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Going to a conference is serious business. So, if you’re still planning your conference calendar around the same events you attended in 2022, you’re already behind. Conversations about the shift from SEO to AEO and GEO are two years out of date:
- ChatGPT now has over 800 million weekly users.
- Google’s AI Overviews appear in more than 60% of queries.
- Perplexity is eating search traffic in real time.
And yet, most marketers still budget for conferences where the biggest AI session is a 45-minute panel with Directors of Marketing and Social Media at HoldCo Agencies who control-F switched “organic search” to “AI search” in slide decks that haven’t changed since 2023.
You then get there, sit through it, nod politely, clap when they are done, mill around the halls and grab some swag, and leave with nothing you can actually use on Monday.
Common folks, 2026 has to be different.
The conference circuit has some great events, worth flying for, where the speakers have done the work. The attendees are running real experiments, and the conversations happening in the hallways are just as valuable as what’s on stage. Plus, you might get great coffee (I can’t guarantee that, though).
The brands that win the next three years will be the ones that got serious about AEO and GEO early, learned from the right people, and built the right systems.
Here are the conferences that are actually worth your time and travel budget this year.
1. Zero Click — San Francisco (April 2026), New York City (June 2026)
The most focused GEO event on the calendar — and it’s invite-only.
If you care about showing up in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity when your buyers are asking the questions that matter to your business, Zero Click is ground zero for those conversations.
In other words, this is the one you don’t skip.
This year, Zero Click is happening in San Francisco on April 8, 2026, and then in New York City on June 11, 2026.
I attended an inaugural event last year, hosted by one of the leading GEO/AEO software companies, Profound, and it was excellent. The panels were insightful, and the data the Profound team shared was top-notch. Attendees came from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Adobe, Accenture, and beyond.
I know I’m a bit biased, but I also think my keynote was a major highlight for attendees, and I’m excited to see who they bring out this year.
You can watch it here:
A word of warning: this event is intentionally small and intimate, and attendance is by request. So get in on it while you can. Again, this is not an event you should miss.
2. SEO Week New York — April 27–30, 2026
Four days. Four themes. Organized chaos that actually works.
Hosted by iPullRank, SEO Week runs four consecutive days, each with its own theme: Science, Psychology, Ecosystem, and Future. That last day — Future — is where the AEO and GEO conversations are the sharpest.
What makes this one interesting is the crowd. It skews technical and aggressive in the best possible way. These are practitioners who are running experiments, not just sharing takes. You’re going to leave with things you can actually do, not just things you should probably do at some point. And the coffee is great too.
Single-day tickets start at $599. Full access starts at $1,999. Given that we’re talking about New York, the networking alone is worth the price (plus, they serve the best coffee).
3. Ahrefs Evolve — San Diego (October 12–13, 2026)
Small, curated, and built for people who take discovery seriously.
Conversations at Ahrefs Evolve go deep on content strategy, AI discoverability, and the technical decisions that separate brands that rank from those that don’t. And because it’s hosted by Ahrefs, the tool demonstrations and data-backed sessions have real substance.
(FYI: San Diego is one of the best places for a conference, and the reports from last year’s Evolve included nothing but praise.)
This year’s conference is expected to include 600 attendees and 25+ speakers, all packed into two days. Ahrefs built Evolve with the thesis that smaller, more focused events are where the real learning happens — and they’re right. I’ve always loved attending events in San Diego with 400-600 attendees. This one should deliver as promised, as Ahrefs publishes some of the best research on AEO / GEO in the market today.
If you’re in San Diego in October anyway — and you should be, given BrightonSEO is there in September — this is an easy add. Tickets start at $899.
4. BrightonSEO — April 30–May 1 (UK) | September 15–16 (San Diego)
The world’s biggest search marketing conference. Worth it for the sheer volume of conversations alone.
BrightonSEO is massive (over 5,000 attendees at the UK edition), and AI search and GEO content have grown significantly year over year in the programming. Past speakers have included leaders like Lily Ray and Aleyda Solis, as well as a rotating lineup of practitioners doing the real work.
I was the keynote at BrightonSEO USA in 2025 and had a blast. The San Diego edition is smaller and easier to navigate if you’re flying in from North America. So, if you’re already going to be there for Ahrefs Evolve in October, stacking September and October in San Diego is a smart move.
While the BrightonSEO sessions are amazing, in my opinion, it’s the conversations you have between them that provide the most value. Come with a clear agenda, be intentional about who you want to meet, and you’ll get more from two days here than from a week of reading blog posts.
5. MozCon Roadshow — New York (July 14) | London (November 13)
A one-day format that respects your time and still delivers.
MozCon went from a multi-day Seattle institution to a one-day roadshow in 2026, and I think that’s the right move. A single curated track means everyone’s in the same room, seeing the same content, and the conversations that follow feel more cohesive. No agonizing over which breakout to attend. No splitting your attention across three stages.
The NYC edition in July is the one most North American marketers should prioritize. The content consistently focuses on what’s actually changing in search and what to do about it. Wil Reynolds, Josh Spilker, and others who have shaped modern SEO thinking tend to show up at events like this — and the caliber of the room reflects that.
Early bird tickets run around $649. One day, no excuses. If you can’t justify a multi-day conference to your team or your budget, this is the one that removes every objection.
6. INBOUND — Boston (September 16–18, 2026)
Still the best event for connecting content, AI, and demand generation (if you know how to navigate it)
INBOUND is enormous: 13,000+ attendees, 350+ speakers.
In 2026, AEO and GEO content is woven throughout INBOUND’s agenda in ways it hasn’t been before. If you’re a B2B marketer trying to understand how AI-powered discovery changes the way buyers find you, this is a useful lens, particularly because the conversations here are more connected to pipeline and demand than pure search. That’s a perspective you won’t get at a search-only event.
But, because of its size, you have to be strategic about how you move through it. Remember, there’s value to be had outside of the keynotes, in the smaller breakout sessions, the peer-led meetups, and the conversations that happen when 13,000 people who care about marketing are all in the same city at the same time.
(My advice: don’t try to see everything. Pick five sessions, three people you want to meet, and one dinner. That’s your INBOUND.)
7. SMX Advanced — Boston (June 3–5, 2026)
The search conference that goes deep. Built for people who are past the basics.
SMX Advanced has always been built for experienced practitioners — less theory, more execution. In 2026, that means sessions on GEO and AEO showing up alongside technical SEO, AI-driven SERP analysis, and zero-click strategy. This is a three-day event hosted by Search Engine Land that draws a senior crowd.
The invite-only mastermind roundtables are worth the price of admission alone. These 10-person tables are where the real conversations happen — where someone running SEO at a $500M company will tell you what’s actually working versus what they tell everyone else.
If your search strategy is tied directly to pipeline and revenue (and it should be), SMX Advanced is one of the tightest, most ROI-focused events on the calendar.
The Bottom Line
Every conference on this list is worth attending for different reasons. But if you’re budgeting your time and travel, here’s how I’d think about it:
- If you want dedicated GEO learning from the people building the category, Zero Click is non-negotiable.
- For technical depth and senior-level peer exchange, SMX Advanced is the move.
- For volume of contacts and broad AI-search exposure, BrightonSEO San Diego in September is convenient and content-rich.
- And if you want an intimate, practitioner-focused experience to close out the year, Ahrefs Evolve in October is outstanding.
But here’s what I really want you to take away from this: the rooms you choose to be in this year will shape how prepared you are for the next three years. The brands showing up in AI-generated answers in 2027 are already investing in the right conversations in 2026. They’re meeting the right people, pressure-testing their strategies against practitioners who are actually doing the work, and building the relationships that compound.
Don’t be the person who reads the recap and wishes they’d been there.
