SEO for Events

Virtual and in-person events generate leads, boost brand awareness, and increase engagement.

Event organizers do not typically rely on organic search traffic for registrations, instead promoting on emails, social media, display ads, and referrals. This is understandable because search engine optimization takes time and may fail to generate results before the start date.

Yet SEO, done right, can help.

SEO for Events

1. Add keywords to the page title and copy

This is an essential first step that is often overlooked. Use a consistent URL for all events, present and future (see 4. below). It will eventually rank in Google for those keywords, generating visits and registrants.

Use a keyword tool to discover ranking opportunities. For example, “marketing conference” could be difficult, but “sales conference” has much lower competition and decent search volume. Plus, it’s arguably better targeted for businesses looking for revenue.

Other keywords to include in the title and copy include:

• Brand name for associations and businesses, as the page could rank for the event and the brand.
• Host city and state for in-person events to attract registrants looking for nearby conferences.

2. Use a single landing page

If you often host frequent mini-events such as meetups and webinars, create a single landing page to list them all. This approach has two benefits:

• One page has a better chance of ranking for primary keywords (see above). It can accumulate more internal and external links than multiple, separate versions.

• A single page with event schema will show upcoming events and dates in organic search snippets. Many schema generators (including WordPress plugins) can produce the markup.

A page with event schema will show upcoming events and dates in organic search snippets. Click image to enlarge.

3. Create a page for each speaker

Event speakers are often well-known and attract search queries. You can capture traffic by ranking for their names on a unique page.

The title of the page should include the speaker’s name and your brand, something like:

[Speaker’s Name] of [Business] – Conference Name [or Keyword] – Your Brand Name

Separate pages for each event speaker can rank in organic results for that person’s name, such as “Rand Fishkin,” the founder of Moz. Click image to enlarge.

Plus, associating your own brand with prominent experts helps Google understand the connections. Event marketing has a huge influencer component, allowing brands to build trust through the speakers. Rank your page for entity-driven searches and create stronger associations through branded snippets.

Separate pages encourage links from those speakers. Most prefer linking to their own pages versus a home or landing page. Use internal links to direct external link equity to your main event page.

4. Use the same URL for annual events

There’s no point in creating a new landing page every year and losing all the previous external link equity. Re-use the URL by updating the content for the new event.

If you host in-person events in different cities, create a separate URL for each to rank for location-driven searches.