The Discovery Shift: AI SEO for Events
06/09/2025The PPC Shift: Why Search Ads Now Depend on Your SEO
06/10/2025
If your event website is only working hard two months a year, it’s time to change the model.
Start thinking of SEO not as a task, but as a system one your internal team can’t build alone, but absolutely can lead with the right support.
Let the campaign thinkers run the show. But let SEO lay the tracks beneath it.
Why Indexing Is the First Step to SEO Success
You can have the best speaker line-up and most prominent call-to-action buttons in the world, but if your website’s pages aren’t indexed by Google, none of that matters.
Website indexing is what allows your pages to appear in search results. It’s the step that comes after crawling, where search engine crawlers visit your site, and before ranking, where your pages show up (or don’t) for relevant search queries.
Analogy: Think of Google as a massive library. Crawling is like someone walking through the shelves, browsing every book. Indexing is when the librarian logs those books into the catalogue. If your event pages aren’t indexed, they’re like books shoved in a back room. No one can find them, no matter how good the content is.
You can check what’s indexed using the Index Coverage Report in Google Search Console (previously known as Google Webmaster Tools). This will show you which pages are successfully indexed and which have issues, like redirects, noindex tags, or soft 404 errors.
Quick Wins
- Google your event’s speaker names. If their profile pages don’t show up, they’re probably not in the search index.
- Go to google.com, then use the search operator:
site:yourevent.comto see which pages Google has found. - Check the Index Coverage Report in Search Console to see which URLs are excluded, and why.
Robots.txt: Your Site’s Doorman
The robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers what they can and can’t access. It’s powerful and easy to misuse.
Mistake 1: Blocking the entire /2025/ directory because the event is over
Mistake 2: Disallowing /speakers/ or /sessions/ without realising those are your most-searched pages
Mistake 3: Assuming robots.txt is “just a dev thing” and never checking it
Analogy: Robots.txt is your site’s bouncer. It stands at the door and checks the guest list. It tells Google bots which rooms they can enter and which are off-limits. Problem is, some sites accidentally block the whole VIP area. The content people actually came to see.
To check specific URLs, you can use the robots.txt tester inside Google Search Console:
- Open your property in Search Console
- Navigate to the Pages tab under Indexing
- Paste a URL into the tool and test whether it's allowed by your robots.txt file
Also, if your site is connected to Google Search Console, look under Pages in the Indexing section. It will show how many pages are excluded from Google, and one of the listed reasons is “Excluded by ‘noindex’ tag.” You can click through to see exactly which pages are affected.
Quick Wins
- Visit
yourdomain.com/robots.txt. Does it block anything important? - Ask your web team to show you what’s disallowed.
- Use the robots.txt testing tool in Google Search Console to test specific URLs.
A better mindset: “Don't just clean up your site after the event. Build evergreen SEO value into every edition.”
Canonical Tags for Events: What, When and Why
Canonical tags are one of the most misunderstood parts of technical SEO, and one of the most essential for events.
Event websites often have duplicate or near-identical pages for the same content across years. One for 2024. One for 2025. And a “latest” version. Without proper canonical tags, Google sees three pages competing and might rank none.
Analogy: Imagine your event has 3 flyers around town, slightly different designs, same details. Canonical tags are like stamping one as the “official” version. It tells Google: “Don’t get confused. This is the one we want people to pay attention to.”
Another common issue is content copied from your exhibitors and speakers, especially product descriptions or bios they’ve already published on their own websites. If 200 speakers upload the same blurb from LinkedIn or their company site, Google may treat this as duplicate content.
There are two solutions:
- Use a canonical tag on the page to point to the original version on their site — the canonical URL. This is the best method, but not always practical.
- Set the entire folder or section to noindex in your content management system. This tells Google not to index those pages at all. Ask your web developer how to do this in your CMS.
Use canonical links to:
- Point outdated speaker or session pages to newer, updated pages
- Prevent duplicate content caused by URL variations
- Consolidate authority and rankings to the primary version of your page
Quick Wins
- Choose one canonical URL for each key content type (e.g. sessions, speakers)
- Ensure each page includes a self-referencing canonical tag where appropriate
- Never canonicalise a new page back to an old one. It sends the wrong signals
XML vs HTML Sitemaps — You Need Both
If robots.txt is your doorman, sitemaps are your event guidebook. They show Google where the rooms are and what’s worth visiting.
XML Sitemaps
Analogy: An XML sitemap is like a backstage map for staff. It’s not for the public, but for staff who need to know where everything is. It helps Google navigate efficiently, skipping the guesswork.
- Machine-readable
- Help search engines crawl your site more efficiently
- Must be submitted in Google Search Console
- Should be updated automatically with each new page
Ask your developer to ensure your XML sitemap is set up and working correctly. A typical address might be: yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. You can test this by submitting it directly to Google Search Console under the Sitemapssection.
Maintaining a clean sitemap helps manage your crawl budget — the number of pages Google crawlers are willing to look at in a given time. Don’t waste it on broken links or expired pages.
HTML Sitemaps
Analogy: An HTML sitemap is like the index at the back of a conference brochure. It helps attendees (and Google) jump straight to what they need.
- Human-readable
- Help users (and bots) discover deep content
- Ideally linked from your footer
- Great for accessibility and usability
Quick Wins
- Submit your XML sitemap in Google Search Console
- Link to your HTML sitemap from the footer. Just call it “Sitemap”
- Include only live, relevant pages. Not low-quality content or expired registration forms
Simple Checks Every Event Marketer Can Run
You don’t need to be technical to spot technical SEO problems. These quick checks can reveal hidden issues:
Analogy: Think of Google Search Console as your event’s AV control booth. It shows what’s working, what’s broken, and where you’re losing signal.
- Google Search Console – Review the “Pages” tab under Indexing. Are key pages missing?
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider – Crawl your site (free for up to 500 URLs). Look for broken links, duplicate titles, missing canonicals, and crawl errors.
- Mobile-Friendly Test – Many technical SEO issues are device-specific. Check how your site renders on mobile devices.
- URL Inspection Tool – Paste a key URL and see if Google can crawl and index it.
Also ensure your site is optimised for mobile-first indexing, as this is now Google’s default. As Google explains:
“With mobile-first indexing, Google uses the mobile version of a site’s content, crawled with the smartphone agent, for indexing and ranking.” (Google Search Central)
See Also: Crawl Paths and Internal Links
Once you’ve got the basics in place — indexing, canonicals, sitemaps — the next step is to optimise your crawl path. That means making sure Google bots can follow clear internal links, menus, breadcrumbs and footers to every important page.
👉 Read next: The Crawl Path: How Your Footer, Breadcrumbs and HTML Sitemap Work Together
Further Reading
Mobile-first Indexing Best Practices – Google’s official guide to what matters for mobile-first indexing.
Where We Are Today With Google’s Mobile-First Index – Helpful overview of how we got here and what it means.
A Practical SEO Guide to Technical SEO – Friendly, clear overview of foundational SEO practices.
Final Thought
Technical SEO isn’t just for developers.
It’s a performance lever every event marketer should understand, because it directly affects your traffic, visibility, and ROI.
Instead of focusing only on campaigns and creatives, make sure your foundation is solid. Otherwise, you’re pouring effort into pages that no one can find. Or worse, pages that Google refuses to index because of simple technical missteps.
Learn how to work with your content management systems to keep your site technically sound. Prioritise crawlability. Monitor your search index. And give your best content the structure it needs to get found — on Google, on mobile devices, and beyond.
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