The Must-Attend Event For Publishers: News & Editorial SEO Summit via @sejournal, @NewsSEO_

This post was sponsored by News and Editorial SEO Summit (NESS). The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

When it comes to SEO, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution—especially for news publishers.

That’s why the News & Editorial SEO Summit (NESS) is a game-changer.

Created by industry leaders John Shehata and Barry Adams, NESS is the first event dedicated exclusively to the unique SEO challenges faced by news organizations.

On October 29 & 30, NESS will bring together some of the top experts in news SEO to share strategies on:

Technical news SEO Google Discover Topics, entities, and knowledge graphs Google algorithm updates & recoveries Local news SEO And much, much more!

Whether you’re looking to grow your organic traffic or elevate your SEO career, NESS has something for you.

Brought to you by NewsSEO.io, one of the most engaged news SEO communities on the web, this event provides you with crucial information about organic search strategies that will help maximize your traffic.

In This Roundup

1. What Is The News & Editorial SEO Summit?2. Meet The Professionals Behind NESS3. NESS 2024 Speakers4. NESS 2024 Sessions5. Ask Your News SEO Questions: Entirely Online & Live

What Is The News & Editorial SEO Summit?

Even though there are many SEO communities and summits, there hasn’t been an event dedicated to news publishers or SEO professionals who work with news sites.

Visibility in Google’s ecosystem is a crucial source of readers for all online publishers, and information about how to maximize this can be hard to find.

The News and Editorial SEO Summit (NESS) is here to address the unique challenges that the news industry faces regarding SEO.

This fourth annual, live online event will provide expert insights, direction, and priceless networking opportunities with the best minds in publishing and SEO.

From Google News to Discover, from Top Stories to news apps, you will learn what it takes to grow your presence in all organic locations where news is shown.

The conference expands beyond 2 days into a NEWS SEO slack community where 1000+ members help each other and discuss the latest News SEO updates.

A Summit Made For News Publishers

NESS is perfect for:

Journalists and editors involved with the day-to-day writing and publishing of news content, who want to make sure their stories get the best chance of ranking in Top Stories and Google News. Web developers who want to make sure their websites adhere to Google’s latest technical requirements and follow best SEO practices for crawling and indexing. SEO professionals working with publishers who want to upgrade their knowledge and learn from experts in the field. Audience growth strategists looking for ways to maximize traffic and find new avenues for organic search visits.

Get your ticket to the fourth annual NESS summit today! (Use code “SEJ24” for 20% off!)

Meet The Professionals Behind NESS

We recently sat down with John Shehata (CEO & Founder of NewzDash, and former Global VP of Audience Development Strategies at Conde Nast) and Barry Adams (Independent SEO Consultant, and founder of Polemic Digital), the founders of NESS, to discuss this must-attend event and what news SEO and publishing attendees can expect to see this year (and in the future) at NESS.

It’s the fourth year for NESS. What’s your favorite part of the journey so far?

John: When Barry and I started NESS (News & Editorial SEO Summit) four years ago, we had no idea it would grow to this level. We thought if we could get 50 attendees, it would be a success. Fast-forward to today, and we see 600 to 800 attendees from 55 countries each year.

The feedback we receive afterward is incredibly rewarding, especially when people share how the conference has helped their careers—whether in content, technical SEO, or newsroom optimization.

Another highlight for us is the opportunity to give back. Over the past three years, we’ve focused on supporting the community by offering free tickets to people who lost their jobs during COVID, providing access to students from developing countries, and contributing to humanitarian efforts, such as in Ukraine.

This is a core value of ours, and it’s something we take seriously.

Lastly, the end-of-day panels are always a hit. They provide a unique opportunity for attendees to ask in-depth questions to the speakers. Some of these panels have lasted an hour and a half, with discussions ranging from specific SEO topics to career growth.

These moments of connection and learning are some of the most memorable for both us and the attendees.

Barry: Yes, the success of NESS really caught us off-guard. We just wanted an event that we’d both like to attend. There are plenty of SEO conferences around the world, and if you work in SEO for ecommerce or brochure sites you’d definitely get value from these.

But if you do SEO for news, none of the existing events would offer many worthwhile talks. That’s why we started NESS, and the immediate positive response we got from the news SEO community has been amazing.

Almost every potential speaker we’ve approached has said yes straight away, and the amount of people supporting us has made it clear there was definitely a big gap in the SEO events space that NESS has managed to fill.

What’s new this year? Any must-see sessions?

John: This year, we’ve expanded in several exciting ways. We have 13 speakers, which is the most we’ve ever had. We’re particularly thrilled to welcome Martin Splitt from Google, who will dive deep into some of the technical aspects of SEO.

We’re also hosting a session on semantic SEO, which I believe is crucial for the future of the field. For the first time, we’re covering local news SEO optimization—a topic many attendees requested in previous years.

Additionally, we’ve brought in more international speakers, especially from Europe, to ensure a broader range of perspectives. It’s shaping up to be our most diverse and comprehensive lineup yet.

Barry: In all honesty, the publishing industry and Google are not great friends, so getting a Googler on board as a speaker is a big deal for NESS. Martin is an amazing guy and fantastic speaker. We’ve seen him at many events and he always delivers great insights and advice. I can’t wait for his talk.

What do you think attendees will be most excited about?

Barry: We want people to feel they get direct value from NESS and learn things they can apply for themselves. NESS should help SEOs in newsrooms be better, so that’s what we focus on with our topic and speaker selection.

John: Based on the past three years, attendees are always excited about the tactical and strategic takeaways they can immediately apply in their newsrooms or workflows. We make it a point to ask all our speakers to ensure their sessions include actionable insights, not just theory.

Attendees come to NESS expecting to leave with ideas they can implement right away, and that’s what we aim to deliver.

What are some of the topics you’re most excited to cover?

John: We are covering a wide range of news SEO topics this year, check the full schedule. I’m particularly excited about the technical SEO sessions and the discussions around local news SEO, as they are a growing need in the industry.

I will also be covering election SEO which is a crucial subject within the US in the upcoming month. But really, every session is designed to provide value to attendees, whether they’re focused on content, technical, or strategic SEO.

Barry: Every session will be worthwhile (and yes, of course, I’d say that). I’m excited to deliver a session myself on site migrations, as this is an area of SEO where different rules apply for news publishers, and many people aren’t necessarily aware of this.

We’ll have fantastic talks about algorithm updates, Google Discover, local news SEO and election SEO, load speed optimization, and the current big elephant in the room–AI Overviews.

What kind of impact do you hope to have on the SEO and publishing communities with this conference?

John: For us, NESS isn’t just another conference—it’s about building a community. Barry and I are passionate about knowledge sharing, so why we created this event.
It’s also why we maintain a dedicated Slack space for news SEOs, alongside Barry’s SEO for Google News newsletter and our own News SEO Digest newsletter at NewzDash.

This is a conference we designed because it’s the kind of event we’d want to attend—full of passion, collaboration, and learning.

Barry: Over the years, I’ve had a lot of support from many other people in SEO and beyond. I always felt I could ask questions, get second opinions, find case studies and insights, or have a helpful listener when I’d got frustrated.

The SEO community is amazing, and I feel strongly about playing my part in contributing to that community. NESS is a big part of that.

We’re building space for SEOs in news and publishing to learn from each other, share insights and experiences, and support one another.

What are some goals you have for this event in the future?

John: We’ve seriously considered taking NESS in-person, with events in cities like New York and London. While virtual events make it more accessible for people around the world, there’s something special about in-person networking.

The chance to connect face-to-face adds a valuable dimension that virtual can’t fully replicate. We’re still debating the logistics, but it’s definitely on our minds as we look to the future.

Barry: In-person events are surely the next step, perhaps a hybrid model with a relatively small number of in-person attendees and a bigger live-streamed audience.
I’m speaking at an event in Brazil in November with this setup, and I’m keen to learn from that experience.

Anything else you’d like our readers to know?

John: Yes, we’re continuing our commitment to giving back. If there are any students, individuals who’ve lost their jobs, or those who can’t afford the full ticket price, please reach out to us. We’re more than happy to offer free or discounted tickets. You can contact us via the link provided.

I also want to take a moment to thank all our sponsors who make this conference possible, especially SEJ, which has supported us since day one. Their partnership has been invaluable in helping us grow and continue to deliver a valuable experience to our community.

Barry: Events like NESS can’t happen without the support of organizations like SEJ, so yes we appreciate it massively

And I second the thanks to all our sponsors, it’s great to have amazing companies backing us every year.

NESS 2024 Speakers

NESS 2024 will feature speakers from established publications as well as some of the top experts in search today.

Get new, current SEO information, content, tips, and tricks from the greatest SEO minds in the news industry:

Rand Fishkin, Cofounder at Sparktoro. Martin Splitt, Search Relations Engineer at Google. Glen Gabe, SEO Consultant, G-Squared Interactive. Claudio Cabrera, VP Audience and Newsroom Strategy, The Athletic. Lily Ray, Senior Director, SEO & Head of Organic Research, Amsive Digital. Olaf Seydel, Head of Engagement & Growth, Zeit Online. Vivienne Goizet, Editorial Lead SEO, BILD. Ed Hyatt, Director of Newsroom SEO, The Wall Street Journal. Andrea Volpini, CEO & Co-Founder of WordLift. Brendan O’Connell, Sr. Director, Organic Search, The New York Post. Ryan Kellett, VP of Audience, Axios Media Inc. John Shehata, CEO & Founder at Newzdash. Barry Adams, Specialized SEO Consultant for News Publishers.

NESS 2024 Sessions

There will be two full days of talks, discussions, and networking opportunities, as well as two Ask The SEOs Panels, where attendees can ask all their news and publishing related SEO questions.

Session topics for the 2024 event include:

Major Google Algorithm Updates And Their Impact On News Publishers Achieving Topical Dominance: Measuring Topical Authority And Derive Strategic Actions How News Publishers Can Own Their Audience in the Age of SGE Semantic SEO and Fact-Checking in the Age of AI: Navigating Truth, Entities, Schema Markup, and SEO My 5 Step Process of Optimizing for Google Discover Winning the Google Election Battleground: SEO Strategies for Election Campaigns Demystifying website performance & Page Experience Unlocking Local SEO for growth What it takes to Recover from Google Core Updates How to Incorporate SEO throughout a newsroom with audience teams In-depth Site Migrations for News Websites: How Not To Risk Your News Traffic

Rand Fishkin of Sparktoro will also give a keynote entitled, “How to Stay Ahead of Marketing’s Five, Big 2024 Trends.”

After attending this event, you will be able to apply what you’ve learned to your websites to boost your organic traffic.

Use “SEJ24” To Save 20% On Your Ticket →

Make sure your on-page and technical SEO knowledge is up to date. With all the layoffs and surprise algorithm updates, upskilling and networking is now more critical than ever.

Ask Your News SEO Questions: Entirely Online & Live

All sessions are going to be live, and recordings will be available only to ticket holders after the event.

We will be mimicking an actual live event where you get great opportunities to hang out with the experts, talk to them one-on-one, and power up your connections and knowledge with networking in the booths!

With a single ticket, you will get full access to all talks over both days and have the opportunity to ask your questions directly to our speaker panel at the closing of the event.

Claim your space and buy a ticket to the fourth annual NESS summit today!