that you can actually meet people. Past performance counts. brightonSEO has it.

San Diego is a great conference city. It’s my favorite, in fact. Close to the airport, easy venue, great weather, friendly people, low friction.

From both the UK and San Diego editions, the layout is very close to SMX Advanced. I confused the two walking into Boston this year. Content is honest: mostly basic and mid-level. You go to get value while speakers sell to you, not to get a masterclass. Networking is slightly less intuitive than SMX, but the people are friendly. Open areas, free drinks, happy hours. Bring your own energy and gameplan and it works.

4. Search SEOul: Korea’s Best SEO Conference

Overview

• Location: Seoul, South Korea
• Timing: September 1-4, 2026
• Status: Booked, not yet attended
• Best for: International SEO/AEO practitioners and anyone serious about the fast-growing Korean market

Why Search SEOul Is My Top International SEO Conference in 2026

This is where I invested my all my “Asia” budget for conferences in 2026.

Korea (along with Japan) have emerged as exciting markets for Cairrot, and Search SEOul is the obvious choice for western companies like trying to connect locally with the Korean market. They do some of the cleanest social media marketing of any conference in this space. Responsive, proactive about finding partnerships and influencers, and constantly making others look great for being involved with them. I’m genuinely excited to see what Michaela Park and her team do in Seoul this September.

About the Organizer: Michaela Park

Search SEOul was founded by Michaela “Mika” Park, a Korean SEO and localization expert now based in the US. Her event is South Korea’s first global SEO conference, built to bring Korean, Asian, and Western search strategies into one room. The 2026 event is to be held in a few days at the Naru Seoul MGallery Ambassador Hotel.

Michaela Park’s forethought and ability to execute have made Search SEOul one of my “Big 3” East-West conferences out of Asia. I have been speaking with Michaela leading up to this year’s event about this year’s speaker lineup and agenda. It is unusually well thought out. A plan for how attendees actually spend the four days, including the city and the people, not just the stage.

As someone who is a fan of Michaela Park’s work, I look forward to seeing what kind of conference experience her team puts together for us in September.

Seyong (Danny) Park, Kyle Roof, Aleyda Solis, and Jori Ford are the speaker names that drove me to buy a ticket. Now I see SQ Ong on the lineup, I hope for a chance to see him around the event (I’m a fan of his work at Ahrefs).

Learn More about Search SEOul

• search-seoul.com

Going to Seoul in September? Let’s connect ->

5. MozCon: Top-Rated for SEO Culture and Community

Overview

• Location: New York City
• Organizer: Moz
• Timing: July 14, 2026
• Best for: People who love this industry

Why I recommend MozCon

I made MozCon a priority because of the reputation, not because I needed another NYC trip.

Danny Park put it best: these are people who truly love SEO. That is not nothing in 2026, when a lot of rooms fill up with people who love money adjacent to SEO. Moz still has one of the few leftover versions of that community.

Selfishly, I also want time with their data and APIs. We already pull Moz for off-page authority. Some vendor relationships are easier to test in a hallway than on a pricing page.

If you want culture and practitioners more than pipeline theater, this is the July day I would spend in 2027.

6. FOUND Conference: Japan‘s Top SEO Event

Overview

• Location: Tokyo, Japan
• Organizer: DemandSphere (led by Ray Grieselhuber)
• Timing: February 18-19, 2027
• Status: Cairrot is confirmed attending (awaiting sponsorship applications)
• Best for: International SEO/AEO practitioners focused on Japan and English-speaking marketers targeting Asia.

Why I Respect FOUND Conference More Than Most

I missed the 2025 FOUND Conference and have not forgiven myself. It looked incredible.

FOUND is run by DemandSphere, one of the few AEO platforms I genuinely respect. Ray Grieselhuber is doing interesting things for SEO in Japan and bridging the gap between East and West. The event is English-first, making it accessible for international attendees while being deeply focused on the Japanese search landscape.

FOUND Conference is easily the number one search conference in Japan and I think they should be considered one of the pillar events in Asia each year, along with Search SEOul and Shenzhen SEO.

What Makes FOUND Conference in Japan Different

• English-first format makes it easier for international attendees to engage deeply with the Japanese search market.
• DemandSphere gives the event credibility because the platform and team understand SEO/AEO beyond surface-level dashboards.
• The attendee and sponsor mix appears strong enough that Cairrot moved from interested observer to sponsor.

My Honest Take

My verdict: The number one conference for Japanese or English-speaking marketing leaders, and one of my “big 3” for East-West events in Asia.

About the Organizers: Ray Grieselhuber & DemandSphere

FOUND Conference is run by DemandSphere, a Y Combinator-backed enterprise SEO platform and the AEO/SEO analytics competitor I respect. Founder and CEO Ray Grieselhuber has a history in SEO dating back to 2006 and earns major respect for his intelligence, obsession with product improvement, dedication to customers, and work bridging SEO/AEO professionals between East and West. If you’re obsessed with international SEO/AEO like me, put FOUND on your watchlist.

Links and Next Steps

• foundconf.com

7. Tech SEO Connect: Best AEO/GEO Event for Technical Marketers

• Location: Durham, North Carolina
• Timing: November 5–6, 2026, Bay 7
• Status: On my radar. Not attended.
• Best for: Practitioners who want two days of technical SEO and nothing else

This is for my fellow SEO nerds out there.

Most “search” or “inbound” conferences now have to cover AEO, content, PPC, and whatever else sold the tickets. Tech SEO Connect does not. Two days in Durham, built for people who care about crawling, rendering, indexation, and the unsexy work that still decides whether any of the AI-search talk matters.

I have not been. I am including it because the speaker lists keep overlapping with the people I already track and respect. If your job is technical SEO, this is a cleaner use of two days than sitting through another beginner track to get one good session.

Next: techseoconnect.com

8. Shenzhen SEO: China’s Leading SEO Conference

• Location: Shenzhen, China
• Timing: September 14–18, 2026
• Status: On the list. Not attended. Calendar is tight.
• Best for: International SEOs who want the China / East–West room

The speaker bar is why Shenzhen is here.

This is one of the three East-meets-West events on the calendar (along with Search SEOul and FOUND Conference): English-only talks, a five-day format, and a lineup that actually mixes Western practitioners with the China market instead of running two conferences under one badge. Names like Lily Ray, Gary Illyes, and Eli Schwartz are the kind of draw that makes a first-time trip make sense.

The problem is the calendar. Search SEOul is September 1–4. Shenzhen starts ten days later. If I am wiped out from Seoul, this becomes a maybe. I would rather say that now than write a preview that sounds like I am definitely walking both floors.

9. Chiang Mai SEO: Built for SEO Entrepreneurs and Business Owners

Overview

• Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand
• Timing: Typically November
• Status: On my hit list for 2027
• Best for: Full-time search professionals whose livelihood is in SEO

Why Chiang Mai SEO Is for Search Lifers

If 100% of your income is in the search space, Chiang Mai SEO is the place to be.

This one was made famous by Matt Diggity, an SEO household name for anyone who has been in the industry long enough. Names like Kyle Roof propelled it. These are some of the people who taught me SEO early in my career. Some of my favorite thought leaders to follow regularly recommend or speak at this event.

Who Chiang Mai SEO Is For

Full-time search professionals whose entire livelihood is in SEO. This is not a beginner conference.

Do not use this as your Asia market-entry trip. That is Search SEOul or FOUND or maybe even Shenzhen. Chiang Mai is for the practitioners who never left.

10. B2B Marketing Expo (Miami): Best B2B Reach Outside the SEO Bubble

Overview

• Location: Miami, USA (with UK and NYC editions)
• Timing: April 2027
• Status: Cairrot masterclass scheduled
• Best for: B2B marketers and decision-makers in SaaS and industrial markets, plus SEO practitioners who want to reach an underserved audience

Why B2B Marketing Expo Is an Underrated SEO/AEO Opportunity

Almost nobody in SEO talks about this event, which is where we see the biggest opportunity.

It is not a search conference. It is a big B2B show with a long track record, especially in Miami. Industrial and SaaS companies show up with a budget, and they are desperate for SEO/AEO help. At our own events we forget how few non-search marketers ever hear this pitch. This is the room where that conversation actually happens.

If you want another advanced SEO debate, skip it. If you want to meet high-budget buyers who do not already have a favorite AEO vendor, go.

We are presenting an AEO masterclass at the April 2027 Miami edition: content-led AEO that is supposed to create pipeline, not just citations.

What Makes B2B Marketing Expo Different

• One of the biggest B2B conferences in the world, especially the Miami version.
• The audience has real demand for SEO/AEO education but does not always attend dedicated search events.
• For SEO practitioners, it is a rare chance to meet high-budget buyers outside the SEO bubble.

Other Big Events On My Radar

Not enough first-hand experience to do these full write-ups yet, but they’re on my radar:

• UK SEO Summit and SEOktoberfest in Austria: my top picks for European events I may start attending regularly
• Search Evolution Summit in Romania: on the watch list
• Tech SEO Connect: heavily represented by speakers I track and respect
• Shenzhen SEO in China: a maybe if I’m not wiped out from Search SEOul the week before

How to Choose the Right Event for You

Not sure where to start? Here’s the breakdown:

Goal	Start here
Technical / advanced AI search	SEO Week
Networking with the least friction	SMX Advanced
First serious conference	brightonSEO San Diego or SMX Advanced
Pure technical SEO	Tech SEO Connect
SEO as your whole career	Chiang Mai SEO
B2B buyers who do not attend search events	B2B Marketing Expo
Korea	Search SEOul
Japan	FOUND Conference
China / East–West	Shenzhen SEO
Community more than pipeline	MozCon

Work the floor. Do not just attend sessions and leave. The best moments are off-agenda: harbor walks, after-parties, morning runs. Follow up fast.

The Danny Park connection started as small talk on an SMX harbor walk and turned into a direct door into Korea and Japan. That is what I mean when I say the highest-ROI thing I do every year is buy a plane ticket.

FAQ

Which SEO conference is best for beginners?

brightonSEO San Diego. Friendly room, easy city, content that does not assume you already live in AI search. SMX Advanced is the other good first trip: low-stress, great layout, easy to network even if you are new.

What’s the best international SEO conference?

Search SEOul for Korea and as a broader Asia gateway. FOUND for Japan. Shenzhen if you want the East–West / China room and your calendar can handle it after Seoul.

SMX Advanced vs. SEO Week: which should I attend?

Both, if you can. If you have to pick one: SEO Week for the sharpest AI search content. SMX Advanced for the best networking and the easiest logistics. They are not in competition. They do different jobs.

Are SEO conferences worth the money?

Yes. The news that matters breaks on stage. The relationships that move business happen in person. The question is not whether to go. It is which room matches the next twelve months of your career.

Which conference is best if SEO is my full-time career?

Chiang Mai SEO. Matt Diggity, Kyle Roof, Ted Kabinsky, and the people who never left search. If 100% of your income is in this space, that is your room.

Best SEO/AEO conference in Asia?

Search SEOul, FOUND, and Shenzhen, in that order for most people. SEOul is my 2026 flagship. FOUND is the Japan bet, and we are sponsoring it in 2027. Shenzhen has the speaker bar. Chiang Mai is separate: lifers only.

I’m a marketing leader, not an SEO specialist. Do I still go?

Yes. Especially now. You need the current language, and you need to be seen in the rooms where this work is being defined. SMX Advanced and B2B Marketing Expo are the least “SEO-insider” versions of that.

What if I only have a budget for one trip?

For most marketers, I recommend:

• US-based and mid-to-advanced: SEO Week or Tech SEO Connect 
• US-based with beginner-advanced tracks: SMX Advanced or brightonSEO San Diego.
• International: Any of the top-rated events located where your target audiences. Korea is Search SEOul, Japan is FOUND, China is Shenzhen SEO, etc.

Let’s connect at an upcoming conference

Where I am actually going to be, as of now:

Event	When	Why I will be there
Search SEOul	Sep 1–4, 2026	Booked
FOUND Conference	Feb 18–19, 2027	Sponsoring
B2B Marketing Expo	April 2027	Masterclass
SEO Week	April 2027	Attending

If you are going to any of these, reach out. I would rather grab coffee than swap another LinkedIn comment.

Contact Cairrot or follow me on LinkedIn.