Sydney SEO Collective - Despina Gavoyannis (From SEO Tactician to Leader)

The Sydney SEO Collective is back for our August 2026 meetup. This month we're talking about what it takes to move beyond SEO delivery and become the person shaping search strategy across a business.

We're welcoming Despina Gavoyannis, AI Search Visibility Strategist at Ahrefs and Vivid Fish, as our keynote speaker. She'll be presenting "How to Level Up from SEO Tactician to Search Visibility Leader."

Strong technical and tactical skills can build a career in SEO, but they will only take you so far. Despina will explain how to turn that expertise into strategic influence, communicate the commercial value of search and develop the skills needed to move into more senior, better-paid roles.

She'll also look at what businesses need from their search teams as AI changes how people find information. That includes personalisation, keywordless discovery, conversational and spoken search, and the growing role of wearable AI. You'll leave with practical ideas you can share with your team and start using at work the next day.

Despina has worked in SEO for more than 10 years, specialising in revenue-driven strategy and collaborating with UX designers, developers and marketers. Before joining Ahrefs, she worked as an SEO consultant, advising and training in-house and agency teams. Her work has helped brands generate more than $125 million in additional annual organic revenue.

She is also the author of a book and two SEO courses, and has written extensively about SEO and AI search.

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/despina-gavoyannis/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/despina-gavoyannis/)

Make sure to RSVP and grab your ticket!

Keynote Presentation: How to Level Up from SEO Tactician to Search Visibility Leader

Sponsored By: [Finder](https://www.finder.com.au/) [Prosperity Media](https://prosperitymedia.com.au/)

Location: Finder AU Level 10, 99 York St, Sydney NSW 2000

Hosts: Regan McGregor - SEO Lead at [Airtasker](https://airtasker.com/) James Norquay - Founder at [Prosperity Media](https://prosperitymedia.com.au/)

Running sheet: 6pm - 6.30pm - Arrive, Finder AU - Level 10, 99 York St, Sydney NSW 2000 6.30pm - Introduce SEO Collective, Speakers 6.30pm - 6. 45pm - SEO news, algorithm updates, SERP volatility 6.45 - 7.00pm - Intermission 7pm - 7.45pm - Keynote: Despina Gavoyannis - How to Level Up from SEO Tactician to Search Visibility Leader 7.45pm - 8pm - Q & A Session 8.00pm - Networking

SEO Collective Organisers: Regan McGregor - https://www.linkedin.com/in/regan-mcgregor/ James Norquay - https://www.linkedin.com/in/norquay/ Aaron Taylor - https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarontaylorseo/ Dejan Mladenovski - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dejan-m/ Nik Ranger - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nik-ranger-06086a27/ Peter Macinkovic - https://www.linkedin.com/in/inkovic/ Peter Mead - https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermeadseo/ Paula Glynn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-glynn/ Sally Mills - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sally--mills/

SEO Collective Background: SEO Collective is an extension of the Melbourne SEO Meetup, which started when the Brisbane SEO group first met up at the Ship Inn, Brisbane Southbank, 7th Nov 2008.

The feedback we've had is that the Collective events have been a great way to meet others in the industry in a relaxed environment and share some tips and hints on what you might know that can help them become a better web marketer or developer. It's about asking those tough questions and getting group consensus on what is the possible implications or complications on a particular method or technique you're thinking of using.

We encourage a mix of business owners, web developers, affiliate marketers, SEM and SEO professionals as we all have small tips that will help you perform better online and play smarter.

SEO Collective is just a relaxed and informal session on digital and web marketing, come along and meet others in your community no matter if you're a business owner, consultant, in-house or part of a larger…