Why SEO is Really Dead This Time and What to Do About It.
By Tim Peter. Filed in Organic Search, Search Marketing |Tags: Content marketing, Google, Google Panda, Google Panda Update, Google Penguin Update, Search Engine Marketing, Search engine optimization, Search Engines, search marketing, SEO
Photo credit: Wikipedia
SEO is dead! SEO is dead! It’s always a great headline, and I know, I know, you’ve heard this story before. Every time Google changes its algorithm or a new social media technique takes off, it’s tempting to say that SEO is dead. And, viewed narrowly enough (SEO is keywords in titles or SEO is links), any of these changes might mean that SEO is dead for you–if that is all SEO was to you. But let’s take a look at some signs that SEO is really dead.
There are four key reasons why it just might be true. SEO might really be dead this time.
- Google+. Google includes items from individual social streams into every user’s distinct search results. How can you optimize for multiple different search results when you don’t know what the individual people are looking at?
- Gmail in the search engine results pages. Google is piloting an opt-in program where search users can include their individual mailboxes in their search engine results pages. Again, how can you optimize for individual search results pages when those results include each individual user’s Gmail accounts?
- Pace of change. There have been over 500 google search updates this year. How can Google, or your customers, or anyone else for that matter, expect you to keep up with all those changes?
- Panda and Penguin. These updates are deliberately designed to catch “over-optimization.” Okay to be fair they’re really trying to catch spam. But many of the now-penalized activities were once common SEO techniques. And, while the team here at Biznology offers webinars to help you navigate Panda and Penguin and outline Penguin-safe link-building techniques, the long-term trend is clear. Google’s trying to crack down on anything “too SEO” in favor of quality content.
Which, to be fair, is really more good news than bad. As I just suggested, Google’s practices actually reward you when you help your customers. They have even said,
“Our advice for webmasters is to focus on creating high quality sites that create a good user experience and employ white-hat SEO methods instead of engaging in aggressive web spam tactics.”
In other words you’re not optimizing for Google, you’re optimizing for customers
So, how do you do that?
Well, first tell your brand story. What are your values? What are the things that matter to you? And what is your value to customers (i.e. why should they care)?
Solve your customer issues. Listen to what your customers say about you on social channels. And, more important, listen to what your customers care about whether they’re not talking about you.
Use content marketing and your blog, Twitter and Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn to answer your customers’ key questions. The more effectively you do that the more effectively you’re actually creating content that is valuable to your customers. And the more you’re doing a good job of what Google says: “…creating high quality sites and creating a good user experience.”
By definition any of these techniques employ white-hat SEO methods because you’ll be generating interest and you’ll be generating links organically, attracting attention by addressing customers needs.
The key takeaway is this: If you take care of your customer, Google will take care of you.
So is SEO really dead? Eh… maybe. In truth, it doesn’t matter. But it’s a fact that using your online marketing to do the right things for your customers will never die.
Friday, August 17th 2012 at 12:13 pm |
Right!
I guess, SEO ist obsolete. Conversion Optimization should be the Focus.
Monday, August 20th 2012 at 8:46 am |
Hi Nicolas,
Thanks for the comment. I am a huge fan of conversion rate optimization. The key questions as to whether you should focus on SEO or CRO are:
Are you getting enough traffic?
Are you getting enough sales from that traffic? (Where sales, of course, are defined by how your business makes money/fulfills its charter).
#1 requires a focus on building traffic. #2 requires a focus on converting that traffic. And a third option also exists: Do both. For most businesses, that’s the right approach.
So, even if SEO as we know it is dead, you don’t want to ignore building traffic while simultaneously working to convert more of that traffic. What changes instead are the tactics you use to build that traffic. I’d recommend a focus on finding qualified traffic, which will often improve your conversion rate, too.
Again, thanks for the comment and thanks for reading.
Friday, August 17th 2012 at 9:48 pm |
Thanks for the awesome information. I take part with a SEO company in Miami Florida and will be advising this with buddies of mine.
Thanks Again! ;)
Brittney Chony
Tuesday, August 21st 2012 at 11:42 am |
Wow, an SEO is dead article….not read one this week
Tuesday, August 21st 2012 at 4:42 pm |
Hi Jim,
I know I’m not the first one to say “SEO is dead” and I know I won’t be the last. In fact, I tried to acknowledge that point right out of the gate.
Whether or not SEO is really dead depends on how you define SEO. Right now, there are plenty of SEO’s advising their customers to create great, link-worthy content; to address legitimate technical issues on their sites (e.g., no title tags, too many or not enough H1′s, bad link architecture); to focus on their customers. For those people, SEO is not dead, nor will it be any time soon.
On the other hand, there are plenty of SEO’s who, while not exactly black hat, have entered into an arms race with Google. They’re continually looking for ways to game the system. I have no doubt you remember the common technique of developing widgets or themes others could use on their websites/blogs that contained links back to the original site (or worse, to an alternative site the SEO was working to gain rank for). Or the ones writing countless ridiculous (and non-grammatical) comments on sites all over the web. Or the ones who are still offering guest posts on blogs whether that blog’s content matched or not.
Whether or not SEO is dead for this second group, Google’s latest moves suggest they’ve declared war. And, as with including GMail results in the SERPs (while admittedly only on an opt-in, trial basis), Google is attempting to deliver increasingly more personal and more relevant results. Getting a “free credit card” offer or “payday loan” link into those is going to be damned hard (we can only hope).
Does that mean that SEO is well and truly dead? Maybe, maybe not. The funny things about arms races is how often the guys on the other side are willing to run them. The fact remains that for most people, their best shot at ranking well is not to focus on tricks, but on serving the needs of their customers.
Thanks for reading. And thanks for the comment. I’ve read your blog in the past and would love to hear your point of view about any of the above. Thanks again.
Tuesday, August 21st 2012 at 12:08 pm |
SEO IS dead and has been dead for quite some time, even before panda and penguin. The new way of internet marketing is SEM. If SEO companies want to continue business then they should call themselves Internet Marketing companies not SEO companies. Link bating and using programs like PHPLinks will get you nowhere fast. The majority of SEO companies out there still use this philosophy even today and should be considered a scam. Organic rankings means the abundance of organic material that is relevant, and not duplicated, to your brand. The object is to become the authority to what your brand is or what you sell.
Tuesday, August 21st 2012 at 4:57 pm |
Thanks for the comment, Shannon. Just out of curiosity, what defines “the authority… [on] what you sell”? Many of the issues around SEO reflect the fact that Google only knows which pages look best, not which site actually belongs to the best result for a given search.
Thanks again for the comment. And thanks for reading.
Tuesday, August 21st 2012 at 12:16 pm |
Thanks good advice. As a non SEO type it seems to me that in many searches there are a range of businesses that all offer much the same, and are themselves, much the same. Why one solicitor or accountant should rank higher than another is beyond me. Would a fairer approach not be to introduce a bit of randomness so that No. 50 today appeared No3 tomorrow. That may go a long way to remove the need for twisting sites for SEO?
Also have to wonder if a consideration is Google’s need for revenue? Want to be seen well then pay!
Tuesday, August 21st 2012 at 4:54 pm |
Hi Alan,
Thanks for the comment. As a marketer, I would strongly recommend you ensure what you’re offering isn’t “much the same” as your competitors.
I agree that one solicitor or accountant ranking higher solely on the basis of their ability to work the search engines is a miserable way of determining who appears first. Much of what Google’s working on (and Bing, for that matter), revolves around finding other signals that indicate who’s legitimately different/better. Or at least better fit for that particular customer’s search. The point isn’t to be “fair” to the supplier. It’s to be “fair” to the customer.
Let’s take, for example, an architect. It’s unlikely a firm that mainly handles the development of office towers in city centers would be well suited to customers looking to renovate an 18th-century cottage in the country. A good search engine ought to understand enough context to show results that match the searcher’s needs. (Whether they do is another matter).
And, as for “pay to be seen,” be careful what you wish for. Google has recently changed its product search to do just that. Many retailers that used to appear in product searches now find themselves faced with the prospect of having to pay if they want to continue appearing in those search results. And many in the travel industry fear Google will do the same thing in their space. While I’m not in favor of government oversight of the process, I also don’t want my clients facing a bill every month just to appear in the results.
Thanks again for reading and thanks for your comment.
Tuesday, August 21st 2012 at 4:29 pm |
If SEO is dead I suggest you do the following:
open your robots.txt file and write the following:
Disallow: /
Tuesday, August 21st 2012 at 5:50 pm |
OK… now that got a laugh out of me. A legitimate LOL.
But, let’s be fair. I never said search engines were dead. So as to not repeat myself, take a look at my reply to Jim Seward above.
Some types of SEO (we can hope), are dead. At the same time, those SEO’s who do a good job of helping their customers both address legitimate technical issues and answer customer questions will likely be around a long time.
Tuesday, August 21st 2012 at 5:52 pm |
Oh, and for those who don’t get the joke, do not do as the fine folks at CMS Buffet (jokingly, we can only hope), suggest. Leave your robots.txt just the way it is.