SEO Conference Organisers; Where The F__k Are The Women?
This week I've gone off script. Someone posted about an SEO conference billing itself as the UK's most advanced -- sixteen speakers, all male, not one woman on the bill. I said something about it. The response was, essentially, "we had women last year." And here we are.
This episode isn't about quotas or ticking boxes. It's about the fact that brilliant women in SEO exist, they're not hiding, and if your speaker lineup is sixteen mainly white men, the question you need to be asking is whether anyone actually went looking.
In this episode:
- Why "we had women last year" is the laziest defence in the industry
- The women in SEO who should be on every conference organiser's radar
- Why the "we book who applies" argument falls apart when you think it through
- What conference organisers actually need to do differently
- And a word for the women in SEO who keep talking themselves out of putting their hand up
Women I mention in this episode: Lily Ray, Helen Pollitt, Areej AbuAli, Carrie Rose, Lidia Infante, Jo Furnival, Alice Rowan.
Want to find more women in SEO? Start with Women in Tech SEO at womenintechseo.com and WTSFest.
Want me to speak at your event? I'm an SEO speaker, I'm a woman, and I'm available. No waffle, no jargon, no death by slide deck. Hit me up at nikki@nikki-pilkington.com
Follow Nikki:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.social
Mentioned in this episode:
Join our blogging masterclass
Transcript
Speakers on the bill, all male, every single one.
Speaker:And when someone dared to say something about it, the response was basically,
Speaker:oh, we had women last year. I mean, what the actual fuck?
Speaker:This is SEO F**king What? I'm Nikki. And I've been doing SEO for 30 years.
Speaker:I help businesses get found on Google and make money from their websites.
Speaker:And today I'm going off script a bit because something happened on LinkedIn this week I genuinely cannot let go.
Speaker:Someone posted about an SEO conference billed as the UK's most advanced SEO conference.
Speaker:16 speakers, mainly white, all male. Not one woman on that bill. Not one.
Speaker:And I made the mistake of saying so in the comments.
Speaker:Now look, before anyone comes at me, I wanna be really clear about what I'm not saying.
Speaker:I'm not saying drag someone off the street, shove a microphone in her hand,
Speaker:stick her on a stage because she's got two X chromosomes. That's not what this is about.
Speaker:I'm not asking anyone to tick boxes or meet a quota.
Speaker:That's just as insulting as not involving women at all. What I'm saying is this —
Speaker:I find it genuinely hard to believe that in the entire SEO industry,
Speaker:you couldn't find one woman worth putting on that stage.
Speaker:Because I know they exist. I work alongside them. I follow them. I read their stuff, and they're fucking brilliant.
Speaker:Lily Ray, one of the most respected voices on Google's algorithm updates in the world.
Speaker:Helen Pollock, SEO director at Getty Images, speaks at MozCon.
Speaker:Areej AbuAli, who built Women in Tech SEO from scratch because the existing spaces weren't making room.
Speaker:She speaks at MozCon, Brighton SEO, everywhere.
Speaker:Carrie Rose, founder of Rise at Seven, one of the most recognisable agency names in UK SEO.
Speaker:Lidia Infante, who actually published the data on the gender gap in our industry
Speaker:because someone fucking had to. Joe, Alice, Rowan — and that's just off the top of my head.
Speaker:These women exist, they're not hiding. So the question isn't whether there are women in SEO worth booking.
Speaker:The question is whether anyone went looking.
Speaker:And when I pointed this out — fairly politely, I might add — which is not exactly my default setting —
Speaker:the response I got was that speaker selection is based on who applies and who can attend.
Speaker:Not box ticking. And look, I get that. You can only book people who put themselves forward.
Speaker:But here's the thing — if your speaker lineup ends up being 16, mainly white men,
Speaker:you don't get to shrug and go, "meh, that's just who applied."
Speaker:You have to ask yourself, are you in the spaces where women in SEO are active?
Speaker:Are you reaching out? Do women look at your previous lineups and think, well, there's no point applying for that?
Speaker:Because if your process consistently produces the same result, the process is the problem.
Speaker:And then came the real funny part — because last year, apparently, there were four female speakers,
Speaker:and that was offered as evidence that this isn't actually a problem.
Speaker:Which is — well, I mean — it's giving me very strong...
Speaker:"Ooh, some of my best friends are women" energy, isn't it? You know that thing when someone gets called out for something
Speaker:and their defence is pointing to exceptions? I can't be racist — one of my best friends is black.
Speaker:I can't have a diversity problem — we had four women last year.
Speaker:It's the same thing. What happened last year is not an answer to what's on the bill this year.
Speaker:And this is what really gets me — this isn't some niche little meetup.
Speaker:It's billing itself as the UK's most advanced SEO conference. If you're gonna plant that flag,
Speaker:the people on your stage should reflect the industry you're claiming to represent.
Speaker:And the SEO industry — the one I've been part of for 30 years — is not 16, mainly white men. It just isn't.
Speaker:In a minute I'm gonna tell you what I actually think needs to change — back in a sec.
Speaker:Quick one. I'm an SEO speaker. I'm a woman and I'm available for your conference,
Speaker:your event, your workshop, whatever you've got. I don't do waffle, I don't do jargon,
Speaker:and I absolutely will not bore your audience to death with a slide deck full of stock photos.
Speaker:If you want someone who actually knows their stuff and won't put your attendees to sleep, hit me up if you dare.
Speaker:The details are in the show notes. Right, back to it.
Speaker:So what really needs to happen? Because I'm not just here to have a moan — although frankly, this one deserved a moan.
Speaker:First — if you're organising an SEO conference and your speaker list is looking a bit samey,
Speaker:go and find Women in Tech SEO, join the community. Look at who's speaking at WTS Fest.
Speaker:That event exists specifically because the main conference circuit wasn't making space.
Speaker:The talent is there. It's literally in a list.
Speaker:Secondly — stop waiting for people to apply and start reaching out.
Speaker:The people who apply to speak at conferences are often the people who already feel welcome at conferences.
Speaker:If your previous lineups have been predominantly male, women are going to look at that and think, this one's not for me.
Speaker:You have to actively go and find people — not just sit back and see who comes to you.
Speaker:And thirdly — and this one's for the women in the room. I know it can feel pointless.
Speaker:I know it can feel like you'll be the token woman, or that no one will take you seriously,
Speaker:or that the deck is stacked — and sometimes it is. But put yourself forward anyway.
Speaker:Speak at the smaller events, build the profile — because the Lily Rays and the Helen Pollocks
Speaker:and the Areejs of this world didn't get on that stage by waiting to be invited.
Speaker:And for the record — I've been doing this for 30 years and I'm only just starting to shout about it.
Speaker:So do as I say, not as I do.
Speaker:The SEO industry has brilliant women in it — funny, sharp, knowledgeable women
Speaker:who could stand on any stage and hold a room. The conferences that figure that out are gonna be better for it.
Speaker:The ones that don't are gonna keep looking like a board of directors photo from 1987.
Speaker:Sort it out. That's it from me this week.
Speaker:If this one resonated, share it. Because the more noise we make about this, the harder it gets to ignore.
Speaker:Follow SEO F**king What? Wherever you get your podcasts. And if you want me to come and shake up your event,
Speaker:you know where I am. Until next time, get found, make money, stop stressing.
Speaker:"We had four women speakers last year" is NOT actual fucking representation.
