Tech SEO Summit Talks 2026
Here you find detailed information about the confirmed speakers and topics. All conference topics are hand-picked by Tobias, Sören and Gerd. It’s our nerdy wish list what we deem currently important for Technical SEO and what we want to hear ourselves. We reserve the right to modify the program of the event, including a change of speakers.
Fonts and Web Performance
Only 10 years ago, custom web fonts were a niche feature, but today they are used by 83% of websites. While it’s easy to add and use web fonts, there are many ways that they can negatively impact web performance and user experience. During this talk Paul will provide an overview of custom web fonts and some web performance techniques you can use to optimize them. We’ll look at examples from the HTTP Archive and explore some free tools that can be used to analyze and optimize fonts on your site.
Paul Calvano is a Performance Architect at Etsy, where he helps optimize the performance of their marketplace. Prior to that he worked as a web performance consultant at Akamai and Keynote (now Dynatrace), helping websites optimize their performance since as early as 2000. Paul is a co-maintainer of the HTTP Archive, an open source project that has been tracking the evolution of the web since 2010. He’s an author of various chapters of the 2019 Web Almanac and also a co-organizer of the NY Web Performance Meetup group. He writes about web performance and shares HTTP archive research at paulcalvano.com.
Clippy's Coup: The new search conversion funnel in an AI enabled world
The search "click contract" is broken. In 2026, AI crawlers don’t index your content—they consume it to become the destination. This session is a critical audit of the AI extraction economy and a survival guide for the flattened conversion funnel. As AI Overviews absorb the Awareness and Consideration stages, websites are left to fight for the "Final Click." We will debate high-stakes trade-offs: When should you block crawlers? Does a "citation" actually pay the bills? How must strategies diverge for Publishers vs. Online Shops?
Jamie Indigo isn’t a robot but speaks bot. As the Director of Technical SEO at Cox Automotive, they study how search engines crawl, render, and index. They love to tame wild JavaScript and optimize rendering strategies. When not working, Jamie likes horror movies, graphic novels, and D&D.
Mom, I built a search engine! What I learned about SEO from building an internal search engine
In this talk, Johan shares how he built and improved his own search engine from scratch to understand SEO better. A simple text-based search turns into a smart system that helps users find the right content faster. He explores how an internal search can influence user behavior, content strategy, and SEO performance. What factors are complicated to implement and how much impact do they have? Step by step, the internal search evolves to deliver more relevant results. What can we learn from the process for our own SEO strategy?
Johan von Hülsen has been working in SEO since 2008, evolving from technical to strategic consulting. He is the founder of Wingmen Online Marketing, where he and his team of 20 support clients in solving complex SEO challenges.
Caching as a Competitive Advantage: Rendering, Performance & SEO in Modern Web Architectures
Caching is often treated as a purely engineering concern, yet it has direct and measurable impact on SEO performance, crawl efficiency, user engagement, and ultimately business outcomes. As websites move toward faster development cycles, distributed infrastructure, and hybrid rendering models, the role of technical SEO increasingly overlaps with architectural decision-making. Attendees will leave with actionable insights on when, where, and how to implement caching strategies effectively across their websites or applications.
With over 12 years in digital, Will works with brands to improve digital experiences and is passionate about driving change and solving problems. He has strong skills in both technical and content, and is currently obsessed with bridging the gap between developers and marketing, benefiting both sides.
Confirmed speakers - topics soon™
Pitch a tech focused session for 2026
The 2025 conference was a great success. If you have the burning desire to nerd out on stage in 2026 and present at a high-level you would not dare at a “normal” SEO conference, feel free to contact us about it. Sessions are 45min and will be held in English.
We value our speakers and their time!
Disclosure: We believe the hard work a speaker puts into a professional presentation should at least be somewhat compensated. We will pay all our speakers between 1.000–2.000 Euro (depending on the distance they have to travel) for travel/accommodation/effort. If a speaker can’t accept or invoice the money due to company policy, we will donate it to a good cause.
What language will the talks be in?
All presentations will be in English language. The speakers at this summit come from a diverse international background. Every attendee will be able to speak and understand English.
