Every November, several hundred SEOs fly to a mountain city in northern Thailand for a week that feels part conference, part reunion. The Chiang Mai SEO Conference, better known as CMSEO, has become the meeting point for affiliate site builders, agency owners and technical SEOs who rank sites in the hardest niches on the web.
It runs very differently from a corporate marketing event. Speakers share tactics from white hat to grey hat, the hallway talk matters as much as the stage, and the week fills up with private meetups, masterminds and rooftop parties across the city. Many attendees stay on for weeks, working from cafes in one of the most popular digital nomad bases in Asia.
This guide covers everything about the Chiang Mai SEO Conference 2026: the dates and venue, the five day schedule, ticket tiers and what each includes, the hosts, speakers and sponsors, who attends and who should skip it, the full trip budget, and practical tips for getting the most from the week.
- Chiang Mai SEO Conference
- What Is the Chiang Mai SEO Conference?
- Chiang Mai SEO Conference 2026 Dates, Venue and Schedule
- Chiang Mai SEO Conference Ticket Prices and Tiers
- Who Hosts and Sponsors the Chiang Mai SEO Conference
- Chiang Mai SEO Conference 2026 Speakers
- Who Attends the Chiang Mai SEO Conference
- Who Should Attend the Chiang Mai SEO Conference
- Chiang Mai SEO Conference Networking and Meetups
- Link Building Mastery: The Event After the Chiang Mai SEO Conference
- What a Chiang Mai SEO Conference Trip Costs
- Tips for Attending the Chiang Mai SEO Conference
- Chiang Mai SEO Conference FAQs
- When Is the Chiang Mai SEO Conference 2026?
- How Much Does the Chiang Mai SEO Conference Cost?
- Who Organises the Chiang Mai SEO Conference?
- How Many People Attend the Chiang Mai SEO Conference?
- Are Chiang Mai SEO Conference Tickets Refundable?
- Is the Chiang Mai SEO Conference Good for Beginners?
- What Happens After the Chiang Mai SEO Conference?
Chiang Mai SEO Conference
| Official website | chiangmaiseoconference.com |
| Dates | Monday, November 9 to Friday, November 13, 2026 |
| Venue | Chiang Mai Marriott Hotel, Chiang Mai, Thailand |
| Hosts | Diggity Marketing (Matt Diggity) and Smash Digital |
| Attendance | 800+ practitioners |
| Tickets | Standard $897, Deluxe $1,297, VIP $2,797 |
| Refunds | Closed on October 9, 2026; tickets are non transferable |
| Follow on event | Link Building Mastery, November 14 and 15, in Chiang Mai |
What Is the Chiang Mai SEO Conference?
The Chiang Mai SEO Conference is an annual five day event for search marketers who build and grow websites for a living. SEO entrepreneur Matt Diggity of Diggity Marketing founded it, and it is now co hosted with Smash Digital, the company of affiliate investor Travis Jamison.
It earned its reputation in the affiliate marketing and advanced SEO world because talks focus on what works in competitive niches: link building, content at scale, site investing, local SEO, AI driven workflows and the algorithm updates that wipe out sites overnight. The community openly welcomes white hat, grey hat and black hat practitioners, which shapes both the talks and the conversations.
Chiang Mai SEO Conference 2026 Dates, Venue and Schedule
The 2026 edition moves to the Chiang Mai Marriott Hotel, after the 2024 edition ran at Le Meridien Chiang Mai from November 18 to 22. Each day runs from 9:00 AM to around 10:00 PM local time once the evening events are included.
Chiang Mai SEO Conference 2026 Daily Schedule
| Day | Date | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | November 9 | Strategy Track sessions, then the Opening Night Party |
| Tuesday | November 10 | Strategy Track sessions, then the Networking Night |
| Wednesday | November 11 | Community Day |
| Thursday | November 12 | Main Program on the main stage |
| Friday | November 13 | Main Program, then the Closing Night Party |
| Saturday and Sunday | November 14 and 15 | Link Building Mastery, a separate event in Chiang Mai |
The Strategy Track on the first two days gives smaller rooms and deeper sessions. Community Day in the middle of the week is when the private meetups and side events take over, and the two Main Program days close the week with the headline talks.
Chiang Mai SEO Conference Ticket Prices and Tiers
Chiang Mai SEO Conference 2026 Ticket Tiers
| Tier | Price | What It Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $897 | General seating for the Main Program, buffet lunch in the Grand Ballroom, snacks and drinks during the Main Program and Strategy Track, all networking events including the Opening and Closing Night Parties |
| Deluxe | $1,297 | Everything in Standard, plus raw recordings of selected Strategy Track sessions, middle row classroom seating with a desk and power outlet, buffet lunch at GAJ Kitchen and Bar, merchandise, a goodie bag and sponsor swag |
| VIP | $2,797 | Everything in Deluxe, plus front or second row armchair seating with in seat concierge service, lunch at Favola Restaurant with speakers and sponsors, an invitation to the private Speaker Dinner on November 12 and a speaker gift pack |
Most seats went in the pre sale, and the organisers state there will be zero second release and zero waitlist. Full refunds closed on October 9, 2026, and refunded tickets returned to public sale, so the remaining seats come from those returns.
How Chiang Mai SEO Conference Prices Changed
Chiang Mai SEO Conference Ticket Prices, 2024 vs 2026 (Calculated)
| Tier | 2024 Price | 2026 Price | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | $597 | $897 | +$300 (50%) |
| Deluxe | $897 | $1,297 | +$400 (45%) |
| VIP | $2,199 | $2,797 | +$598 (27%) |
Standard tickets rose 50% in two years, the steepest jump of the three tiers, and the 2026 Standard price now matches what Deluxe cost in 2024. VIP grew the least, so the gap between Standard and VIP narrowed from 3.7 times to 3.1 times the price.
Who Hosts and Sponsors the Chiang Mai SEO Conference
- Diggity Marketing: the SEO agency and training company of founder Matt Diggity, known for affiliate site building and SEO testing.
- Smash Digital: the company of Travis Jamison, an investor in content and affiliate sites, and a regular speaker on building and keeping wealth from websites.
Both hosts also act as the headline sponsors. SEO tool vendors, link building services and agencies sponsor the expo and parties each year and take part in the VIP lunch and Speaker Dinner, which gives VIP ticket holders direct time with them.
Chiang Mai SEO Conference 2026 Speakers
Speakers confirmed in listings for the 2026 edition include:
Chiang Mai SEO Conference 2026 Speakers
| Speaker | Role |
|---|---|
| Kyle Roof | Co founder of PageOptimizer Pro and IMG Courses, known for on page SEO testing |
| Michal Suski | Co founder of Surfer, the content optimisation tool |
| Dennis Yu | CEO of BlitzMetrics |
| Kasra Dash | Founder of The Masterminders |
| Thomas Smale | Co founder of FE International, the website brokerage |
| Georg Richard Aare | Co founder of RankUp |
| Jacob Kettner | First Rank, local SEO agency |
| Alex Galinos | Director of Marketing Acquisition at Elife Group |
| Regan McGregor | Organiser of the Sydney SEO Collective Meetup |
| Jabez Reuben | Founder |
Past editions brought Tim Soulo of Ahrefs, Koray Tugberk Gubur on topical authority, Nick Eubanks, Ross Hudgens, Manick Bhan, Steve Tan, Cindy Krum and Craig Campbell, with workshops from Chris Kirksey, Mads Singers and Dejan Mladenovski. The 2024 talks covered algorithm updates, link building, content re optimisation, AI assisted content, technical SEO, entities and YouTube visibility. If topical authority is on your list, our explainer on topical vs domain authority is a good primer.
Who Attends the Chiang Mai SEO Conference
The crowd of 800+ leans heavily toward people who own their results:
- Affiliate marketers and niche site owners
- SEO agency owners and freelancers
- Link builders and digital PR specialists
- Site investors, buyers and brokers
- Founders who use SEO as their main growth channel
- Remote workers already based in Southeast Asia
Who Should Attend the Chiang Mai SEO Conference
Is the Chiang Mai SEO Conference Right for You?
| Go if you are | Skip it if you are |
|---|---|
| An experienced operator who ranks your own or client sites | Brand new to SEO and still learning the basics |
| Looking for link building, affiliate and site investing tactics | Working at a tightly regulated brand with strict rules on tactics |
| Keen to build a network of peers and partners | Looking for a buttoned up corporate event |
| Able to stay a full week, or longer | Only able to fly in for one day |
Because the community covers the full spectrum of tactics, corporate SEO teams with strict governance will find some talks out of bounds. For a more mainstream search program, our guides to SEO conferences in Boston and SEO conferences in Los Angeles cover events like SMX Advanced and brightonSEO San Diego.
Chiang Mai SEO Conference Networking and Meetups
Ask past attendees what made the trip worth it and most point to the meetups. In 2024 the organisers counted more than 50 meetups across the week, and attendees schedule their own private sessions on any topic before, during or after the main event through the event app. Small group masterminds, such as the one day session Travis Jamison and James Dooley ran in 2024, add another layer.
The result reads more like a week long community festival than a trade show: breakfast meetups, coworking afternoons, Community Day activities, a Networking Night and two big parties. People describe the connections as relaxed and low pressure, a good fit for deal making between site owners, link builders and buyers.
Good to know: Plan your own meetup. Post a topic in the event app, such as local SEO for law firms or programmatic content, and the right people will find you.
Link Building Mastery: The Event After the Chiang Mai SEO Conference
On November 14 and 15, 2026, straight after CMSEO, Link Building Mastery runs in the same city. Anyone already flying to Thailand for the conference adds two more days focused purely on earning and building links. For context before you go, our link building statistics and roundup of AI link building tools cover where the craft stands this year.
What a Chiang Mai SEO Conference Trip Costs
Chiang Mai is one of the cheapest conference cities anywhere once you land. Here is a sample budget for a seven night trip on a Standard ticket, with the assumptions marked.
Sample Budget for the Chiang Mai SEO Conference (Assumptions Marked)
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Standard ticket | $897 |
| Hotel, 7 nights at about $90 a night (assumption) | $630 |
| Food and transport, 7 days at about $40 a day (assumption) | $280 |
| Round trip flight from Europe or North America (assumption) | $1,200 |
| Total | $3,007 |
At about $3,007 all in, a week at CMSEO costs roughly the same as a ticket plus three hotel nights at a big US conference. Attendees flying in from within Asia cut the flight line sharply, and Deluxe or VIP tickets add $400 or $1,900 to the total.
Tips for Attending the Chiang Mai SEO Conference
- Book flights into Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX). Most international routes connect through Bangkok, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.
- Stay near the venue. The Marriott sits by the Ping River and the Night Bazaar; Nimman, the cafe and coworking district, is a short ride away.
- Check visa rules early. Entry requirements for Thailand depend on your passport, so confirm before booking.
- Arrive for the Strategy Track. The first two days hold the deeper sessions and set up the meetups for the rest of the week.
- Bring a pitch and a question. Know what you offer and what you need; most of the value comes from conversations.
Going to sell services or find link partners? Our guest posting statistics and list of link building outreach tools help you walk in with numbers and a plan.
Chiang Mai SEO Conference FAQs
When Is the Chiang Mai SEO Conference 2026?
Monday, November 9 to Friday, November 13, 2026, at the Chiang Mai Marriott Hotel in Thailand.
How Much Does the Chiang Mai SEO Conference Cost?
Standard tickets cost $897, Deluxe $1,297 and VIP $2,797 for 2026.
Who Organises the Chiang Mai SEO Conference?
Matt Diggity of Diggity Marketing founded the event, and it is co hosted with Smash Digital.
How Many People Attend the Chiang Mai SEO Conference?
More than 800 SEO practitioners attend, with dozens of side meetups across the week.
Are Chiang Mai SEO Conference Tickets Refundable?
Full refunds closed on October 9, 2026. Tickets are non transferable.
Is the Chiang Mai SEO Conference Good for Beginners?
It fits experienced operators best. Beginners get more from foundational courses before attending.
What Happens After the Chiang Mai SEO Conference?
Link Building Mastery runs in Chiang Mai on November 14 and 15, 2026.
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