SEJ Live Event Aims to Help Marketers Master AI Search Visibility in 2026

Search Engine Journal pulled its newsroom into a live format on March 11, hosting a free three-hour virtual conference built around a single pressing problem: how marketers adapt their search strategies when AI is reshaping what visibility even means.

The event, titled "SEJ Live: Master AI Search Visibility in 2026," ran from 12PM to 3PM ET and structured its content across three sessions, each designed to build on the last. The lineup mixed internal SEJ voices with outside industry weight. Loren Baker, SEJ's founder, and managing editor Shelley Walsh represented the publication's editorial side, while guest speakers included Matt Southern, Emily Popson of CallRail, and Nikhil Lai, a Forrester analyst whose presence signaled the kind of research-backed framing the event promised.

The agenda was organized around four declared outcomes: staying current on how AI results are changing search behavior this quarter, building a KPI framework suited to AI-driven search, connecting those KPIs to the practical work of SEO, GEO, and AEO, and walking away with a strategy presentable to executive leadership. The event's language was direct about the gap it was trying to close: "Learn to match the exact marketing metrics essential for measuring visibility, performance, and ROI in AI-driven search."

SEJ framed the audience in three specific buckets. Brands experiencing organic traffic declines were promised a roadmap for stabilizing traffic and reducing reliance on unpredictable rankings. Experienced marketers at established companies were offered advanced frameworks covering answer engine visibility and content adaptation. Agencies were targeted with strategies for navigating AI-first search disruption across markets and channels.

The format included interactive Q&A and real-time collaboration alongside the session content, positioning it as something closer to a working session than a passive broadcast. The three sessions were explicitly designed to sequence, giving attendees a complete arc from current-state analysis through KPI architecture to execution.

The event was free to attend, part of SEJ's Summit 2026 programming, and had an exclusive sponsor listed on the event page whose name was not disclosed in available materials.