The best SEO speakers 2026 has put on stage start with Mike King of iPullRank, who is on the MozCon 2026 programme and the Tech SEO Connect 2026 line-up.
After him come Aleyda Solis, Ross Simmonds, Crystal Carter and Cindy Krum, and every name on this page appears on a real 2026 SEO conference programme that I checked on 17 October 2026.
I'm not on this list, and that's deliberate, because I don't have a conference speaking record to show you.
What I do have is a team that works on SEO and AI visibility every day, so if you'd rather get answers about your own site than wait for the next conference, book a free SEO strategy session and get a custom AI visibility plan.
This page is an operator walkthrough.
You get the ranked list first, then the 2026 event calendar, then a step-by-step process for picking and booking a speaker, including how to get an AI agent to do the checking for you.
The Best SEO Speakers 2026: Top 3 At A Glance
- 🥇 Mike King (iPullRank) is my number one, because he is on the MozCon 2026 New York programme and the Tech SEO Connect 2026 line-up, and he co-founded Tech SEO Connect.
- 🥈 Aleyda Solis (Orainti) is second, because she spoke at brightonSEO in spring 2026 and she is on the Tech SEO Connect 2026 line-up.
- 🥉 Ross Simmonds is third, because brightonSEO picked him to close the October 2026 conference on its main stage.
How I Ranked The Best SEO Speakers For 2026
I used four simple rules, and the first one was a hard gate.
| Rule | What I checked |
|---|---|
| A real 2026 stage | The person had to appear on an official 2026 conference page, schedule or speaker list. |
| More than one stage | Speakers listed by two or more 2026 events ranked higher. |
| Keynote or headline slots | A keynote or closing slot counted for more than a regular session. |
| A 2026 topic | I favoured speakers whose listed topic or role covers what audiences ask about now, such as AI search, measurement and technical SEO. |
I want to be honest about the limits.
I haven't watched every one of these talks, I haven't hired these people as speakers, and I haven't listed any fees because no event page publishes them.
So treat this as a well-checked shortlist, not a measured score.
🔥 Want my exact Best SEO Speakers 2026 setup, step by step? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom you get step-by-step video trainings, my installable Agent OS and four coaching calls a week with 3,400+ members building real automations. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom
The 12 Best SEO Speakers Of 2026, Ranked
1. Mike King — iPullRank
Mike King is the founder and CEO of iPullRank, and the MozCon 2026 speakers page lists him for the New York stop.
He is also on the Tech SEO Connect 2026 speaker list, and the Tech SEO Connect site says he co-founded the event in 2024 with Matthew Kay, Patrick Stox and JR Oakes.
His MozCon bio calls him the creator of Relevance Engineering and the creator of the SEO Week conference.
Best for: events that want a deep, technical keynote on how modern search and AI search work.
Where I verified him: MozCon 2026 speakers and Tech SEO Connect 2026.
2. Aleyda Solis — Orainti
Aleyda Solis is an SEO consultant and the founder of Orainti.
The brightonSEO spring 2026 schedule lists her talk "Redefining Success Metrics for the AI Search Era".
She is also on the Tech SEO Connect 2026 speaker list for November.
Best for: audiences who need to rethink how they measure SEO now that AI answers sit on top of the results.
Where I verified her: brightonSEO April 2026 and Tech SEO Connect 2026.
3. Ross Simmonds — Foundation
Ross Simmonds is the founder and CEO of Foundation.
The brightonSEO October 2026 event page says he would close the conference on the main stage, which is one of the biggest slots in SEO events.
Best for: content distribution and audience-growth keynotes for mixed SEO and marketing crowds.
Where I verified him: brightonSEO October 2026.
4. Crystal Carter — Wix
Crystal Carter is Head of AI Search and SEO Communications at Wix.
The MozCon 2026 speakers page lists her for New York, and her bio there mentions 20 years of experience, including work for McDonald's and TripAdvisor.
Best for: AI search sessions that need to land with marketers as well as specialists.
Where I verified her: MozCon 2026 speakers.
5. Cindy Krum — MobileMoxie
Cindy Krum is the founder and CEO of MobileMoxie.
She is on the brightonSEO San Diego 2026 speaker list and the Tech SEO Connect 2026 line-up, so she has two 2026 stages.
Best for: technical and mobile search talks.
Where I verified her: brightonSEO San Diego 2026 and Tech SEO Connect 2026.
6. Dr. Pete Meyers
Dr. Pete Meyers was the keynote speaker at brightonSEO in spring 2026, according to the event page.
A keynote at the biggest SEO conference in the UK is a strong signal that organisers trust a speaker to hold a full hall.
Best for: data-led keynotes about how Google's results are changing.
Where I verified him: brightonSEO April 2026.
7. Mark Williams-Cook — Candour
Mark Williams-Cook is Digital Marketing Director at Candour, and his MozCon bio describes him as an SEO and AI-search professional, agency director and SaaS founder.
He is on the MozCon London 2026 speaker list, and his name also appears on the brightonSEO October 2026 schedule.
Best for: practical SEO and AI search sessions for agency and in-house teams.
Where I verified him: MozCon 2026 speakers and brightonSEO October 2026.
8. Duane Forrester
Duane Forrester was a featured speaker at Pubcon Pro Virtual on 14 January 2026.
The Pubcon page lists him as an author with Machine Layer and gives his topic as LLM visibility and entities.
Best for: events that want a clear session on how brands show up in large language models.
Where I verified him: Pubcon Pro Virtual 2026.
9. Patrick Stox — Ahrefs
Patrick Stox is listed on the brightonSEO San Diego 2026 page as Product Advisor, Technical SEO and Brand Ambassador at Ahrefs.
He is also one of the co-founders of Tech SEO Connect, according to that event's site.
Best for: technical SEO sessions backed by tool data.
Where I verified him: brightonSEO San Diego 2026.
10. Krishna Madhavan — Microsoft AI
Krishna Madhavan gave the Microsoft Bing AI keynote at Pubcon Pro Virtual 2026, and he is on the Tech SEO Connect 2026 line-up as Principal Product Manager for the Microsoft AI Bing Web Data Platform.
Having someone from a search engine's own team on stage is rare, which is why I rank him here.
Best for: audiences who want to hear how a search engine thinks about web data.
Where I verified him: Pubcon Pro Virtual 2026 and Tech SEO Connect 2026.
11. Dixon Jones
The brightonSEO October 2026 schedule lists Dixon Jones with the talk "Entity Maps: Brief AI Before It Briefs Itself".
Best for: sessions on entities and how AI tools understand a brand.
Where I verified him: brightonSEO October 2026.
12. Helen Pollitt — Getty Images
Helen Pollitt is Director of SEO at Getty Images, and the MozCon 2026 speakers page lists her for London on 13 November 2026.
Her bio there says she has almost two decades of experience in digital marketing.
Best for: in-house SEO leadership and team-building talks.
Where I verified her: MozCon 2026 speakers.
📞 Running an event because you want more people to find your brand? Book a free SEO strategy session and my team at Goldie Agency will show you your strongest visibility opportunities across Google, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. → Claim your free strategy session
Prefer To Learn From Me? Here's Where I Teach
I'm not a conference speaker, so I haven't ranked myself anywhere on this list.
I teach SEO and AI every day on my YouTube channel, which has 400,000+ subscribers.
I also run the AI Profit Boardroom, where 3,400+ members get four coaching calls a week and the Agent OS I use to run my own SEO.
If you want my team to look at your site directly, book a free SEO strategy session and you'll leave with a custom visibility plan and a competitor gap analysis.
The Best SEO Speakers 2026 Compared
| Rank | Speaker | 2026 stage I verified | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike King | MozCon New York and Tech SEO Connect | Technical and AI search keynotes |
| 2 | Aleyda Solis | brightonSEO spring and Tech SEO Connect | Measuring SEO in the AI era |
| 3 | Ross Simmonds | brightonSEO October closing keynote | Content distribution keynotes |
| 4 | Crystal Carter | MozCon New York | AI search for mixed audiences |
| 5 | Cindy Krum | brightonSEO San Diego and Tech SEO Connect | Technical and mobile search |
| 6 | Dr. Pete Meyers | brightonSEO spring keynote | Data-led keynotes |
| 7 | Mark Williams-Cook | MozCon London and brightonSEO October | Practical SEO and AI search |
| 8 | Duane Forrester | Pubcon Pro Virtual | LLM visibility and entities |
| 9 | Patrick Stox | brightonSEO San Diego | Technical SEO with data |
| 10 | Krishna Madhavan | Pubcon Pro Virtual and Tech SEO Connect | The search engine's view |
| 11 | Dixon Jones | brightonSEO October | Entities and AI understanding |
| 12 | Helen Pollitt | MozCon London | In-house SEO leadership |
🚀 Ready to put Best SEO Speakers 2026 to work in your business? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom you get step-by-step video trainings, my installable Agent OS and four coaching calls a week with 3,400+ members building real automations. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom
The Main SEO Conferences Of 2026, With Verified Dates
These are the 2026 events I used as sources, with the dates and places their own pages give.
| Event | 2026 date | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pubcon Pro Virtual | 14 January 2026 | Online | pubcon.com |
| SEO Week | April 2026 | New York City | seoweek.org |
| brightonSEO spring | 30 April and 1 May 2026 | The Brighton Centre, UK | brightonSEO April 2026 |
| brightonSEO San Diego | 15 and 16 September 2026 | San Diego Convention Center, US | brightonSEO San Diego 2026 |
| WTSFest Philadelphia | 1 October 2026 | Philadelphia, US | Women in Tech SEO |
| brightonSEO October | 8 and 9 October 2026 | The Brighton Centre, UK | brightonSEO October 2026 |
| Tech SEO Connect | 5 and 6 November 2026 | Bay 7, Durham, North Carolina, US | techseoconnect.com |
| MozCon London | 13 November 2026 | London, UK | MozCon 2026 |
The MozCon 2026 roadshow also lists a New York stop, and 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, which is why it shows up so often on this list.
How To Book One Of The Best SEO Speakers 2026 Has To Offer: The Operator Walkthrough
This is the process I'd follow if I were booking a speaker for a meetup, a client event or an internal training day.
Step 1: Write down the one problem your audience has
A speaker is only "the best" if they solve the problem your audience walked in with.
Write that problem in one sentence, such as "our clients don't know how to measure AI search" or "our developers keep breaking indexing".
Step 2: Match the problem to a speaker's listed topic
Use the comparison table above to shortlist two or three people whose 2026 talks or roles match your sentence.
For measurement, I'd look at Aleyda Solis first, and for technical problems I'd look at Mike King, Cindy Krum or Patrick Stox.
Step 3: Check the speaker on a current programme yourself
Open the event page, find the person's name and note the date of the event.
A speaker page from two or three years ago tells you very little about what someone is talking about today.
Step 4: Watch a recent talk if one is available
brightonSEO sells video bundles of its talks, so you can often watch a session before you book anyone.
Ten minutes of a real talk tells you more than any bio.
Step 5: Contact the speaker through their own company
Every speaker on this list has a company or employer named on the event page, so start there.
Explain the audience size, the format, the date and the problem in your first message, because that's what a speaker needs to say yes.
Step 6: Agree the format and the fee in writing
No event page I checked publishes fees, so I won't guess, and you shouldn't either.
Put the format, timings, travel and fee into a short written agreement before you announce anyone.
🔥 Want the agent setup I use to research people and companies like this? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom, I show you the AI agent workflows I use for research, content and SEO. You'll learn alongside 3,400+ members with four coaching calls a week. → Get access here
How To Get An AI Agent To Verify SEO Speakers For You
I built this list by hand, but the checking is the kind of job an AI agent handles well.
Here's how I'd set an agent up to do it every time you plan an event.
- Give the agent a list of the conference pages you trust, such as brightonSEO, MozCon, Tech SEO Connect and Pubcon.
- Ask it to open each page and return every speaker name with the event, the date and the job title shown on the page.
- Tell it to drop any name that it can't find on a dated programme, so nothing gets in on reputation alone.
- Ask it to save the results to a shared file with the page link and the date it checked.
- Re-run the job a month before your event, because line-ups change.
The rule that matters most is that the agent must quote the page, not its memory.
Language models will happily invent a speaker slot that never happened, so the page link is your proof.
📞 Want my team to run the same kind of check on your own brand? Grab a free SEO strategy session and you'll get a competitor gap analysis that shows why competitors appear more often in Google and AI answers. → Book your free session
Mistakes Operators Make When Choosing SEO Speakers
- Booking the most famous name instead of the person whose topic fits your audience is the most common mistake I see.
- Trusting an old speaker page without checking the date leads to booking someone for a topic they've moved on from.
- Announcing a speaker before the format and fee are agreed in writing creates awkward conversations later.
- Assuming a speaker can promise results for attendees is a mistake, because a talk teaches ideas and doesn't guarantee rankings.
- Forgetting to brief the speaker on your audience's level wastes everyone's time on the day.
Related Reading
- My ranked list of the best SEO professionals covers the people I'd learn from or hire, not just the people on stage.
- The top SEO professionals of 2026 ranks people by what they shipped and published this year.
- The best AEO consultant list from this same batch is the one to read if AI answers are your main problem.
FAQ: Best SEO Speakers 2026
Who are the best SEO speakers in 2026?
My top five are Mike King, Aleyda Solis, Ross Simmonds, Crystal Carter and Cindy Krum.
Each one appears on at least one 2026 SEO conference programme, such as MozCon, brightonSEO or Tech SEO Connect.
How did you check that each person is a 2026 SEO speaker?
I only included people listed on an official 2026 conference page, schedule or speaker list.
I checked every page on 17 October 2026 and linked each one next to the speaker.
Is Julian Goldie an SEO conference speaker?
No, I don't have a verified conference speaking record, so I haven't ranked myself.
I teach SEO and AI every day on YouTube and inside the AI Profit Boardroom instead.
Which SEO conferences are still to come in 2026?
Tech SEO Connect runs on 5 and 6 November 2026 in Durham, North Carolina.
MozCon London runs on 13 November 2026, and the next brightonSEO UK event is on 15 and 16 April 2027.
How much does it cost to book an SEO speaker?
None of the conference pages I checked publishes speaker fees, so I haven't listed any.
Ask the speaker or their company directly, and expect the answer to depend on format, travel and audience size.
Also On Our Network
- 🌐 How business owners and event organisers use the best SEO speakers of 2026
- 🌐 Every 2026 SEO speaker compared on one scorecard
- 🌐 A quick start for picking an SEO speaker with your Agent OS
- 🌐 The SEO speakers of 2026 and the AI models behind the search tools they talk about
📺 Video notes + links to the tools 👉
🎥 Learn how I make these videos 👉
🆓 Get a FREE AI Course + Community + 1,000 AI Agents 👉
About Julian
I'm Julian Goldie, an SEO entrepreneur, author and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.
I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.
- I started Goldie Agency on my own, and it is now a 7-figure SEO and link-building agency with 70+ people.
- I've grown my YouTube channel to 400,000+ subscribers.
- I wrote "Link Building Mastery".
- My Udemy courses have taught 29,000+ students.
→ Get my best AI training inside the AI Profit Boardroom
If you'd rather fix your own visibility before your next event, book a free SEO strategy session with my team and use this list to pick from the best SEO speakers 2026 has to offer.
