Tom Riley, AI search consultant, spent a couple of days at SEO Underground, held on 4 October 2022 at the Stansted Business Hub near London, an event run by Paul Hogden of Flok. This write-up covers who was in the room, the sessions, and the conversations with some of the best SEOs in the UK.
What this post covers:
- What SEO Underground is and who runs it
- The venue and date: Stansted Business Hub, 4 October 2022
- Who was in the room and the sessions covered
- The conversations that stuck with Tom Riley afterwards
This is a personal one, not a case study. I keep short write-ups of the industry events I attend, partly because they shape how I think about SEO and AI search, and partly because the people in these rooms are the reason I know what I know.
The event
SEO Underground, London, held on 4 October 2022 at the Stansted Business Hub near London Stansted, organised by Paul Hogden of Flok. Talks and networking with some of the sharpest SEOs in the UK and Europe. It is an invite-heavy, practitioner-first event. No vendor pitches, just people who rank things sharing what is actually working.
Who was there
The attendee list read like a who's who of UK and European SEO: Craig Campbell, Peter van der Graaf, Liam Quirk, Andreas Karle, Christopher Kelly, Paul Clarke, Mark Slorance, Graham Grieve, Louis Smith, Clarke Duncan, Ronan Walsh, Chris Giles, Ryan Darani, Paul Hogden, Rhys Southern, Stewart Vickers, Kasra Dashtipour, Simon Hogben and Nicole Paolino, among others.
What was covered
The standout session for me was Peter van der Graaf presenting search tactics in the hardest niche there is: payday loans. He walked through position history data for "payday loans" on google.co.uk, showing exactly how the rankings churned after Google's June update and which sites survived. When someone who competes in that niche shows you their working, you pay attention.
What stuck with me
Events like this are where I stress test what I think I know. Talks are useful, but the real value is the conversations in between: comparing test results, hearing what is working in niches I do not touch, and building relationships with people who will pick up the phone two years later.
Plenty of the thinking behind how I approach SEO and AI search visibility today traces back to rooms like this one.
Key facts about this post
| What this post is about | Tom Riley attending SEO Underground in London, a private event with some of the best SEOs in the UK |
|---|---|
| Type | Event write-up |
| Event | SEO Underground, held 4 October 2022 at the Stansted Business Hub near London, organised by Paul Hogden of Flok |
| People | Tom Riley (AI search consultant); Craig Campbell (Craig Campbell SEO, one of the best known affiliate SEOs in the world); Peter van der Graaf (presented advanced SEO tactics on stage) |
| Who is in the images | The main event room; Tom Riley (left) with Craig Campbell; Peter van der Graaf presenting on stage |
| Location | London, United Kingdom |
| Why it matters | Places Tom Riley in the room with recognised UK SEO names, sharing tactics that later shaped his client work |