Working in-house as an ecommerce SEO can sometimes feel a bit isolating, as many of us know after our own careers on the client-side! If you’re in a large internal digital marketing team, this may not be the case, but if you’re in a smaller department, it’s always good to stay more connected to the wider industry outside your office doors.
This is mostly possible through networking opportunities, which we’re going to cover in this blog post.
Why networking is helpful in SEO
Whether you’re in-house, or agency-side (like us!) networking is always a helpful tool. There are a handful of reasons why, such as:
General opportunities: meet new people, make connections, and build relationships. These connections can lead to job opportunities, business partnerships, collaborations, and other avenues for personal and professional growth.
Knowledge sharing: through networking, you can learn from others’ experiences, gain insights, and exchange valuable information. This knowledge-sharing can help you stay updated on industry trends, best practices, and innovations.
Career advancement: some job opportunities are not advertised publicly, and networking can help you access the hidden job market. As the saying goes, “it’s all about who you know!”.
Building your support system: networking allows you to build a support system of like-minded individuals who can offer advice, guidance, and encouragement during challenging times. These can be allies, mentors or coaches.
Personal growth: networking can boost your confidence, communication skills, and social abilities.
Referrals and recommendations: a strong network increases the likelihood of receiving helpful referrals and recommendations, always a bonus if you’re looking for a new supplier for any of your digital marketing needs.
Stay updated with industry changes: a big one for SEO, networking can help you to stay up-to-date with the latest industry news, changes, and developments that may impact you and your campaigns. And let’s face it, something is always changing!
But where is best to actually do this? We’ve got some recommendations for both online and offline networking opportunities for people working in ecommerce SEO in the UK.
Online ecommerce networking in the UK
Social networks: potentially the easiest point of entry to speak to other ecommerce SEOs is simply through social networks, if you’re able to keep up with who is based where. Threads, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Mastodon; there are a lot of options, but there’s a lot of people and companies worth following. Start by finding us on (what was) Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Slack groups: another place ecommerce SEOs hang out online are various Slack groups. These aren’t new, but there’s a chance you haven’t come across some before as they often require filling in a sign up form; there’s even a post on ahrefs from SEO Slack groups in 2019.
Want an insider tip? The women of Re:signal are big fans of the Women in Tech SEO Slack group which isn’t listed on that blog post, and we also have our own Re:signal in-house ecommerce SEO Slack community.
Offline (in-person) ecommerce networking in the UK
BrightonSEO: this conference is always popular for networking, but with the Ecommerce Marketing Show added as a fringe event in 2023, it’s even better. Sneaky plug here, but our Commercial Director, Rob Kerry, is speaking at the event in September on page speed and core web vitals for ecommerce.
Re:commerce: whilst we’re talking about our own ecommerce SEO agency expertise, it’s worth mentioning Re:commerce, our annual conference for in-house ecommerce SEO professionals. Stay tuned for more details on our 2024 edition of Re:commerce; in 2023 we had speakers like Rory Sutherland, Aleyda Solis, Areej AbuAli, Luke Carthy and Lily Ray, so you can be sure of a great line up!
Internet Retailing Expo: it may be a bit more generic, but this event does have a full conference line up, plus networking opportunities. It’s more likely that you’ll bump into other brands here, and the topics are wider than search engine optimisation too.
eCommerce Expo: this event is based in London and takes place over two days. Again, the conference agenda is a bit more ‘big picture’, but it’ll still give you the opportunity to have some face time with your peers. There are talks covering all of the big ecommerce platforms, so you’re sure to find something relevant to listen to whilst you’re there!
Re:signal breakfast events: these take place in more countries than the UK, but we host regular breakfast networking and learning sessions for in-house ecommerce SEOs throughout the year. These have taken place in London, Manchester, Leeds and Bristol (plus European and US locations too), with more dates being added all the time. Ping us on [email protected] for an invite.
We’ll be back with more tips soon, covering the US & Canada.
