Becoming An SEO Consultant: Skills, Career Outlook & Tips For Success via @sejournal, @HelenPollitt1

An SEO consultant is a specialist in search engine optimization who works outside of typical contracted employment.

For instance, they may be freelancers who work with their own clients or within an existing team but not as employees.

They might be responsible for a variety of tasks from pitching and closing to contract negotiations, as well as SEO.

And while there are some advantages to having a varie

What are the primary tasks of an SEO consultant?

An SEO consultant is responsible for a variety of tasks. These include optimizing websites to enhance their visibility in search engines, managing budgets, and negotiating contracts. Consultants may work independently with their own clients or integrate with existing teams for specific projects. Beyond SEO, they handle client relationships, propose and close deals, and ensure legal and financial compliance.

What are the pros and cons of working as a freelance SEO consultant?

Working as a freelance SEO consultant has both advantages and disadvantages. On the pro side, consultants enjoy flexibility in choosing the projects and clients they work with and have the freedom to set their own fees. However, the drawbacks include financial instability, managing all business-related expenses, and the need for effective self-marketing. Consultants must also handle all legal and financial obligations on their own.

Which essential skills are necessary for becoming a successful SEO consultant?

A successful SEO consultant must possess several key skills beyond SEO expertise:

• Time Management: Balancing multiple projects and administrative tasks.
• Budget Management: Handling unforeseen costs and ensuring profitable operations.
• Pitching and Closing: Marketing oneself effectively to win new clients.
• Contract Negotiations: Navigating contracts with potential clients and agreeing on terms.
• Stakeholder Management: Managing relationships with clients and other professionals smoothly.

ty of tasks and the freedom to take on only the projects you want, SEO consulting also has its drawbacks.

This column will help you understand what to expect before choosing a career as an SEO consultant.

Are SEO Consultants Employed Or Freelance?

In the U.K., the answer gets slightly more complicated. The term “SEO consultant” can also describe the job title of an employed SEO that doesn’t really denote seniority or management responsibilities.

Like “SEO specialist” or “SEO advisor.”

This might also be how freelancers with side hustles and full-time jobs describe themselves.

It does, however, also mean an independent contractor like in the U.S.

Projects vs. Multiple Clients

An SEO consultant might choose to work with their own clients and the only person working on their SEO.

They might also choose to take contracts that embed them within an existing team, like joining as additional support to an enterprise SEO team.

Running Your Own Business

The key difference between a career as an SEO consultant and any other type of SEO job is that you will be running your own business.

As an independent contractor, you manage your contracts, pitching, and financial/tax obligations.

Essential Skills

What essential skills do you need to be a successful SEO consultant beyond being a good SEO professional?

Below is an overview of the basic skills for thriving as an independent SEO contractor, other than on-page, technical, and off-site SEO.

Budget Management

You may be used to managing a budget in your employed role to make sure clients’ hours were filled or checking profit and loss for your department.

However, additional, unforeseen costs can crop up when working as a freelancer.

That means you need to be able to manage a budget quickly, or there won’t be enough money left over at the end of each month for you to take home a wage.

There may be ad-hoc costs, such as initial legal advice, and ongoing costs like retaining an accountant.

Any marketing collateral, the cost of hosting and developing a website, those fancy tools we all love to use. You will entirely pay for them.

Without the deep pockets of an agency or brand behind you, all your business expenses will come from the money you have managed to earn as a consultant.

Time Management

Although any job requires a degree of time management, being an SEO consultant means spinning many plates at once.

There is also a lack of structure, support, and resources with an employed role.

Due to this, time management is an ever more important skill.

There will be immoveable business deadlines like legal and financial requirements and calls with stakeholders that other team members can’t cover in your absence.

Getting your invoices out on time could be most important for your longevity as a consultant.

The amount of admin that you need to find time for will increase. You will need to sort through receipts and update budgeting software.

You will need to submit financial details to make your own payroll. Then there are the emails and meetings.

No matter how many you had as an employed SEO, expect a lot as a consultant.

To be successful, you will need to be very adept at planning your time.

Pitching And Closing

From marketing your skills to pitching and closing a new client, you will need to be able to manage the entire cycle of winning new work.

There won’t be a business development team supporting you, so you may need to brush up on your persuasive skills.

Although you are an SEO by trade, I can tell you from first-hand experience that few of your business leads will come through your website even if you rank first for “SEO consultant” in your area.

You will also need to become an expert at marketing yourself in other ways.

That means picking up potential client leads through social media, events, and word of mouth.

Not only will you need to source potential client leads, but you will also need to effectively convert them. That means working on pitch decks, negotiating fees, and securing sign-off.

Contract Negotiations

Although you may have a standard contract template, expect prospective clients to go through it with a fine-tooth comb.

This might also extend to your pricing proposal and service level agreement.

A part of being an SEO contractor is the need to be able to negotiate contracts.

There may be an expectation of a certain level of compromise, especially if you want to work with smaller businesses with limited budgets.

When looking long-term at the next six to 12 months of your proposed contract, you will need to be able to predict how those compromises might affect your profit and quality of life.

A client may want you to work your proposed hours for less money, which brings down your average rate.

They might also expect you to respond to emails outside of your proposed working hours.

Although it might seem tempting to agree to these altered terms to secure the revenue, but long-term, it might not be beneficial for the growth of your business.

Understanding Of Financial And Legal Responsibilities

Being an SEO consultant means being your own boss, owning your own business, and the excitement and freedom it brings.

However, it also means being solely responsible for ensuring you are in full legal compliance.

This means understanding which business laws apply to you in your state or country, but also, if you have clients elsewhere in the world, understanding how their laws affect you.

For instance, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) in Europe governs personal data control.

Even if you are not based in Europe, you may be subject to these rules if your clients are.

How you store information about your clients will need to comply with these regulations.

Being a consultant means no one is above you to take on this responsibility.

It’s all yours. You may be able to afford advice from lawyers or accountants to help you make informed decisions, but the ramifications are all on you if they advise you poorly.

Stakeholder Management

Another essential skill is good stakeholder management.

This includes communicating deadlines, chasing for invoice payments, and ensuring client expectations align.

When you are a consultant, your stakeholders aren’t just your clients.

They are your accountants, lawyers, suppliers, and other consultants you’re partnering with.

In a larger business, these stakeholders tend to communicate with various team members; the finance department, the CEO, the marketing team, and the account managers.

As a freelancer, you are the only point of contact.

The needs of a client versus your accountant’s needs are very different, but will both need prioritizing.

Learning to manage a wider range of stakeholders than you’re used to will greatly improve your success as an SEO consultant.

Fitting In With Teams Quickly

You will not be afforded a long onboarding period as an SEO consultant.

You will have to show value to your clients from day one. This can be a tricky skill to develop.

There will be an expectation that you can drive return on investment straight away, although you will need to learn their processes, procedures, product, and industry.

It is not just about understanding the business; you need to get on reasonably well with your new colleagues.

When working closely with other members of your client’s team, what they think of your work ethic and personality may well impact the length and recurrence of your contract.

Demonstrating ROI

When you join a new company as an employee, you will likely have a probation period – a few weeks to months where the company assesses your fit and competency.

If done well, it will be a time when you can work with your manager to fill any gaps in your knowledge and develop a training plan to make sure you are off to a great start in the company.

As a freelance SEO, you won’t get this.

Instead, you may have a break clause in your contract or simply the option for a client to cancel their recurring monthly contract if they don’t like your work.

A skill you will need to develop early on as an SEO consultant is demonstrating the return on investment of working with you.

This means understanding exactly what you are expected to deliver and making sure it is reasonable.

From there, you will need to report back on your success against these objectives.

Resilience

PsychologyToday defines resilience as “the psychological quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life’s adversities and come back at least as strong as before” and is a skill to cultivate.

Being a consultant can be galling.

One month you might have so much work to do that you wonder when sleep will be an option.

Others, you’re nervously staring at your emails, willing a proposal acceptance to come through.

Stability in the flow of work you win can be slow to build.

Then, overnight, a global pandemic can cause it all to dry up. One thing you tend to be short on as a contract SEO is certainty.

A vital skill for an SEO consultant is resilience.

Getting back up when a client unexpectedly ends their contract or there is a conflict with a competitor, is challenging.

Even when everything is going well, there will be the ever-present need to chase invoices that are 60 days overdue.

It can sometimes feel like an uphill battle.

Personal Branding

There is an element of an SEO consultant not only selling their services but also selling the dream of working with them personally.

As a consultant, you will be in a similar position to going for a job interview each time you pitch for work. Your client will need to believe that you are the best candidate for the job.

This may start well in advance of a pitch meeting.

The ideal for many consultants is that they become so well respected in the industry that word of mouth generates leads for them.

Rather than spending a lot of time and energy on marketing, they have clients approaching them.

Some of the most successful SEO consultants have chosen an industry and become experts.

By doing so, they can choose who they work with and charge fees that reflect the value they bring.

If you are looking to become an SEO consultant, it can help to understand your local market, the needs of the businesses who may work with you, and what you can do to be most attractive to them.

This might mean finding a niche and sticking to it for your market. It might mean going after smaller businesses that need the full range of SEO support.

Whatever you want to achieve as a consultant, you will need to be good at presenting your knowledge, skills, and value beyond the initial meeting with a prospect.

Salary Expectations

You may have a pretty good idea of what salaries look like in your country and region, but what about rates for SEO contractors?

Recently, Search Engine Journal conducted a salary survey looking at data points from the SEO industry.

The findings for freelance professionals were particularly interesting.

Search Engine Journal found that SEO freelance consultants earned less than $34,000 per annum on average.

The survey respondents who identified themselves as freelancers overwhelmingly had fewer than two years of experience. This will have heavily skewed their earnings.

With this in mind, take the average reported salary of an SEO consultant with a pinch of salt.

Yours may well be higher depending on location, years of experience, and specialisms.

In the U.K., Glassdoor reports that an SEO freelancer can make £31,540 per year (approximately $41,000).

What you choose to charge per project or per hour will greatly impact how much you take home each year.

You also need to consider how many hours you want to work each week. Together this will help you to identify how much you may be able to earn in a year if your client load is full.

Additional Costs

It is important to remember that you will also need to deduct the costs of running your business from your net earnings.

This may include items from networking group membership to tax and insurance.

Helpful Certifications And Experience

One of the great things about getting into a career in SEO is that there are very low barriers to entry.

There is no university degree you must have or governing body you are expected to be a part of.

On the flip side, there is little for prospective clients to use to measure how good an SEO you are.

Because of this lack of regulation in the industry, there are no standard certificates or qualifications to prove your competency.

Instead, you may need to demonstrate your expertise to prospective clients in other ways.

Demonstrable Experience

Your most obvious way to denote that you are an expert in your field is by showing your experience.

Unfortunately, many clients may equate experience with years in the industry. This isn’t always the case.

Experience With Specific Projects

A consultant may have carried out 20 website migrations during their three years in the industry because they worked at an SEO agency.

Another contractor may have only carried out one during their five years in the industry because they worked in-house for one brand.

A client looking for SEO support for their upcoming website migration might look more favorably at a consultant who has worked for five years in the industry.

They may wrongly believe more years of experience equals better performance.

If you are looking to pitch for a website migration project, as an SEO consultant, you will need to be able to show your specific experience with the facets of SEO the project will rely upon.

Industry-Specific Experience

Another aspect of your experience you will need to showcase is the industries you have worked in.

For some clients, knowing that their consultant understands their market, consumers and products will be paramount.

If you have worked across various industries, highlight them in your marketing and pitching material.

If you have worked within a limited range of verticals, you can speak more about the depth of experience.

You may benefit from showing that you have a wealth of knowledge about those particular industries that would make your learning curve with a new client quick and minimal.

Enough Experience

If you have been around the SEO industry for a while, you will likely have come across forums and threads where inexperienced SEO specialists have landed their first client and are now asking veterans how to do SEO.

This is not a situation that you will benefit from being in.

If you manage to land a client whose SEO needs are greater than you can meet, it will likely cause stress on both sides.

As a consultant, you will need to learn to identify the scope of a potential project quickly and decide if you have sufficient knowledge and experience to manage it.

Awards

As mentioned, no governing body oversees SEO practice, which can validate a consultant’s ability to carry out SEO.

However, there are many award shows and programs that serve in some way as a proxy for this.

The validity of awards is a hotly debated topic in SEO circles.

However, winning one does show that you have been independently judged as carrying out work to a high and impactful standard.

Case Studies

Giving examples of previous work in the form of case studies can help prospective clients to feel confident in your abilities.

It can sometimes be tricky to get sign-off from previous clients to use their data, so you may need to obfuscate it slightly.

Make sure you have permission to share any details, especially if it is from work you did before you became a consultant!

Recommendations And References

Just like you might need to provide for a newly employed role, having referees available to prospective clients can help them to understand what it will be like working with you.

Having a couple of current or previous clients happy to provide references can benefit a consultant.

Platforms like LinkedIn also allow you to request and receive recommendations that can go a long way to instilling trust in your work.

Additionally, although not as impartial, written recommendations on your own website may help convert prospective clients.

Certifications

Although there is no commonly accepted SEO qualification, several tools, agencies, and organizations offer certification in search.

Choosing to undertake their training and examination to receive a certification might seem redundant if you have been in the industry for many years, but it can help prove that your knowledge is current and your understanding reaches a standard.

Additionally, certifications in adjacent areas like analytics, data science, and programming can all help to demonstrate your particular skill set.

Consider certifications in specific SEO and analytics-focused tools.

These can show clients you can use their tool-stack without additional training.

Who Hires SEO Consultants And Why?

There are many types of organizations that would contract SEO consultants. It may be their only SEO resource or to complement an existing team or roster of freelancers.

Small Businesses

Small businesses that can’t afford their own internal resource will often reach out to SEO consultants.

SEO consultants often have lower overheads than agencies and may be cheaper to work with. This can be an appealing alternative to cash-strapped organizations.

Rounding Out A Team

Brands with an existing SEO team may use contractors to bolster their resources or fill a specific skill gap.

For instance, a brand looking to appear in Google Discovery for the first time may want outside advice on how best to do that if their internal team has no experience with it.

Filling A Temporary Gap

There may be a need to increase resources during busier seasons or to cover an extended leave of existing employees.

If an employee leaves the organization, a consultant might fill the gap while hiring a replacement.

Whitelabel

Some agencies may not have SEO provisions but want to partner with a consultant to offer that service to existing clients.

They may also want to test the water of how adding SEO to their services will work before hiring an employee to cover it.

Consultants can offer support without the cost of hiring, training, and employee benefits.

Assisting Agencies

Similar to brands that require temporary help in busier seasons, agencies might require an additional person in their team to bridge employee leave, skills gaps or to consult on specific industry projects.

Agencies can often offer repeat work for consultants for this reason.

Support With Hiring

A very niche project you might find yourself available to do as an SEO consultant is that of hiring support.

So rather than filling a skills gap yourself, you may be a consultant on the hiring of employed SEO professionals.

For organizations with no, or very junior, SEO teams, it can be difficult for the hiring manager to know enough about SEO to make a wise decision.

Consultants can bring their expertise to the recruitment process.

They might also recommend a job description, review CVs, and even conduct interviews.

Setting Up A Department

Along with helping with recruitment, SEO contractors might also help create a department from scratch.

This can be the case when a team is needed, but hiring talent at a senior level is proving difficult or too slow.

The SEO contractor might help create the department and potentially lead it until a permanent senior hire.

Considerations For Becoming An SEO Consultant

Ultimately, there is a lot to consider when moving from employed to contract work. It can be an exciting and liberating move, but it also risks.

No Boss

When you become an SEO consultant, you will trade the structure of a corporate world for the freedom of being independent.

That includes no longer having a manager.

Pros:

• You are the boss! You get to make decisions that previously would be gatekept by your employer or more senior team members. Now, you are free to make those decisions yourself.
• There is no one to disagree with your decisions or to say “no” to them. If you think something is worth trying, you do not need to get sign-off from a superior.

Cons:

• You now have lots of bosses. It’s been said that moving to freelance means going from one boss to every client and stakeholder, essentially being your boss. They can still say no to you. You have more freedom to walk away from the project, but ultimately, you will need to concede sometimes if you want to earn money.

Legal And Financial Implications

You will need to follow laws, taxes to pay, and additional costs to being a consultant that you will need to be aware of.

All of this may affect your finances.

Pros:

• Any money you make is for you to decide what to do with. The harder and smarter you work, the more you can be rewarded financially. No paying for your boss’s Tesla!
• You have the freedom to be generous with your money. Your business can offer discounts for charities and free training for schools.

Cons:

• All legal and financial obligations fall to you. The cost of non-compliance can be high both financially and on your time.
• Getting the right advice can be costly. You may need to use the services of accountants, tax advisors, and lawyers.

Pick And Choose Projects

SEO consultants have much greater freedom to decide who they want to work with and on what projects.

Pros:

• As an SEO consultant, there is more freedom to choose who you want to work with and what projects you want to work on. If you don’t enjoy a particular client set-up or disagree with the industry they are in, you can turn down the offer to pitch. This isn’t usually the case when you are working agency-side, for instance, where you might be expected to work with whichever client you are assigned.

Cons:

• Being rigid in choosing who you work with and what you work on might be more challenging if you struggle to find clients. When employed in-house, you can choose the industry and the company set-up that suits you. In some agencies, you may be allowed to turn down work in certain industries you disagree with. Picking and choosing your projects as a consultant could mean not bringing in enough revenue on occasions.

Pitch For Work

You will have to develop your own business pipeline, including generating leads and ultimately converting them. This will likely mean pitching and contract negotiation.

Pros:

• You won’t be in the situation again where someone has sold “the moon on a stick” and expects you to deliver it. You will be fully aware of your time, resources, and ability limitations and can pitch for work that fits that.
• There should be greater freedom to showcase your abilities and demonstrate how you can help a prospective client.

Cons:

• Not everyone enjoys the pitching process. It can be nerve-wracking and distracts from SEO execution’s day job. It’s not for everyone.
• It can take time to put together winning proposals. They are necessary to keep work coming in but have to balance with the time requirements for actually completing client work.

Set Your Own Fee

Although dictated mainly by the type of client you want to work with and the market you are operating in, you will get to decide how much you charge.

Pros:

• There may be greater autonomy to decide how much you want to charge for your work. You can essentially set your own salary as long as you can win the work to support it.
• You can choose exactly how many hours and what work you are willing to do for that fee.

Cons:

• It’s hard to get the pricing right. You may be tempted to charge what your last agency did for your time, but in reality, SEO consultants may struggle to charge high fees when they first set out unless they have good case studies and examples to back up the quality of their work.
• Figuring out what to charge and what type of client you will need to sustain can be a bit of trial and error. Some leads may think you are over-priced; others may have been willing to pay more if asked for it.

Benefits

Depending on where you are working, the difference in employment rights for the employed and what you are entitled to as an independent contractor might be vastly different.

Beyond the legal rights you may be granted as an employed SEO, there are also likely additional benefits offered by your employer.

Pros:

• You have greater freedom to choose the benefits that best fit your lifestyle. You can choose a medical insurance plan that works for your health needs. You can decide if the positives of having a company car outweigh the tax implications of one.

Cons:

• You will not be automatically entitled to statutory holiday, sick leave, or other benefits afforded by your government to employed workers.
• Maintaining the standard of living that you had as an employed SEO might be difficult once you go freelance. If you relied on your company’s great dental plan or loved the training budget, becoming a consultant might take some adjustment.

You Only Get Paid If You Issue Invoices

There are no “pros” for this one.

It’s essentially one of the most challenging aspects of being an SEO consultant.

If you can’t work for some reason, such as illness or holiday, you will not be able to bill for work. If you don’t bill for work, then you won’t get paid.

Unlike employment which may still pay you if you can’t work, that will not be something you get as a freelance SEO consultant.

If you can’t send out invoices, or worse, you do, but they don’t get paid, you may struggle to make your own payroll.

Conclusions

SEO consultants’ day-to-day working lives may look very similar to employed SEO experts in terms of work.

However, there are often additional complexities beyond SEO activity that can make it a scary prospect for some.

Taking the plunge into the freelance SEO world can be liberating, however. There is greater freedom in choosing what you want to do and when.

Some choose to dip their toe in consultancy work on the side of their regular job (if allowed by their employer).

This can help with the learning curve of running a business while in the safety of employment.

You may have no intention of leaving employment, but it is always good to keep an eye on the market. You may not want to be an SEO consultant yourself but need to hire one.

More resources:

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Featured Image: PureSolution/Shutterstock

Female Founders, Are You Ready To Build A High-Growth Business?

This chapter is an extract from Female Founders’ Playbook by Anne Boden ©2024 and is reproduced with permission from Kogan Page Ltd.

Are you ready to build a high-growth business?

If you realize that, yes, you are an entrepreneur at heart and accept that you have many advantages you hadn’t previously even considered, there is a decision to be made: Do you want to be an entrepreneur?

Are you truly passionate about building a business that could change everything and make the lives of your customers-to-be infinitely better?

This is a decision not to be taken lightly. Don’t be swayed by the potential for wealth and fame (if that is what motivates you). As outlined at the beginning of the chapter, the odds of failure are high.

It’s not the easiest path. This is the moment to consider what becoming a female founder will mean to you. Will you be happier if you embark on this journey?

When reflecting upon your motivations, there are a number of elements to consider. The first is timing. There is never a perfect time to start a high-growth business.

However, you do need to consider how it will impact your personal circumstances. This means your relationships, but it also refers to money.

It helps to have a little money behind you because you will need to eat and pay the bills while on this entrepreneurial adventure. But, and this may sound counter-intuitive, it is best not to have too much money.

There are entire industries devoted to relieving inexperienced entrepreneurs of their cash. It is very easy to spend money thinking it is helping you to make progress.

However, if you have very little spare, you’ll be much more likely to scrutinize every decision more carefully. Personal finances are an important consideration, but they shouldn’t be a deal breaker.

Consider, also, what else is going on in your life right now. Most entrepreneurs assume their business will be successful in a couple of years and they will exit in five years.

The reality is quite different. If it does succeed, and that is a big if, then it can take 10 years or more.

Rates of entrepreneurialism fall sharply among women after the age of 35, which means children must be a consideration for many potential female founders. In most cases, it is a joint decision to have a family, so partners play a role and, all being well, an equal one.

Indeed, as Sheryl Sandberg wrote in her book Lean In,

“I truly believe that the single most important career decision that a woman makes is whether she will have a life partner and who that partner is.”

Even with help, it will be challenging raising young children and growing a business.

Sophie Adelman, whose first child was six months old when she started with Multiverse, and who subsequently had another child three years into building the start-up, says conscious trade-offs need to be made.

Another concern is how the ecosystem around high-growth businesses views female founders who start families while scaling.

In particular, this means investors who are making the decisions about whether to back these firms. The world has, thankfully, moved on a long way and there are robust maternity protections for women in the workplace.

However, it has not been unheard of for investors to openly question female founders about their intentions when it comes to children, or their decision to have them. This somehow manages to slip through a loophole in the law.

While the Financial Conduct Authority regulates investors, there is no employment contract between the various parties, so discriminatory comments can slip through with little recourse.

Fortunately, this is becoming rarer and the majority of VCs take a more enlightened approach. Again, awareness and open discussion are key.

For a high-growth business to have a chance of success, the timing has to be right in both the market itself and from a personal point of view.

Once female founders feel they have the right idea, they can do themselves some favours by pausing to validate that they are personally ready.

The final motivation is closely linked to the subject of the next chapter, and that is the business you want to create.

Is your idea driven by a sense of mission and purpose, a desire to make the world a better place? Or do you just want to be your own boss?

The former is a much stronger reason to start a high-growth business, and the passion for it will sustain you through the tough times.

When I set up Starling Bank, I wanted to start a business that had a huge impact and was going to break boundaries. I didn’t think about the personal benefits.

In this chapter, we’ve talked a lot about the positive qualities, even superpowers, that might make you a perfect entrepreneur. But, if you know yourself well, you will understand that you do have some personality traits that can also hold you back.

You might be averse to uncertainty, or dislike change. You may even be a perfectionist. How will these characteristics impact your journey to create a high-growth business?

If you consider all of this and still have a burning desire to build a high-growth business, that’s great news.

Now, you just need to get on with it.

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To read the full book, SEJ readers have an exclusive 25% discount code and free shipping to the US and UK. Use promo code SEJ25 at koganpage.com here.

More resources: 

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Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

The Best SEO Conferences For 2024-2025 (Virtual And In-Person) via @sejournal, @lorenbaker

The rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning have dramatically reshaped the SEO and digital marketing landscape, and attending a conference is arguably one of the best ways to benefit from the latest industry insights while expanding your professional network.

Spending hours researching articles, forum discussions, and other online resources is always valuable, but attending conferences can significantly enhance your learning experience.

By directly interacting with industry professionals and experts, having the opportunity to ask them questions offers a depth of knowledge that complements and goes beyond what self-guided online research can provide.

In short, attending conferences, whether in-person or virtual, offers a wide range of benefits:

• Networking opportunities.
• Learning from experts.
• Interactive workshops.
• Staying updated with trends.
• Exposure to new tools and discovering the marketplace.
• Direct Q&A sessions.
• Receiving feedback from experts on your work.
• Building your company or personal brand.
• Competitive insights.
• Inspiration and creativity.
• Unique case studies available only to conference attendees.

To help you decide which ones you should attend, we’ve compiled a list of the best SEO conferences in 2024.

Whether you’re a road warrior who wants to attend as many events as possible or an introvert who only wants to attend digitally, there are sure to be several conferences that fit your needs.

So, without further ado, here is our list of the best online and in-person SEO conferences this year.

SEO & Digital Marketing Events For 2024

Here are some SEO and digital marketing conferences and events coming up this year. Mark your calendar now so you don’t miss them.

Friends Of Search Fest

• Website
• Date: March 21, 2024.
• Format: In-person.
• Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• Speakers: Kevin Indig, Aleyda Solís, Purna Virji, and Barry Adams, among others.
• Cost: Starting from €477,95-€568,95.
• About: One of Europe’s largest search conferences. The event brings together consultants, marketers, and business owners to share their insights on SEO, PPC, and digital marketing. This three-day event will feature sessions designed to provide attendees with actionable insights and the latest information from industry experts.

In the video below, you can see what a real-life conference looks and feels like.

Adobe Summit

• Website
• Date: March 26-28, 2024.
• Format: In-person, on-demand sessions available.
• Location: Las Vegas, NV.
• Speakers: Shantanu Narayen, Karen Hopkins, Greg Cobb, Trevor Paulsen, Bob Conklin, Badsah Mukherji, and many others.
• Cost: $1895-$2095 with various discounts available; on-demand sessions after the event are free.
• About: The Adobe Summit features a massive variety of guests and keynotes, including actors, producers, CEOs, and Olympians. The in-person conference includes sessions, hands-on labs, meals, and evening events. You can register for the virtual summit for free to access keynotes and speaking sessions after the event.

Preview of the conference from Adobe.

Brighton SEO

• Website
• Date: April 25-26 and October 3-4, 2024 (UK) and November 19-20, 2024 (US).
• Format: In-person and online.
• Location: Brighton, U.K. and San Diego, US.
• Speakers: Adriana Stein, Dan Taylor, and Amanda Walls, among others.
• Cost: In-person starts at £350; virtual video bundle at £110. You can also join a waitlist for free tickets.
• About: This twice-yearly conference is attended by thousands of digital marketers worldwide. It features training workshops, sessions on niche topics, social networking events, and talks from experts. There is also a US-based version of the conference; brightonSEO San Diego takes place in November 2024.

Below is video feedback from attendees.

MnSearch Summit

• Website
• Date: June 14, 2024
• Format: In-person.
• Location: Saint Paul RiverCentre in St. Paul, Minnesota.
• Speakers: Mike King, Greg Gifford, Susan Wenogra, Ian Lurie, and many others.
• Cost: $347-547.
• About: MnSearch Summit is two days of learning and networking with thought leaders from the digital marketing industry. It includes workshops, sessions, and events focused on SEO, PPC, social media, and analytics, among other topics.

MozCon 2024

• Website
• Date: June 3-4, 2024.
• Format: In-person or live streaming.
• Location: Seattle, WA.
• Speakers: Amanda Jordan, Andy Crestodina, and Azeem Ahmad, among others.
• Cost: Early bird in-person tickets start at $899; livestream only for $299-$499.
• About: The annual digital marketing conference hosted by Moz, this conference features networking and expert sessions from SEO industry leaders, as well as experts in mobile search, conversion optimization, and search marketing.

Below is a sample talk from past MozCon.

WTSFest

• Website
• Dates: June 7, 2024, September, 19 2024.
• Format: In-person & Recording tickets available.
• Locations: London, Berlin, Philadelphia, PA.
• Speakers: Grace Frohlich, Joyann Boyce, Lily Ray, Navah Hopkins, Purna Virji, Chima Mmeje and more.
• Cost: From $199 to $399 in Philadelphia, £99 or £299 in London, sold out in Berlin (waiting list available).
• About: The Women in Tech SEO Festival is a full-day conference coming back to London for the fifth time on International Women’s Day, expanding this year to 2 more locations in Germany and the USA. A community-led one-track conference featuring a line of 10 brilliant speakers on analytics, search, technical SEO and empowerment talks.

Below is a snapshot from the conference venue sidelines, where you can get a real-life overview of the conference.

Growth Marketing Summit 2024

• Website
• Date: June 19, 2024.
• Format: In-person.
• Location: Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• Speakers: Michael Aagaard, Lukas Vermeer, and Erin Weigel, among others.
• Cost: Early bird rate from €699.
• About: Assembling growth marketers and digital professionals worldwide, this single-day event features world-class speakers sharing their expertise on flexible and data-driven marketing solutions.

Here is what the venue looks like and some video feedback from attendees.

INBOUND 2024

• Website
• Date: September 18-20, 2024.
• Format: In-person or online.
• Location: Boston, MA.
• Speakers: TBA.
• Cost: In-person from $899 for September 18-20; from $1,699 for the September 17-20 VIP pass.
• About: This annual event is powered by HubSpot, bringing together global thought leaders for a hybrid conference discussing marketing, sales, and customer success operations. It covers a wide range of topics and gives attendees the opportunity to network and learn from some of the best in the business.

Below is a comprehensive review from attendees.

B2B Marketing Expo 2024

• Website
• Date: October 9-10, 2024.
• Format: In-person.
• Locations: Miami, FL, and Los Angeles, CA.
• Speakers: Ryan Ross, Winston T Marshall, David Jarvis, and many others.
• Cost: Free.
• About: Featuring education masterclasses for marketing professionals, this annual conference covers a variety of tracks, including advertising and promotion, content and experience, and commerce and sales. Hundreds of suppliers and speakers will be on hand to discuss the state of the industry and recent happenings.

Below is the video from the real-life experiences of attendees.

Engage (Formerly SearchFest)

• Website
• Date: October 17-18, 2024.
• Format: In-person.
• Location: Portland, OR.
• Speakers: Ryan Jones, Martha van Berkel, Jesse McDonald, and many others.
• Cost: $299-$900.
• About: Engage Marketing Conference is a one-day digital marketing conference featuring informative learning tracks and panel sessions designed to provide expert insight into the latest strategies and technological advancements in digital marketing, social media, content, UX/design, creative, advertising, SEO, paid media, and more!

Below is a picture from the conference venue by one of the attendees.

The amazing @purnavirji rocking here @sempdx Engage keynote. On #InternationalWomansDay no less. Great info here#EngagePDX pic.twitter.com/4f2IiyOMT0

— James Svoboda 🕊🐢|👥👊|💀🗡 (@Realicity) March 8, 2018

Content Marketing World

• Website
• Date: October 21-23, 2024.
• Format: In-person or online.
• Location: San Diego, CA.
• Speakers: Ann Handley, Robert Rose, Cassie Kozyrkov, and many others.
• Cost: Super Early bird in-person tickets start at $1199; livestream only for $899.
• About: Over four days, attendees will learn strategies for building winning SEO teams, systems, and processes. With more than 100 sessions, workshops, and industry forums, you can choose the topics and sessions that are relevant to you. Thousands of marketers and representatives from numerous global brands will be in attendance.

Here is an example video from last year’s conference.

ADworld Experience

• Website
• Date: October 17-18, 2024.
• Format: In-person and online.
• Location: Bologna, Italy.
• Speakers: Fiona Bradley, Tom Breeze, Valerio Celetti, and many others.
• Cost: Early bird in-person tickets start at €529; livestream only for €199.
• About: Bringing together PPC experts from across the globe for the largest paid ad and conversion rate optimization event in Europe – and the largest real PPC-based conference in the world.

State Of Search 2024

• Website 
• Date: October 28-29, 2024.
• Format: In-person and online.
• Location: Grapevine, TX.
• Speakers: TBD.
• Cost: TBA.
• About: The State of Search brings together top speakers from the digital marketing field to cover various topics, from search engine optimization to emerging technology, lead generation, and display advertising.

Below is one of the talks from past conferences by Eric Enge.

DMO Advanced 2024

• Website 
• Date: TBA.
• Format: In-person.
• Location: Napa Valley, CA.
• Speakers: TBA.
• Cost: TBA.
• About: Digital Marketers Organization will again host their advanced digital marketing event, blending interactive and educational sessions with networking opportunities. There will be numerous sessions specifically designed for SEO, including information on technical debt, localization, and internationalization.

DigiMarCon

• Website
• Date: On-going throughout 2024.
• Format: In-person and online.
• Location: Various global locations.
• About: DigiMarCon offers a range of events throughout the year, both virtual and in-person conferences in various global locations. Digital Marketing Conferences is a global series of events bringing together thought leaders from the digital marketing, media, and advertising industries. These conferences focus on emerging strategies, the latest technology, recent best practices, networking, and collaboration.

International Search Summit (IIS) Barcelona

• Website 
• Date: November 14, 2024.
• Format: In-person.
• Location: World Trade Center, Barcelona, Spain.
• Speakers: TBA. Past speakers include Gary Illyes, Mordy Oberstein, Olga Andrienko, Navah Hopkins, among others.
• Cost: Tickets from €750, including access to ISS and International SEO Workshop.
• About: The International Search Summit is dedicated entirely to global digital marketing and learning the strategies to drive sales and growth around the world. With a focus on people, as well as learning, networking sessions are integrated into the whole event to ensure attendees leave with new knowledge and new connections. In the past, there have been 3 tracks with 30 sessions, all focused on international SEO and PPC. There will also be a deep dive International SEO Workshop running on November 14.

Below is a review from attendees.

The eCommerce & Omnichannel Retail Conference (eTail)

• Website
• Date: February 24 -February 27, 2025.
• Format: In-person with on-demand available for a limited time following events.
• Location: Palm Springs, CA.
• Speakers: Kristin Shane, Drew Green, Dave Spector, and Anngelica Newland, among many others.
• Cost: In-person starting at $2,099.
• About: With a focus on digital commerce, this event is a four-day retreat designed to help ecommerce and omnichannel stores uncover new ways to maximize profits from some of America’s most successful retailers. Check out the full series of conferences throughout the year in Boston, Toronto, Canada, and London, England.

Preview of the conference from past attendees.

Pubcon 2025

• Website
• Date: TBA.
• Format: In-person.
• Location: Las Vegas, NV.
• Speakers: Gary Illyes, Brett Tabke, Fabrice Canel, and many others.
• Cost: $599-$1699.
• About: Pubcon, a “fullstack marketing conference,” is in its 21st year. This two-day, in-person event features keynotes from Google and Bing and a packed schedule of conference sessions. Based on your interest, choose between different topic tracks such as organic SEO, marketing potpourri, site reviews, and ChatGPT and AI content.

Here is a snapshot of what it looked like during past conferences.

Search Marketing Expo (SMX Munich)

• Website
• Date: March 18-19, 2025.
• Format: In-person.
• Location: Munich.
• Speakers: Bastian Grimm, Andrey Lipattsev and Jes Scholz, among others.
• Cost: Starting from €550-€2,295.
• About: SMX Munich is large event with +1000 attendees focused on search marketing, attracting a diverse range of industry professionals. It offers a valuable opportunity for networking, learning, and discovering new tools and practices in the field of SEO, Social Media and PPC.

Below is a presentation from the past that can help you grasp what the event’s content looks like.

Social Media Marketing World

• Website
• Date: March 30- April 1, 2025.
• Format: In-person and on-demand.
• Location: San Diego, CA.
• Speakers: Michael Stelzner, Ann Handley, Dr. Mindy Weinstein, Joe Pulizzi, and many others.
• Cost: In-person starting at $1497-$1997; streaming for $697; on-demand for $997.
• About: Bringing together top social media marketing pros, this conference is not directly focused on SEO but features sessions on organic social marketing, paid social marketing, social strategy, content marketing, and several workshops.

It strives to immediately provide attendees with ideas they can implement for their clients or businesses.

Below is a real-life experience of what it looks like by Latasha James.

Great SEO Pros Never Stop Learning

For an SEO professional, experience is important – but not nearly as vital as staying up to date.

While you can keep an eye on what’s going on in the world of search engines, paid advertising, and digital marketing by reading expert publications (like this one, for example), it’s also great to meet with other people who are performing the same job.

This gives you a chance not just to interact with them but to ask questions and develop relationships that could reap rewards far down the line. And SEO conferences are a great place to do this.

So, whether you’re trying to brush up on the basics, identify the latest techniques, or just take a trip on the company dime, the above events are a great place to start.

Include Your SEO Conference

This article is updated whenever possible to reflect frequent changes to event schedules and details.

If you’re hosting an upcoming SEO event and want it listed, please submit it via the form below:

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Featured Image: l i g h t p o e t/Shutterstock

Female Founder Of A Billion-Dollar Company: 10 Signs You’re An Entrepreneur

I know what it is like to be a reluctant entrepreneur.

Back in 2014, when I first started thinking about Starling Bank, if anyone had told me, “Ah, so you are going to be an entrepreneur,” I’d have said, “Absolutely not.” I was similarly reluctant to use the word “founder.”

Growing up, I always believed entrepreneurs were inventors. They made something. Today’s example might be James Dyson, because he invented the first bagless vacuum cleaner.

Elon Musk invented a rocket that went into space. I didn’t believe I was like this. I had gone to university, joined Lloyd’s Bank as a graduate trainee, and then worked my way up the corporate ladder.

It wasn’t until Starling Bank became a unicorn, reaching a valuation of over £1 billion, that I finally relented on the word “entrepreneur.”

Since then, I have reflected on why I never saw myself as a bona fide entrepreneur.

My conclusion is that, when I started my business, I didn’t do it because I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I did it because I had long since grown disillusioned with the world of banking and was convinced that I knew what needed to be done to put things right.

I had zero doubt about my idea for a new type of bank. That, in itself, is the basis for entrepreneurship. What I called myself really didn’t matter.

If you, too, are a reluctant entrepreneur, it might be helpful if I began by sharing what I, and other female entrepreneurs, think about how to identify whether there is an entrepreneur lurking beneath the surface (whether or not you would like to admit it to yourself).

Here are 10 signs you are an entrepreneur:

1. You Don’t Accept “No” As An Answer

Anyone who gets discouraged by a “no” is never going to make it as an entrepreneur. I held meetings with more than 300 investors before I found someone interested in putting money into Starling Bank.

If I had given up at 10 meetings, or a hundred meetings, the business would never have gotten off the ground. Similarly, plenty of customers, regulators, potential hires, and seemingly everyone said no.

Hearing “no” time after time is part and parcel of being an entrepreneur. If you are the type to welcome this two-letter word as a challenge that allows you to show what you can do, then you’ve got the entrepreneur mindset.

2. Your Achievements Have Not Been Recognized (So Far)

Women, in particular, often get frustrated with corporate life because they feel underestimated or unrecognized.

Their input is ignored or played down. They report speaking up in meetings to put forward an idea, and it is met with silence, only for a male colleague to be praised when he repeats a virtually identical point later on.

I spent most of my career complaining about not getting the plum projects or not being paid enough, and very often was only able to make any progress by quitting one job to take another. In the end, I had to start my own business to achieve what I always believed to be my full potential.

It is quite possible that this is the reason why so many women become entrepreneurs following maternity leave.

After a break from the corporate world, they can’t face re-entering the fray where their achievements go unnoticed month after month. The idea of setting out alone and being judged on their own merits is more alluring.

3. You Don’t Care About Fitting In

Closely related to the above, many entrepreneurs have long since decided they don’t fit in, so don’t waste any time on it. When I started speaking with other female entrepreneurs, I was struck by just how different they were from the people I knew from corporate life.

In my previous career, I was surrounded by people who spent their entire careers trying to fit in. Entrepreneurs didn’t seem interested in all of that. They seemed more grounded and focused on the task at hand, rather than carefully weighing each word to see how they came across.

There’s an element of mischievousness here, too. It’s not enough to feel disgruntled about being passed over; you need to feel determined to do something to strike a blow at the establishment. Any entrepreneur who feels this way would be in fine company.

This is the motivation that spurred on Dame Stephanie Shirley, also known as Steve, who started a software house back in 1962 that introduced radical new flexible work practices for women in technology.

4. You’re A Dreamer (And A Little Naive)

Entrepreneurs who have previously had “proper jobs” often report spending a lot of time looking at their firms or bosses and imagining how they would do it better. Their imagination is filled with dreams and ideas.

Mixed in with this is a certain amount of naivety. During my own entrepreneurial journey, it really helped that I dreamed big, but also that I was a little naive about the scale of what I dreamed about.

When things were difficult, it helped me imagine the next bit had to be easier. I’d tell myself we only need to get this one thing done, and it’ll be plain sailing.

This was even though every single day as an entrepreneur is about solving a new problem.

5. You’re Competitive

For some reason, a desire to win is often viewed negatively, but it is a quality all entrepreneurs need. In fact, I have not met an entrepreneur who isn’t super-competitive.

During the toughest times, an arch-rival is what you need to keep going, even if that rival doesn’t really see your business as a competitor.

They are the mark. You need to get ahead of them to get closer to your goal. True entrepreneurs turn this rivalry into pure energy.

It should be said, this rivalry should be healthy. Going head-to-head with daggers drawn causes unnecessary tension and doesn’t help anyone.

New entrepreneurs are often quite surprised to hear that most founders often speak with other businesses in their sector. It’s a great way to swap ideas and can help everyone.

6. You’re Goal-Driven

Entrepreneurs are goal-driven. We like to take the initiative and solve problems, even if it means working on them for long periods to remove all obstacles that get in the way. This also means they are strategic in their game plans.

Right from the beginning at Starling, I had a plan in mind – and it was a grand plan.

Whenever I talked to anyone about anything to do with the business, I was thinking ahead about how what we were discussing would impact my end goal.

7. You’re Constantly Looking To Learn Something And Improve

Whenever I approach something new, my first instinct is to head to a bookshop. I’ve been the same since I was a young child when my parents gave me an unlimited budget to spend at our local one. I always bought non-fiction and academic books and would pore over them to find out how to do things.

One year, my parents bought me a second-hand, 1956 copy of the Encyclopaedia Britannica – all 24 volumes. I devoured every page and, perhaps oddly, still have an incredible knowledge of life in the 1950s.

I’ve never lost the idea that books are there to advise and inform. Whenever I try anything new, I download dozens of books on the subject.

If I start something in the house, my Kindle is full of books on interior design. My shelves feature a lot of books about living and working in America/Ireland/Switzerland, basically tracking my career progression.

Beside them are endless books on starting a business, managing the transition from start-up to high-growth business, or engaging teams.

Not everyone is such a bookworm; I understand that. Some gather their intel by meeting as many experts as they can and listening carefully to every word. They learn something from every interaction.

Yet, however they absorb it, entrepreneurs are always looking to improve their outlook. If there is a better way to do something, they need to know it.

8. You’re Good With People

Your employees are people. Your customers are people. Your regulators are people. Your investors are people. All of your stakeholders are people.

Each one plays a role in making a high-growth business a success.

If just one stakeholder doesn’t engage, the business won’t succeed. Thus, being good with people is key.

9. You’re Persuasive

To be successful, an entrepreneur needs people to listen to them and be inspired, whether they are investors, customers, or colleagues.

This talent is essential right from the beginning of an entrepreneurial venture when early team members need to be persuaded to give up the security of their existing jobs to join you on this (potentially crazy) endeavor.

When things don’t go according to plan, you’ll have to persuade them to keep the faith and stick with it.

Every single difficult conversation has to be sprinkled with just enough magic optimism dust. This is even more so when people are working for next to nothing – or even nothing at all.

You need them to come back the next day. Sometimes, that takes some next-level charm skills. Remaining upbeat and persuasive can be particularly challenging during funding rounds when so much is riding on the outcome.

I have many vivid memories of returning to the office empty-handed and, yet, telling everyone I had a great lead.

10. You’re Fully Committed

Entrepreneurialism is not like an uplifting movie, where the main character has an idea and then a sped-up reel shows them hurtling towards success. There will be multiple high points and low points along the way.

Almost every entrepreneur will face a time when they are hours away from losing everything they worked for. Before Starling received its banking license and began opening accounts, the business came close to collapse three times.

It has been well documented that we lost a crucial potential investor at the eleventh hour, and the entire team walked out to start a competitive product (great news, a rival – see point five above!).

It takes 100% commitment to the vision to keep going at these low points. If you have that, you’re an entrepreneur.

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This chapter is an extract from Female Founders’ Playbook by Anne Boden ©2024 and is reproduced with permission from Kogan Page Ltd.

To read the full book, SEJ readers have an exclusive 25% discount code and free shipping to the US or UK. Use promo code SEJ25 at koganpage.com here.

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Featured Image: Rido/Shutterstock