YoastCon 2023

SEO in 2023 and beyond: on sustainability, inclusivity and making the web better

The web, and in fact, humanity, is at a crossroads. We’re struggling to keep the world a healthy place to live on, and we, as creators of the web, have our responsibility to be conscious about what we do. As AI makes creating content of all forms and in fact, websites and code, easier and easier, we have to keep asking ourselves one simple question: Does this make the web better?

In this talk, Marieke and Joost will dive in and ask the questions that need to be answered by content creators and web developers.

Yoast SEO behind the scenes

Yoast SEO is one the most sophisticated technical SEO platforms in the world; but almost all of that sophistication and firepower is hidden behind the scenes. Few dive below the surface to understand what’s happening, and to take advantage of our power tools. Jono pulls back the curtains to explore everything you didn’t know you needed to know about optimizing your WordPress site, and beyond!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of user research

Everybody loves data. And rightfully so. The right data helps you make better decisions. But the wrong data? Well, that’s a totally different story… Poorly designed or executed user research produces wrong data. And consequently leads to bad decisions.

In this session, Els highlights the most important pitfalls to be aware of when doing user research.

Navigating the SEO agency landscape

Are you looking to understand the inner workings of SEO agencies? Look no further! Whether you’re just starting out building your agency, hoping to take it to the next level or a brand wanting to know how to pick the right partner for you – join Hannah Thorpe, Managing Director of London-based SEO agency Verkeer, as she shares her insights and strategies on how to structure and grow an agency.

She’ll talk through what to do – and what not to do – whilst setting up your SEO team and how to tackle those common problems. This actionable talk is great if you’re looking for inspiration around what makes an agency successful.

Batman’s guide to superhero-level local SEO

Google uses a different algorithm to display localized search results, but marketers and business owners are still using traditional SEO tactics. In this action-packed, fast-paced session, Greg will explain how Local SEO is different from traditional SEO, outlining which signals influence local search visibility and exactly how to optimize each signal.

You’ll learn about content and optimization, local link building, customer reviews, and Google Business Profiles. You’ll leave with a detailed playbook that outlines specific strategies and tactics that will help you dominate local search results for 2023 and beyond.

Five trends for the future of WordPress

WordPress powers over 40% of the web and its position is holding strong. However, the future is not guaranteed and retaining an innovative edge is critical for retaining WordPress’ position as the leading CMS. Fortunately, there are many exciting and innovative trends taking place in the WordPress ecosystem that can play a role in WordPress’ future. Some of these innovations are on the technology level, and some are on the user experience side of things.

In this talk we’ll examine five trends that keep WP relevant and exciting to a wide range of users, and can play a role in keeping WordPress the leading CMS for many years to come.

Conversion copywriting tactics

Most of us don’t like to sell. But here’s a little surprise for you… People like buying stuff. And if we have something that people need in their lives, something that solves a problem, sates a desire or soothes a pain point. Then it’s okay to talk about it.

A well written sales page, email series, chat bot or video can sell your products and services while you sleep. You’ll leave this talk feeling more confident about selling than ever before.

Using GA4 to boost ecommerce conversions

In his talk, Luke breaks down frequently missed yet huge opportunities in the world of ecommerce. Also, with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) becoming mainstream, he showcases how you can use GA4 to collect custom and super-powerful data to boost conversion and grow sales.

Google’s glow up: Why you need to optimize beyond search

Google is not only a search engine. It has grown into a vast ecosystem inhabited by queryless search experiences such as Discover, conversion encroaching experiences such as Buy on Google, leisure experiences such as YouTube shorts and so much more.

This shift from answers to journeys not only offers new opportunities to reach relevant audiences. It’s also fundamentally changing the user interface of Google SERPs, devaluing “position one”. Jes will convince you why you need to stop running in the rat race for rankings and focus optimizations on the big picture.

News SEO is the cutting edge for all SEO

News takes a special place in Google’s ecosystem. Users expect Google to show the latest and best articles on any given topic. To facilitate this, Google needs to rapidly crawl and index new articles, and evaluate news publishers’ quality and authority to ensure the right stories are shown in search results. This provides us with detailed insights into Google’s crawling and indexing ecosystem, and the signals it uses to determine authority and expertise.

Based on 24 years of total SEO experience and 13 years of hands-on work with news publishers, Barry will share (almost) all he has learned about Google’s inner workings.

Thierry Muller is part of the Web Platform team at Google. During this fireside chat, we’ll talk to him about the state of performance on the web, user experience, and whether WordPress should worry as it is falling behind on performance. He’ll also share a few first thoughts
on how AI could make its way into web development and performance.

Don’t miss out and learn more about what Google is working on in regard to performance and what they’re doing to help site owners make the right
decisions in the fragmented world that is WordPress.