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Agenda

Two days. Nothing wasted.

Every session is curated for impact, built for immediate use and ideas you can take back to work the next day.

Alongside main-stage sessions, select talks and workshops are low-capacity and bookable in the event app on a first-come, first-served basis.

Secure your ticket early to get first access to these sessions.

06:00

Community Run

Kick off the day with a guided, 3-mile, waterfront run through San Diego.

07:30

Registration & Networking

Check in, grab your badge, and connect with fellow attendees over coffee before sessions begin.

09:30

Welcome to Evolve

Tim Soulo, CMO of Ahrefs, officially opens Evolve and sets the tone for what’s ahead.
Tim Soulo, Chief Marketing Officer, Ahrefs

09:45

How To Win In The New Search Era: Reddit, YouTube & Backlinks

How to build a repeatable, scalable content distribution engine that actually works in today’s landscape. This talk breaks down how to leverage both traditional and modern AI distribution tactics tools so your content consistently reaches the right people, in the right place, at the right time.
Ross Simmonds, Founder & CEO, Foundation Marketing, Distribution.ai

10:15

Coming soon

Ann Handley, Wall Street Journal Best-Selling Author, Speaker, Partner, MarketingProfs

10:45

Tea Break & Networking

Pause to recharge with tea, coffee, and light refreshments. Use this time to connect with fellow marketers, meet speakers, explore sponsor booths, or continue conversations sparked on stage. Some of the best ideas happen between sessions. This is your space to reset, reflect, and build meaningful connections.

11:15

How We Built 1,000 Agents by Making Failure Promotable

In 2024 Chili Piper created an internal Slack channel where anyone in the org could post tasks that drained them. After seeing all the submissions, the co-CEOs made a bold bet: experimentation to build agents would become part of promotion tracks. The attempt to build an agent (even if it failed) would count towards career growth... Alina will breakdown the playbook: incentive structures that reward experimentation, patterns seen from building hundreds of agents, and what she'd do differently if she started over.
Alina Vandenberghe, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Chili Piper

11:45

Coming soon

Patrick Stox, Product Advisor, Technical SEO, & Brand Ambassador, Ahrefs

12:15

The New Viral

The new viral: Most brands are still chasing mass virality when that's not the only (or most impactful) way that trends spread anymore. I break down the three types of viral I've identified and why the trust creators have with their audiences is the one thing AI can't manufacture.
Brianna Doe, Founder & CEO, Creator, Verbatim, Stop the Scroll

12:45

Networking Lunch

Take a break and refuel with a curated lunch alongside fellow marketers, founders, and operators. Use this time to deepen conversations from the morning sessions, meet new peers, or visit sponsor booths.

14:00

The 5% Of AEO & SEO: Research Backed High Impact Strategies

In this keynote, Ethan Smith (CEO at Graphite) shares new research on how search is evolving in the age of AI. Drawing on original studies and fresh data, he challenges common myths around SEO and AEO while unpacking the rapid shift toward AI-driven discovery. The session highlights emerging risks, structural changes in how models surface information, and why few brands currently capture meaningful AEO visibility. The talk closes with practical insights on how companies can adapt their growth strategies for AI search.
Ethan Smith, CEO, Graphite

14:30

Sponsor Spotlight

Tim Soulo brings sponsors on stage and asks the questions everyone is thinking. Expect candid answers, sharp follow-ups, and zero scripted dialogue. Think part spotlight, part roast.
Panel withDawood Bukhari.Moderator:Tim Soulo.

15:00

AI as a Force Multiplier for Your Marketing Team

Most marketers have barely scratched the surface when it comes to truly adopting AI in their workflows. In this talk I'll walk through the framework I used at Anthropic while building out the growth marketing function: automating the boring stuff, partnering with AI where it out-ranges you, doing work that was never above the ROI line before, and building tools nobody else will build for you.
Austin Lau, Growth Marketing, Anthropic

15:30

Tea Break & Networking

Pause to recharge with tea, coffee, and light refreshments. Use this time to connect with fellow marketers, meet speakers, explore sponsor booths, or continue conversations sparked on stage. Some of the best ideas happen between sessions. This is your space to reset, reflect, and build meaningful connections.

16:00

Mastermind: Copywriting Cardio: Learn to Write by Actually Writing

9 rounds. It's a workout. Bring your sweatpants.
P.S.: Harry Dry is up for roasting.
Harry Dry, Founder, Copy // Marketing Examples

16:00

Mastermind: An Honest Conversation on Why AI Adoption in Marketing Is Hard

The mastermind session will cover the real blockers Austin Lau has hit and seen: taste becoming the bottleneck, not knowing what good looks like when you can't read the code, the gap between "works on my laptop" and "the team uses it," and much more.
Austin Lau, Growth Marketing, Anthropic

16:00

Small Talks

Lightning-fast talks from the audience. Step on stage and share a quick idea, insight, or experiment on AEO & search, or what’s working right now. This will be raw, real, and relevant!

16:00

Mastermind: Controlling AI Consensus: Increasing Brand Visibility Across LLMs

For SEO Directors at mid-to-large brands (100+ employees), this mastermind explores how to influence how your brand is represented and surfaced across LLMs. The group will discuss strategies to shape AI consensus, improve visibility in AI-driven search experiences, and adapt SEO practices for a world where discovery is increasingly mediated by large language models.

Dawood Bukhari, CEO, Digital Web Solutions

16:00

Mastermind: AI Agents & Automating Marketing Workflows

This mastermind is for marketers exploring how to use AI agents to automate and scale their work. Cut through the hype to understand what’s actually working — from workflows and tools to real-world use cases — with a focus on practical ways AI can improve efficiency, decision-making, and output.

Andrei Tit, Head of Product Marketing, Ahrefs

16:00

Mastermind: Description Coming Soon

Tara Robertson, CMO, Bitly

16:00

Mastermind: Description Coming Soon

Alina Vandenberghe, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Chili Piper

16:00

Mastermind: International SEO in an AI Search Era. What has changed and what hasn't

In this mastermind Aleyda will discuss, go through scenarios, criteria, examples and answer questions about what has changed and what hasn't to develop a successful global search strategy in an AI search era across different industries and markets. 
Aleyda Solis, International SEO Consultant & Founder, Orainti

16:00

Mastermind: The State Of Reddit In The SERP & LLMs

During this mastermind you will learn the ins and outs of how Reddit is influencing the buying behavior of your audience and some practical tips on how leveraging tools like Ahrefs can arm you and your team with insights that can turn into action. From Subreddit management to day-to-day interaction - this session will be a masterclass in using Reddit to drive results (without getting banned). 
Ross Simmonds, Founder & CEO, Foundation Marketing, Distribution.ai

17:00

Happy Hour & Networking

Join us for Happy Hour after Day 1. Grab a drink, connect with fellow attendees, and keep the conversations going. Whether you’re debating AEO, sharing growth experiments, or just meeting new faces, this is your chance to unwind in a more informal setting and build relationships beyond the sessions.

THE COMMUNITY PITCH

Meet the speakers

Evolve is where the Ahrefs community becomes real. Not names in a Slack channel or faces on a webinar — the actual people solving the same problems you are. Comparing workflows. Trading ideas. Pressure-testing how they work.

Meet the full lineup
Harry Dry

Harry Dry

Founder, Copy // Marketing Examples

Tara Robertson

Tara Robertson

CMO, Bitly

Two days that pay off the rest of the year

Set your direction for 2027 while others are still catching up. Meet people you want to stay in touch with. You'll leave knowing exactly what to do next.

October 12–13San Diego2026
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