Zach Chahalis - Experienced International Conference Speaker
Why I Speak At Conferences
While some SEO speakers are out there to get paid or to land new business, I take a different approach. My true passion is in educating my fellow SEOs and analytics colleagues. I take pleasure in sharing my experience and knowledge with others.
I am an experienced conference and webinar speaker comfortable talking on a wide range of topics from SEO and content marketing to team management, leadership and analytics.
Upcoming Speaking Events
Digital Summit Denver
June 15-16, 2026
As search evolves from “10 blue links” to AI-generated answers, the biggest opportunity for marketing leaders isn’t just ranking—it’s becoming the source AI systems trust and cite. In this session, you’ll learn how to optimize for Relevance Engineering/Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) by aligning with how modern AI platforms discover, interpret, and reuse information.
Designed for content teams and marketing leaders, this talk focuses on practical strategies to make your pages more “answer-ready.” We’ll explore how AI evaluates content at the passage level, why chunking and structure matter more than ever, and how marketing leaders can create content that performs well across synthetic fan-out queries (the many follow-up questions AI generates behind the scenes). You’ll also learn how semantic relationships and “triples” help AI connect your brand to the topics that matter most.
After this session, you’ll be able to:
- Structure and write content so AI engines can extract the best passages and choose your brand as the answer.
- Apply a marketer-friendly approach to passage relevance, chunking, and embedding-driven optimization without needing to be an engineer.
- Explore fan-out queries and build content ecosystems that anticipate the questions AI will ask next.
SMASH 2026 - Beyond SEO: How to Make Your Content the Answer AI Chooses October 5-7
Search hasn’t just evolved. It’s been rebuilt.
AI-powered engines no longer return a list of links. They generate answers—pulling and combining information from across the web. That shift changes what it means to be visible. In healthcare, the stakes are higher. Accuracy, trust, and authority aren’t just ranking factors—they determine whether your content is surfaced, cited, or ignored.
This session introduces Relevance Engineering, a practical framework that unifies SEO, AI search, and digital visibility into one goal: making your content the best possible answer.

You’ll learn how modern search works and what to do about it:
- Create content that gets selected by AI systems, not just indexed
- Build entity-driven authority that strengthens trust and visibility
- Structure content for extraction, citation, and reuse
- Expand beyond your website to show up across search and AI-driven experiences
As AI-generated content floods the web, the advantage shifts to organizations that deliver accurate, verifiable, and context-rich information. If you want your content to be found, trusted, and used in an AI-first world, you need more than SEO. You need to engineer relevance.
Past Speaking Events
NextNW - Modern SEO: Optimizing for search engines and LLMs June 2, 2026
Search has changed dramatically over the past 30 years, yet many marketers still rely on outdated SEO playbooks. As AI search results, knowledge graphs, and large language models reshape how information is discovered, modern optimization requires a broader and more strategic approach. Join NextNW for Modern SEO: Optimizing for Search Engines and LLMs, a practical conversation designed for advertising, marketing, creative, and digital professionals navigating today’s search landscape.
Grant Simmons of Fiat Growth & Waikay and Zach Chahalis of iPullRank will break down the Three C’s of SEO: content, code, and credibility. Zach will explore how omnimedia content and digital PR strengthen credibility signals, while Grant will cover technical foundations including schema, SameAs entities, internal linking, and knowledge graph development. The session will also clarify how traditional SEO differs from emerging AI optimization approaches such as AEO and GEO.
SEO Week 2026 - Why You Need A Relevance Engineer Driving The Car
This session will look at how specific content signals behave differently across different types of search queries and how those differences inform our experimentation at iPullRank. We will deep dive into designing the AI Search metrics that reflect how systems interpret your content, interpret metric behavior by query type and intent, translate the insights into controlled experiments, and apply our findings to content templates and editorial strategy.
Digital Summit Tampa
March 17-18, 2026
When clicks disappear, what becomes of your SEO strategy? Join the debate that every marketing leader must hear.
The search landscape is shifting beneath our feet. The latest data shows that a rising share of queries end without a click. Users are finding answers directly on search result pages or in AI-powered summaries, bypassing your website altogether.
What does this mean for your brand, your visibility, and your ability to measure impact? Is this the end of traditional SEO or the birth of a new frontier?
Why it matters?
- In the U.S. alone, results show that fewer than half of all Google searches now lead to an organic website click.
- As zero-click searches rise, brands that rely on traffic as a success metric face an existential threat, yet smart marketers are finding new ways to win visibility.
- Whether you see AI-driven search as a threat to your traffic or an opportunity to claim first-mover advantage, the time to act is now.
SMX Munich - The UX-SEO Connection: A Modern Framework for Conversion Auditing - March 2026
Traffic alone no longer proves the value of SEO. As search evolves, organizations are under pressure to show measurable business impact — yet most SEO programs stop at acquisition while CRO teams often lack visibility into how users discover and engage with a brand. The result is disconnected strategies, fragmented experiences, and missed revenue.
In this session, Zach will introduce a modern framework for conversion auditing that connects search, UX, and product thinking. You’ll learn how to align user intent with end-to-end journeys, identify friction across the full customer experience, and prioritize the improvements that drive meaningful conversion growth. He’ll explore how behavioral insight, quantitative data, and AI-powered analysis come together to uncover hidden opportunities and scale conversion insights across large organizations. By the end, you’ll walk away with a practical, repeatable approach to move beyond rankings and traffic and take ownership of real business outcomes
The New Playbook for AEO Content in 2026: How to Get Your Brand Chosen as the Answer - February 2026
As search shifts from blue links to AI-generated answers, success depends on becoming a source AI systems trust and cite. In this 20-minute session, you’ll learn how to optimize content for Relevance Engineering and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO).
This session focuses on practical guidance for creating more “answer-ready” content, including passage-level relevance, content structure, and performance across synthetic fan-out queries. You’ll also learn how semantic relationships help AI connect your brand to key topics.
Sitebulb Webinar Series December 2025
The Search Matrix - Advanced SEO Training In The Age of AI
On-demand 3-part technical SEO x AI training series, delivered by iPullRank's Zach Chahalis.
From crawlability and entity mapping to visibility tracking and optimization, discover how to make your sites truly AI-ready.
SEOcharity - SEO For Paws
September 2025
Schema Mastery: Enhancing E-E-A-T Signals with Structured Data
Structured data is a powerful tool in the SEO arsenal, but when strategically combined with E-E-A-T principles (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness), it can significantly enhance how search engines interpret your content. In this talk, I guide you through advanced Schema.org implementations that support E-E-A-T, helping you gain a competitive edge in the SERPs.
Digital Summit - Minneapolis 2025
Breaking Down Departmental Silos to Unlock More Effective, Results-Driven Decision Making
In this session, you’ll explore the essential leadership strategies needed today to build a high-performing digital marketing team, foster a collaborative culture, and align cross-functional teams to drive maximum impact. We’ll go through proven frameworks to position your team’s work for greater visibility, encourage other teams to champion your successes, and effectively communicate wins to leadership.
Pubcon Austin June 2025
Hyperlocal Content from a National perspective
Matt Crain and I explored how to approach hyperlocal content creation in 2025. My session focused on my experience creating a content strategy for Apartments.com that scales from a national audience to a hyperlocal target.
From Tickets to Impact - How SEO and Dev Can Work In Harmony
SEOs and developers need to work together but they're often butting heads because they come from different perspectives and experiences. My presentation focuses on how to build a long-term lasting relationship between SEO/Product/ Engineering so that you can work as a cohesive team to accomplish your organization's goals.
SEO Week 2025
DemandSphere Meet-Up - April 29, 2025
Ian Laurie, Jori Ford, and Zach Chahalis formed a panel, moderated by Ray, to discuss Technical SEO & the role of LLM’s in SEO followed by Q&A
Sitebulb Marketplace SEO Webinar
April 17, 2025
Robyn Lodge (SEO Lead at Zoopla) and Zach Chahalis discuss all things marketplace SEO with Patrick Hathaway of Sitebulb. Topics ranged from advanced crawling/indexing techniques, handing marketplace listings, the benefits/use of structured data, internal linking strategies, hyperlocal content approaches and the impact of AI on marketplace SEO
Botify Connect
Austin 2024
Zach Chahalis, Sharanya Srinivasan, and Dave Marks join Jordan Long of Botify to discuss all things website replatformings.
Pubcon Pro 2024
Las Vegas
Zach Chahalis presents "Don't Get Left Out In The Rain" describing how to make your SEO replatforming/migration process a success. He also shares tools, tips and tricks to elevate your next replatforming
Barbados SEO 2023
Barbados
Drawing from extensive experience, Zach Chahalis unveils a treasure trove of strategies to streamline the process, mitigate risks, and minimize search engine indexing fluctuations. Learn how to adeptly communicate the impact of replatforming decisions to clients, enhancing your ability to navigate and optimize transformative business transitions. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to delve into the keys to successful migrations and benefit from Zach’s wealth of knowledge.
