SEO Conferences Postponed in Light of Coronavirus Outbreak

The coronavirus has truly upset the global and economic apple cart; very few industries and sectors have been spared from major economic disruption, and the search engine optimization field is no exception. The spring season is when many business conferences take place because of the nicer weather conditions that are more conducive to travel; this is certainly the case with the SEO and online marketing sector, but we are already seeing conferences being postponed or altogether canceled.

In Denver, the annual SearchCon event has been postponed to a later date that has yet to be confirmed. The SearchCon organizing entity, Hyper Dog Media, issued a press release on March 16 about the matter, and it lamented having to call off the conference for the time being. PubCon Florida was one of the first to announce postponement despite the Sunshine State not having adopted social distancing measures as of late March.

It would be reasonable to assume that SEO conferences could be moved online; after all, professionals in this field spend considerable time in front of their computers, but there are strong doubts about this happening. The problem is that conferences thrive on speakers and workshops, not to mention paid booths where SEO professionals mingle, learn about new products and services, meet colleagues, and get networking done the old-fashioned way. The SEO industry will have to figure out how to pivot to online conferences, and they will have to start with a digital equivalent of sponsor booths.

Another problem with online conferences is related to admission fees. Attendants would naturally be less inclined to pay for internet equivalents unless we are talking about separate webinars, which is what SEMRush has been scrambling to do over the last few weeks. The best we can hope for is that the current situation will improve sooner than later; once the contagion and mortality rate are sharply reduced, SEO conferences will probably take place every weekend, and event organizers will likely compete against each other in terms of enticing professionals to attend. Until then, however, we are more likely to see paid, sponsored, and free webinars where new developments are presented and discussed. For more information click here https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO/comments/fsv10i/whatwillbethespringonlineconferencesonseo/.