Google's Search Central Live arrives in Toronto on April 21, 2026, marking the series' first event in Canada, with sessions on AI in Search, Search Console, and structured data.
Google this week announced that its Search Central Live event series will make its first appearance in Canada, with a half-day conference scheduled for Toronto on April 21, 2026. The announcement, posted on March 11, 2026 to the Google Search Central Blog by Martin Splitt of the Search Relations team, extends a global calendar that has grown steadily across multiple continents over the past two years.
The Toronto event runs from 9:00 to 14:00 local time. According to the official event registration page, the schedule in Central European Summer Time places sessions between 15:00 and 20:00 CEST, reflecting the international scope of the series. The exact venue address will be communicated only to accepted attendees via invitation email.
Registration closes April 14. Invitations go out April 16.
Those interested must apply for a spot - no walk-ups will be permitted, according to the event page. Capacity is limited, and Google has been explicit that not every applicant can be accommodated. The format follows a pattern established across recent Search Central Live events worldwide: apply, receive a confirmation, and retain that email as the entry credential. The event will not be recorded or live-streamed.
Four speakers from Google are confirmed. Annanya Raghavan, listed as a Trends Analyst, will address storytelling with Google Trends. Daniel Waisberg, a Search Advocate whose appearances at Search Central Live events span multiple continents, will cover Search Console updates. Danny Sullivan, identified on the event page as Director of Google Search, is listed as a speaker, marking his continued presence at the series despite stepping down from the public-facing Search Liaison role on August 1, 2025. Martin Splitt, Search Advocate at Google, rounds out the lineup. Splitt authored the blog post announcing the event and has been a consistent presence at Search Central Live stops from Zurich in December 2024 through Zurich again in December 2025.
The agenda, detailed on the registration site, contains nine distinct time blocks. Registration and coffee opens the day at 15:00 CEST. A welcome and introduction follows from 15:30 to 15:45. The opening keynote occupies 15:45 to 16:00, succeeded by a session titled "How Search Works" from 16:00 to 16:15. The 30-minute block from 16:15 to 16:45 is dedicated to AI in Google Search - a topic that has grown in prominence across the series as Google's AI Overviews reshape organic search behavior. From 16:45 to 17:00, Raghavan is expected to cover Google Trends storytelling. The 17:00 to 17:30 slot addresses what's new in Google Search Console, followed by Structured Data for Shopping from 17:30 to 18:00. A one-hour lunch break runs from 18:00 to 19:00 CEST, and the program concludes with a Q&A session from 19:00 to 19:30 and a 30-minute networking period to close.
According to the Google Search Central Blog post, topics include better understanding of crawling, indexing, and AI in Search, recent updates in Google Search, best practices for ecommerce structured data, and practical tips for Search Console and Google Trends. The blog notes additional content beyond these headline categories without specifying further detail.
The target audience, according to the announcement, encompasses website owners, publishers, professionals working with news organizations, digital marketers, web developers, and SEO professionals. The content will be presented entirely in English, which the blog post specifies explicitly - a relevant detail given that some regional Search Central Live events have been conducted in local languages, as was the case with the first Chinese-language event in Hong Kong on October 31, 2025.
The Search Central Live series has expanded its geographic reach considerably over the past 24 months. Google brought the event to New York City for the first time on March 20, 2025, representing the series' debut in the United States. Brazil received its first dual-city iteration in February 2025, with events in São Paulo on February 18 and in Recife on February 20 - the latter becoming the first Search Central Live held in northeastern Brazil. Mexico City hosted an edition on September 25, 2025. Toronto now becomes the first Canadian city to join this list.
The series also piloted a notably different format in 2025. In March of that year, Google announced a multi-day "Deep Dive" format for Asia Pacific, described as a substantial shift toward more intensive technical education over multiple days rather than a single-day conference. The Toronto event returns to the standard half-day structure.
The 30-minute block on AI in Google Search stands out in the Toronto agenda as the longest single content session aside from lunch. The prominence of AI topics at Search Central Live events has tracked closely with broader industry concern about how AI Overviews affect organic traffic. Google expanded ads within AI Overviews to 11 countries including Canada in December 2025, placing Canadian publishers and advertisers in direct contact with changes that have reshaped search result pages globally. The Search Console session in Toronto will likely address questions about measuring performance under these conditions. Daniel Waisberg published guidance on Search Console performance analysis in December 2024, covering how to use data controls, chart visualizations, and table-level detail to interpret impressions and click data across Search, Discover, and News.
The "What's new in Search Console" slot carries additional weight at a time when Search Console data has become one of the few direct windows practitioners have into how AI-generated summaries interact with organic results. Martin Splitt addressed what he called "The Great Decoupling" at a Warsaw event on June 17, 2025, marking the first time a Google representative directly discussed the pattern of rising impressions alongside declining click-through rates that many publishers have documented in their Search Console dashboards.
The structured data session on shopping is also significant context for the Canadian market. Ecommerce structured data has featured at several recent Search Central Live stops, including the Hong Kong edition which focused specifically on structured data for international ecommerce. The Toronto agenda appears to reflect a similar emphasis, though directed at an English-language North American audience rather than cross-border ecommerce specialists.
As with all Search Central Live events, the Toronto edition will not be recorded or streamed. Google has maintained this format consistently across markets, characterizing it as integral to the live experience. The policy creates an information asymmetry between attendees and those unable to participate in person - a factor that increases the relative value of attending for practitioners who can access the event. It also limits the public documentation of what Google representatives actually say during sessions, though attendees regularly share notes and summaries afterward.
The selective registration process, combined with the no-recording rule, means that the practical value of Search Central Live for the broader marketing community often flows indirectly - through the attendees who attend, the discussions they share, and the clarifications that emerge in the weeks following each event. Past events have generated significant secondary coverage, particularly when speakers addressed questions about algorithm behavior, AI overview implementation, or Search Console data interpretation.
For SEO professionals and digital marketers based in Canada, the Toronto event represents a direct-access opportunity that the country has not previously had within this event series. The five-hour window - two of which are structured sessions and one of which is dedicated networking - concentrates a range of Google Search team contacts into a single morning.
Applications can be submitted through the official registration page until April 14, 2026.
Who: Google's Search Relations team, led by Martin Splitt (Search Advocate), and speakers including Daniel Waisberg (Search Advocate), Danny Sullivan (Director, Google Search), and Annanya Raghavan (Trends Analyst). The intended audience includes website owners, publishers, digital marketers, web developers, SEO professionals, and news organization staff.
What: Search Central Live Toronto - the first-ever Search Central Live event held in Canada. A half-day, in-person conference covering AI in Google Search, crawling and indexing, Search Console updates, ecommerce structured data, and Google Trends. The event includes presentations, a Q&A session, and a networking period. It will not be recorded or live-streamed.
When: The event takes place on April 21, 2026, from 9:00 to 14:00 local Toronto time. The registration deadline is April 14, 2026, and invitations are sent to accepted attendees on April 16, 2026. The announcement was made on March 11, 2026.
Where: Toronto, Canada. The exact venue address will be provided only with the invitation email sent to accepted attendees.
Why: The Toronto event extends the Search Central Live series into Canada for the first time, continuing Google's geographic expansion of the event series that has included first-time stops in New York City, northeastern Brazil, and other markets over the past year. The timing coincides with a period of significant change in how Google Search operates, particularly around AI Overviews and their effects on organic traffic and search result pages - topics directly reflected in the event agenda.