A day at the Barbican with some of the sharpest minds in search. Here’s what we took away.
I had the pleasure of attending the Women in Tech SEO London event for the seventh year running, this time at the spectacular Barbican Centre.
Founded by Areej AbuAli in 2019, what started as a single meetup has grown into a global community with events in London, Berlin, San Diego, Philadelphia and beyond. The conference is welcoming, practical and refreshingly honest, prioritising real experiences and useful frameworks over polished theory. You leave feeling inspired and, more importantly, armed with ideas you can actually use.
This year’s programme spanned AI search, content strategy, data storytelling and the future of SEO. Rather than recap every talk, here are the five big themes that stood out.
1) Agents are the new users
Crystal Carter made a compelling case that AI agents, not people, are increasingly handling the discovery phase of the customer journey. Humans step in to validate and convert, but browsing, comparing, and researching are shifting to machines.
The implication is significant. Websites need to move from being discovery hubs to execution layers: clear documentation, structured HTML, accessible navigation, strong calls to action, and agent-friendly APIs. If an agent can’t understand and act on your site, your brand risks being invisible before a human ever gets involved.
2) SEO isn’t dead, but the KPIs are changing
Aleyda Solís dismantled the “AI killed SEO” narrative. Most ChatGPT users still rely on Google, and traditional search volume remains far higher. AI expands discovery rather than replacing it.
What is changing is how we measure success. Traffic alone is no longer the goal. Visibility, citations, brand mentions, sentiment and assisted conversions are the metrics that matter in an AI-driven landscape. Search behaviour is moving from keywords to conversations, from pages to passages and from links to authority. Dawn Anderson reinforced this by debunking several technical myths and reminding the room that helpfulness, clarity and relevance still underpin everything.
AI search rewards brands that are comprehensive, well-structured, authoritative and cited by others. Good SEO naturally supports generative engine optimisation. The fundamentals haven’t gone away, but the scoreboard looks different.
3) Content must work harder
Zoe Burke introduced her PURPOSES framework, a practical model for making every piece of content deliver across multiple channels rather than ranking and gathering dust. The philosophy is simple: if it doesn’t have a clear goal, don’t create it. If it does, plan for reuse, optimisation and evolution from day one. Single-use content is a waste of energy.
Chima Mmeje echoed this from the AI angle, showing how webinars can become anchor assets that spin out into landing pages, blog posts, social content and email sequences. AI accelerates the workflow, but human judgement and iteration drive the quality. The message from both talks was clear: work smarter, not faster.
4) Human judgement is the competitive edge
Marie-Paule Kenmogne ran an experiment using 900 keywords and found that only around 20% of AI-generated clusters were usable without human input. Automation doesn’t automatically improve outcomes. The real advantage lies in the system design behind the tool and the human guiding it.
Tina Reis approached this from the stakeholder side, showing that data alone doesn’t get buy-in. Storytelling does. Speak in the language of revenue, growth, and risk rather than SEO metrics. Structure the narrative with a beginning, middle, and resolution, and position the stakeholder as the hero. Victory Umurhurhu-Michael added another dimension by highlighting Reddit’s growing influence in search and AI training data: in a world of generated content, brands that sound genuinely human and engage in authentic conversations will earn trust.
5) Differences are advantages
Mo Kanjilal closed the day with a reminder that the qualities that make you different can become your biggest strength when you own them with confidence and purpose. It was the perfect note to end on at an event built around exactly that principle.
Speakers referenced:
- Crystal Carter, Wix
- Aleyda Solís, Orainti / SEOFOMO
- Tina Reis, SEO Consultant
- Dawn Anderson, Bertey
- Zoe Burke, Bridebook
- Chima Mmeje, Moz
- Marie-Paule Kenmogne, Founder
- Victory Umurhurhu-Michael, Contenticore
- Mo Kanjilal, Speaker
Women in TechSEO continues to be one of the most valuable events on the calendar, not just for the content, but for the community. Already looking forward to next year.
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