Is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) dead?
SEO developed into a quasi-industry because of a few factors during the post .com boom, mostly supported by the domination of Google and the lack of technology understanding from users and businesses. Businesses knew they needed to get ‘on the internets’ but few new what this meant. So they bought Google AdWords and learned that through other methods later known as “SEO” they could be featured high on Google’s search rankings. Then Socialnomics changed this, making social media the new ‘go to’ place to get customers and exposure for your business.
Social media marketing became a new way for SEOs to sell similar services, but ultimately, social media didn’t facilitate traditional SEO methods. Marketing inside social media was more about going ‘viral’ than keyword optimization or other strategies. Bots could automate this process but didn’t create ‘real’ users, and who wants 100,000 bot followers? Social media was the canary in the coalmine, and what finally killed SEO is the recent NSA security scandal, which will redefine how users use the internet.
Factors contributing to the death of SEO:
- Firms in India offering true SEO for FREE
- Vast increase in education of users, who can do SEO for themselves
- Google changing algorithm rules (Panda)
- Frustrated firms using Adwords and other paid PPC marketing vs. SEO
- Over saturation of the SEO provider market
- Small number of SEOs using tools so powerful they easily dominate any market
The death of SEO will no doubt give rise to a new use for the tools and intelligence provided by SEOs. In one sense, SEOs ‘worked’ for Google, although they weren’t paid.
If you read strategies about “SEO Post Panda” they all say the same thing: have great content. Wasn’t that the point of the internet? Wasn’t that how the web was before Google?
