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Best SEO Speakers 2026: A Verified Top 10, A Booking Quick Start And An Agent That Checks The Line-Ups
The best SEO speakers 2026 has put on stage start with Mike King, Aleyda Solis and Ross Simmonds, and every name in this guide is on an official 2026 conference page I checked on 17 October 2026.
I'm not on the list, because I don't have a conference speaking record to show you.
This quick start gives you the top ten, the 2026 event calendar, a six-step booking process and the Agent OS workflow I'd use to verify any line-up.
If you'd rather get help with your own brand than book a talk, book a free SEO strategy session and get a custom visibility plan.
The best SEO speakers 2026 in one table
These are my ten picks, and every one of them is on an official 2026 SEO conference page that I checked on 17 October 2026.
| Rank | Speaker | Where I verified them | Pick them when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike King, iPullRank | MozCon 2026 New York and Tech SEO Connect 2026 | Your audience wants a deep keynote on how AI search retrieves content. |
| 2 | Aleyda Solis, Orainti | brightonSEO spring 2026 and Tech SEO Connect 2026 | Your audience needs new ways to measure SEO. |
| 3 | Ross Simmonds, Foundation | brightonSEO October 2026 closing keynote | You want a big-stage close on content and distribution. |
| 4 | Crystal Carter, Wix | MozCon 2026 New York | Your room is mostly marketers rather than specialists. |
| 5 | Cindy Krum, MobileMoxie | brightonSEO San Diego 2026 and Tech SEO Connect 2026 | Your audience works on technical or mobile search. |
| 6 | Dr. Pete Meyers | brightonSEO spring 2026 keynote | You need a data-led opening keynote. |
| 7 | Mark Williams-Cook, Candour | MozCon 2026 London and brightonSEO October 2026 | Your audience runs agencies or client teams. |
| 8 | Duane Forrester | Pubcon Pro Virtual 2026 featured speaker | Your audience asks how brands show up in LLMs. |
| 9 | Patrick Stox, Ahrefs | brightonSEO San Diego 2026 | Your audience likes technical advice backed by data. |
| 10 | Krishna Madhavan, Microsoft AI | Pubcon Pro Virtual 2026 keynote and Tech SEO Connect 2026 | You want a view from inside a search engine team. |
I ranked people higher when they appeared on two 2026 programmes, held a keynote slot or spoke on topics people are asking about now.
I haven't hired these speakers or watched every talk, and no event page publishes fees, so this is my judgement from public programmes.
If you want a wider list of people to learn from rather than people to book, my best SEO professionals guide covers that.
Quick start: book an SEO speaker in six steps
This is the fastest safe route from "we need a speaker" to a signed booking.
- First, write the one problem your audience most wants solved in a single sentence.
- Second, pick two or three names from the table whose "pick them when" column matches that sentence.
- Third, open the linked event page for each name and confirm the date of the event.
- Fourth, watch a recent talk where you can, because brightonSEO sells video bundles of its sessions.
- Fifth, contact each speaker through the company named on the event page with your date, format and audience size.
- Sixth, agree the format, timings, travel and fee in writing before you announce anyone.
📞 Booking a speaker because you want your brand seen more?
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The ten speakers in a little more detail
1. Mike King
Mike King is founder and CEO of iPullRank, and MozCon 2026 lists him for New York.
He is also on the Tech SEO Connect 2026 line-up, and that event's site says he co-founded it in 2024 with Matthew Kay, Patrick Stox and JR Oakes.
His MozCon bio credits him with creating Relevance Engineering and the SEO Week conference.
2. Aleyda Solis
Aleyda Solis gave the talk "Redefining Success Metrics for the AI Search Era" at brightonSEO in spring 2026.
She is also on the Tech SEO Connect 2026 line-up, with Orainti as her company.
3. Ross Simmonds
brightonSEO's October 2026 page says Ross Simmonds would close the conference on its main stage.
4. Crystal Carter
Crystal Carter is Head of AI Search and SEO Communications at Wix, and her MozCon 2026 bio mentions 20 years of experience.
5. Cindy Krum
Cindy Krum, founder and CEO of MobileMoxie, is on both the brightonSEO San Diego 2026 list and the Tech SEO Connect 2026 line-up.
6. Dr. Pete Meyers
brightonSEO named Dr. Pete Meyers as its spring 2026 keynote speaker.
7. Mark Williams-Cook
Mark Williams-Cook is Digital Marketing Director at Candour, and MozCon London 2026 and the brightonSEO October 2026 schedule both list him.
8. Duane Forrester
Pubcon Pro Virtual listed Duane Forrester as a featured speaker on LLM visibility and entities on 14 January 2026.
9. Patrick Stox
brightonSEO San Diego 2026 lists Patrick Stox as Product Advisor, Technical SEO and Brand Ambassador at Ahrefs.
10. Krishna Madhavan
Krishna Madhavan gave the Microsoft Bing AI keynote at Pubcon Pro Virtual 2026 and is on the Tech SEO Connect 2026 line-up.
Just outside my top ten, Dixon Jones is on the brightonSEO October 2026 schedule with "Entity Maps: Brief AI Before It Briefs Itself", and Helen Pollitt of Getty Images is on the MozCon London 2026 list.
Prefer to learn from me?
I'm not a conference speaker, so I haven't ranked myself anywhere on this page.
I teach SEO and AI every day on YouTube, where I have 400,000+ subscribers.
Inside the AI Profit Boardroom, 3,400+ members get four coaching calls a week and the installable Agent OS I run my own SEO on.
If you want my team to look at your brand, book a free SEO strategy session and leave with a clear AI visibility roadmap.
The 2026 SEO conference calendar
These dates come from each organiser's own page.
| Event | 2026 date | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Pubcon Pro Virtual | 14 January 2026 | Online |
| SEO Week | April 2026 | New York City |
| brightonSEO spring | 30 April and 1 May 2026 | The Brighton Centre, UK |
| brightonSEO San Diego | 15 and 16 September 2026 | San Diego Convention Center, US |
| WTSFest Philadelphia | 1 October 2026 | Philadelphia, US |
| brightonSEO October | 8 and 9 October 2026 | The Brighton Centre, UK |
| Tech SEO Connect | 5 and 6 November 2026 | Bay 7, Durham, North Carolina, US |
| MozCon London | 13 November 2026 | London, UK |
brightonSEO has already announced 15 and 16 April 2027 in Brighton and 9 and 10 September 2027 in San Diego.
The brightonSEO October 2026 page says it expected 4,500+ marketers from more than 70 countries and 190+ speakers.
MozCon's 2026 roadshow also lists a New York stop alongside London.
You can check the others on seoweek.org and the Women in Tech SEO site.
🔥 Want the exact SEO setup I run inside my Agent OS?
Inside the AI Profit Boardroom you get the installable Agent OS, step-by-step video tutorials, four coaching calls a week and 3,400+ members building real automations.
How SEO speaker research fits an Agent OS workflow
My Agent OS runs a crew of AI agents under one shared memory, and checking speaker line-ups is exactly the kind of boring, careful job they're good at.
The key is that the agents check pages, not their own memory.
| Job | What the agent does | What you still do |
|---|---|---|
| Collect | An agent opens each conference page you trust and lists every speaker with their title, company and event date. | You choose which events count as trusted sources. |
| Verify | An agent drops any name it can't find on a dated 2026 page and saves the page link next to every name it keeps. | You spot-check a few links yourself. |
| Match | An agent compares each speaker's listed topic with the one-line problem you wrote for your audience. | You write that problem in plain words. |
| Shortlist | An agent ranks the matches and writes a short reason for each one. | You make the final call. |
| Remember | Shared memory keeps every check with its date, so next year's search starts from this year's file. | You decide when to re-run it. |
The single most important rule is that every name must come with a link to a dated page.
Language models will confidently invent a conference slot that never happened, and the link is how you catch it.
I use the same rule for every list I publish, which is why each speaker above has a source next to their name.
How I'd set the agent up, step by step
- First, I'd save a short file listing the conference pages I trust, starting with brightonSEO, MozCon, Tech SEO Connect and Pubcon.
- Second, I'd give the agent a skill file that says "no page link, no name" as its top rule.
- Third, I'd ask it to return a table with name, company, event, date and link.
- Fourth, I'd ask a second agent to open a random sample of those links and confirm the names are really there.
- Fifth, I'd store the final table in shared memory with the date I ran it.
- Sixth, I'd schedule the job to run again a month before my event, because line-ups change.
This takes far less of my time than checking every programme by hand, and it leaves a record I can show anyone who asks.
Mistakes to avoid when choosing an SEO speaker
- Booking the biggest name rather than the best topic match is the mistake I see most.
- Trusting an old speaker page without checking its date leads to stale topics.
- Announcing a speaker before the fee and format are agreed in writing causes problems later.
- Expecting a talk to deliver rankings is a mistake, because a talk teaches ideas and nobody can guarantee results.
📞 Want straight answers about your own visibility?
Grab a free SEO strategy session with my team and get a competitor gap analysis that shows why competitors appear more often than you.
Where to go next
If AI answers are your main worry, the AEO SEO consultant guide from this same batch explains what that kind of help looks like.
For a ranking based on what people shipped this year, read my top SEO professionals 2026 guide.
Also On Our Network
FAQ
Who are the best SEO speakers in 2026?
Julian's top five are Mike King, Aleyda Solis, Ross Simmonds, Crystal Carter and Cindy Krum. Each one is listed on an official 2026 conference page such as MozCon, brightonSEO or Tech SEO Connect.
How were the SEO speakers verified?
Every name had to appear on an official 2026 conference page, schedule or speaker list, checked on 17 October 2026. Each speaker in the guide has the source event named next to them.
Is Julian Goldie a conference speaker?
No. Julian does not have a verified conference speaking record, so he is not ranked. He teaches SEO and AI daily on YouTube and inside the AI Profit Boardroom.
Which SEO conferences are left in 2026?
Tech SEO Connect runs on 5 and 6 November 2026 in Durham, North Carolina, and MozCon London runs on 13 November 2026. The next brightonSEO UK event is on 15 and 16 April 2027.
Can an AI agent check SEO speaker line-ups for me?
Yes. An agent can open the conference pages you trust, list every speaker with the event and date, and drop any name it cannot find on a dated page. You still make the final choice.
How much does an SEO speaker cost?
The conference pages used for this guide do not publish fees. Ask the speaker or their company with your date, format and audience size.
Final word on the best SEO speakers 2026
Match the topic to your audience, check every name on a dated page and agree everything in writing.
If you want your own brand found more often in the meantime, book a free SEO strategy session and leave with a plan for traffic, mentions and leads.
That is how I'd choose from the best SEO speakers 2026 has to offer.
About Julian
I'm Julian Goldie, an AI entrepreneur, SEO expert and the founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.
I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.
My YouTube channel has 400,000+ subscribers, and I run Goldie Agency, a seven-figure SEO agency.
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