It’s the beginning of our second week of social distancing here in Minnesota. I’ve already cleaned my house no fewer than 10 times, cleaned and organized closets, and gone on approximately 100 walks. I’m about 24 hours away from dressing my cats in costumes and putting on a (very sharp, bitey) show. But if that’s what it takes to keep spirits up and minds occupied at home, that’s what we will do.
Among the uncertainty and boredom we all face in these unprecedented times, we tend to take solace in the familiar. Keeping ourselves busy with ideas, concepts and work that nourish our minds is one thing we can do to stay sane and focus on the things we can impact.
While many of our favorite search conferences are being postponed to later dates, there are still plenty of excellent virtual conferences to attend in the meantime. If you, like me, are looking for something tangible and productive to put your mind to, this list of 8 virtual search engine optimization (SEO) conferences may be just the ticket for you.
“While many of our favorite search conferences are being postponed to later dates, there are still plenty of excellent virtual conferences to attend in the meantime.” @Tiffani_Allen Click To TweetThe CMC 2020 Digital Experience: The 2020 Content Marketing Conference has been relocated to their online CMC Academy this year. Conference sessions will be available beginning April 21st including session recordings and workshops from speakers like:
- Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs
- Mike Roberts, President and Founder of SpyFu
- Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Marketing
They are also offering a free ticket to next year’s CMC 2021 LIVE for CMC 2020 ticket holders so you can make connections and meet in person next year!
Midwest Digital Marketing Conference: This popular conference has moved online this year. Join the live, two-day virtual marketing summit on Wednesday, May 20th and Thursday, May 21st to hear from speakers like:
- Heidi Cohen, Chief Content Officer, Actionable Marketing Guide
- Greg Weingarden, Digital Marketing Consultant, Google
- Carlos Gil, Author “The End of Marketing”
If you aren’t able to make those days work, the on-demand experience will be available online for a year following the event.
Adobe Summit: Get the latest insights into customer experience, which is an important factor for every SEO, at the first-ever digital Adobe Summit. The full lineup has yet to be announced, but you can register here for updates about the March 31 event.
Atomicon: This year’s Atomicon conference has gone fully virtual this year to bring insights from the world of content marketing, social media and search engine optimization. The conference takes place on April 28, 2020 featuring sessions from speakers like:
- Ian Cleary, Founder, RazorSocial
- Amanda Robinson, Founder, The Digital Gal
- Andrew Davis, Founder, Monumental Shift
Not all the sessions are SEO specific, but every session touches on a digital marketing tactic that’s integral to making the whole digital mix successful.
SMX Munich: The first of the SMX series to move online, coming at you from Munich with everything you need to know about trends in PPC, SEO and search marketing overall. Speakers include:
- John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst, Google
- Dana di Tomaso, President & Partner, Kick Point
- Jono Alderson, Special Ops, Yoast
Confab: This content strategy conference is a must-see for search marketers, and the virtual experience will be live on May 17-May 20. Search absolutely needs (and deserves) a seat at the content strategy table, and vice versa. The details are not yet finalized for the online version of this conference, but they should be coming soon! Some speakers to note:
- Dan Newman, Director of Product Design, NPR
- Anna Pickard, Creative Director, Slack
- Keri Maijala, Manager, UX Writing, LinkedIn
SEMRush Live Webinars: SEMRush has compiled live webinars from some heavy hitters in the SEO and content marketing industry to provide advice, tips and other educational nuggets for marketers. Some webinars that look promising include:
- Content Marketing for Teams: Collaboration, Structure and Leadership
- The Beginners Guide to Semantic Web
Of course, there are many other past events to view on-demand as well.
Search Engine Journal Webinars: Browse on-demand and upcoming live webinars on topics ranking from BERT to boosting lead volume. A few that I found exciting were:
- SEO After BERT: How to Win Big with FAQs, Schema, AMP & Voice Search
- Zero-Click Searches: How to Get Back Your Lost Google Traffic (The webinar recording is at the bottom of the article.)
- A 4-Step Enterprise SEO Framework: From Crawling to Conversions (The webinar recording is at the bottom of the article.)
Stay Connected and Learn at Virtual Conferences
Attending conferences – even in a virtual setting – is a great way to stay connected to the marketing and SEO community. And, we could all use some human connection right now. Take some time to build your skills, renew your passion for search marketing, and avoid skin and eyeball risking activities like cat costume parties.
Did I miss an event you’re looking forward to? Leave me a note in the comments or tweet us @toprank.
