SEO Conferences Are Just Expensive Commercials
You paid $2,000 to attend a conference where every "session" is a pitch deck. The speakers are selling. The sponsors are selling. You're the product.
I've been to the conferences. Brighton SEO. Pubcon. MozCon. SMX. The whole circuit.
Here's what they all have in common: nobody learns anything useful.
The Session Scam
Every conference session follows the same formula:
Minutes 1-5: Speaker introduces themselves. "I'm the head of SEO at [Company]. We've been in the industry for 15 years."
Minutes 5-20: Generic advice everyone already knows. "Content is king." "Focus on user experience." "Build quality backlinks."
Minutes 20-25: The pivot. "And if you want to learn more about how we do this at [Company]..."
Minutes 25-30: The pitch. Company overview. Client logos. "Book a demo."
That's it. That's the session. You paid $2,000 and flew across the country to watch a 30-minute commercial.
Why Real Tactics Aren't Shared
Here's the thing about SEO: the stuff that actually works is competitive advantage.
Nobody who's crushing it with a specific tactic is going to share it publicly. That would kill the edge. Instead, they share the generic stuff that sounds good but changes nothing.
Real SEO knowledge is shared privately. In Slack groups. On calls with trusted peers. Over beers with people who've actually done it.
Conference stages are for marketing, not learning.
The Networking Excuse
"But the networking!" people say.
Sure. The networking is real. But be honest: how many conference connections turned into anything meaningful? How many business cards are sitting in a drawer right now?
You can network without paying $2,000 and spending three days in a convention center. LinkedIn exists. Twitter exists (though it has its own problems). You can DM people for free.
The conference is an expensive permission structure for networking you could do anyway.
Who Actually Benefits
Conference organizers: They sell tickets and sponsorships. Pure profit.
Sponsors: Captive audience of potential customers. Lead gen paradise.
Speakers: Free marketing. Authority building. Lead gen for their agencies or tools. (Getting certified helps too.)
Attendees: ...FOMO relief? Instagram photos? A line item to expense?
Notice who's last on that list.
The Alternative
Take that $2,000 and the three days of time. Instead:
Read actual case studies. Not conference slides. Detailed breakdowns from people who've done it.
Run experiments. Spend the time testing things on your own sites.
Build relationships. One real connection with someone doing interesting work beats 50 badge scans.
Or just keep going to conferences. The after-parties are pretty good, I'll give them that.
SEO conferences are trade shows pretending to be education. Stop pretending you're learning. You're being marketed to.