Having lived in this city-state for a good three decades, I’ve gathered that SEO remains a niche here—but the people within it are welcoming and always happy to exchange ideas.
Let’s take a closer look.
Historically, the SEO community in Singapore hasn’t been particularly active.
The longest-standing community—though not entirely SEO-focused—is APAC Marketers by David Fallarme. If its Slack group is any indication, there are around 180 members based in Singapore. (Just check out its dedicated #singapore channel!)
We even hosted a group meet-up in our office earlier this year:
Going back in time (to 2016), the now-defunct SG SEO was an early attempt to bring together SEO professionals in the country.
While they had occasional meet-ups over four years, founder David Chan stepped down just as the Covid pandemic descended. Our very own Tim Soulo then acquired the group while paying a small maintenance fee.
Sadly, the online community was abandoned after some unsuccessful attempts to revive it:
With that, Tim decided to focus on other efforts to engage the local community—more on that in a bit.
There are only two local meet-ups we’re aware of at present: Middy’s, and Ahrefs’ SEO Beer & Snacks event.
Middy’s
APAC Marketers’ community member Robert Lai launched a spin-off meet-up called Middy’s for marketers around the region to network in person.
It’s a casual, monthly affair that takes place in Singapore, Jakarta, and Sydney—and you don’t have to be a member to join in. Events are announced on APAC Marketers’ LinkedIn page.
Depending on how the local community shapes up, Robert says the meet-up might evolve to include more structured sharings and presentations in future.
Ahrefs’ SEO Beer & Snacks
We started ramping up our community efforts after bringing in our events marketing manager, Shermin (she’s a star!).
In Feb 2023, we hosted our first-ever SEO Beer & Snacks session in the Ahrefs’ office—and have had six meet-ups since. These free, casual events give in-house marketers, SEOs, and business owners a chance to mingle and network over pizza. It’s a doozy:
We occasionally host content marketing and SEO workshops, too, where we share insights into our content strategy and use cases of Ahrefs. Sign up to stay in the loop!
MarTech Summit, CX Week Asia, Product Marketing Summit, DigiMarCon: Singapore plays host to several major marketing conferences annually, but none have ever been SEO-focused.
Seeing the opportunity—and given how well-positioned we are in the space—we decided to organize Ahrefs’ inaugural conference, Singapore SEO Summit.
The one-day conference takes place in Singapore on 26 Oct, 2023 at Bridge+ 79RR.
With 200 marketers in attendance and a strong roster of speakers, it’s going to be a supercharged day of learning and networking.
Here’s a peek at what to expect:
- 13 speakers, including Adam Krzywda, Charlotte Ang, James Norquay, and Ahrefs’ Tim Soulo.
- Talks covering SEO and content strategies for challenging niches, how to top Google with AI content, technical SEO, and more.
- Breakfast, lunch, and free-flow refreshments from Joe & Dough; evening drinks and canapés from Amicii catering.
The last few tickets are available for S$299—get them while you can!
Singapore’s SEO community may be small, but its talent is outsized. Some notable names include:
Adam Krzywda, SEOptimer
As the CEO of SEOptimer—an SEO audit and reporting platform—Adam has helped to drive the company’s website to 250k+ organic visits a month, dominating some of the most competitive keywords in Google. He previously served as CTO at various tech platforms.
Charlotte Ang, Traffic Bees
Charlotte is the Managing Partner of Traffic Bees, a search-focused digital marketing agency. A self-taught SEO, she founded a local logistics company and turned leads into customers—and on seeing that success, moved on to establish Traffic Bees.
Gavin Choo, Disruptive Digital
Gavin is the Managing Director of Disruptive Digital, a full-service digital agency. Outside of his role, Gavin consults and trains marketers and entrepreneurs on demand.
Tim Soulo, Ahrefs
A familiar name in the SEO space, Tim is Ahrefs’ CMO and product advisor. He’s spoken at industry-leading conferences including PubCon and brightonSEO, and his SEO-related data research has been cited by the likes of Inc., TechCrunch, and more.
Onur Ozer, Simple Matters
Onur is the Founder of Simple Matters, where he helps startup founders to grow their businesses. He previously worked across startups, agencies such as R/GA, and global brands including American Express and Mastercard.
Eugene Leow, Conquest Creatives
Eugene is an SEO and SEM specialist who serves as the Marketing Lead at Conquest Creatives. Through his experiences, he has helped boost visibility and improve customer conversion rates for multiple brands.
Yeap Ming Feng, Seedly
As the Head of Personal Finance platform Seedly, Ming Feng has reshaped the fintech space through the lens of marketing and SEO. He currently serves as a mentor at ACE.SG’s incubator program.
Eugen Kim, First Page Digital
Eugen is the Head of Strategy at Singapore-based agency First Page Digital. With his background in venture capital partnerships and digital marketing, Eugen specializes in crafting comprehensive strategies for enterprise-level clients.
Ahrefs and SEOptimer are pretty much the only SEO software companies in Singapore.
If you aren’t already familiar with us, Ahrefs is Ukrainian-founded and headquartered in Singapore. Our comprehensive SEO toolset is used by marketing teams at LinkedIn, IBM, Adobe, and many others.
Meanwhile, SEOptimer is an SEO audit and reporting tool that offers white-label SEO reports. Its customer base also includes some prominent companies: Deloitte, Ogilvy, and Shopify.
Beyond these, several digital marketing agencies in Singapore offer search-focused services. Here are just a few: Disruptive Digital, First Page Digital, OOm, Mamba, Kytte, Clicker Media, Overdose Digital, and Traffic Bees.
Final thoughts
Singapore’s SEO space will always remain a niche, but things are gradually evolving—helped along by our very first SEO conference this October.
Get your tickets to the Singapore SEO Summit 2023 before they sell out! ✨ And if I missed out on featuring your SEO community, drop me a message here.
