SEO Isn’t Dead, It’s Evolved
June 24, 2013
It’s one of those things that we have all read about and had conversations about. Is SEO dying? Should we all abandon ship and head for the hills!? At the rate that Google is changing, updating and morphing into a completely new version of itself, it certainly begs the question. What will become of SEO? I’ve spoken to many professionals within the marketing realm and we all agree that it’s going nowhere. Just incase you missed it, our blog back in April discusses why you need SEO now more than ever!
We also agree that some of the techniques that used to work to obtain strong keyword rankings have become extinct and new methods have come into play. Over the last five years, I have seen some of the most incredible developments with SEO and with Google. It’s these developments that have caused the industry and marketers alike to evolve. We actually discussed these changes years ago within our SEO blog.
Today, on page optimization efforts focus much more heavily on relevant content, beautiful title tags, and the perfect amount of keyword integration. Backlinking has become a journey to obtain niche specific connections, mentions in blogs, and is more heavily focused on competitors than ever before. We (and Google) are now much more aware of what is going on with the whole web, and constantly looking for opportunities to create a strong, and helpful link, rather than creating a piece of content and posting it on the web. The difference? Today’s SEO requires innovation and “outside of the box” thinking. Social media has also become a strong player in the new game. A few years ago, Facebook and Twitter weren’t really on the radar, and Google+ was just a twinkle in Google’s eye.
So, why is everyone talking about the death of SEO? In my opinion, it’s the fact that SEO has been turned into a, somewhat, dirty word by black hat SEO companies who participated in less-than-ideal link building strategies and as a result, tanked their clients. These people have helped to give SEO companies a bad reputation and have taken the trust away from clients who are looking to boost their web presence.
When big dog, SEOMoz dropped the “SEO” part of their “Moz” last month, it became clear to me that we were heading into a different kind of future. There will always be a need for Search Engine Optimization – creating strong websites that represent your keywords and create a great user experience, then adding that website to relevant directories, keeping a blog and creating fresh content, obtaining mention in other people’s blogs, keeping your social profiles updated, and keeping an eye on and emulating what your competitors are doing. Will it always be called, SEO? Perhaps not, as it is increasingly becoming a full-service marketing solution, but I don’t think that SEO will ever be dead….at least not in MY heart! 😉
Jori Stevian is an Account Manager at SEOhaus. If you would like to stay up-to-date on all of the latest SEO industry news and tips, you can subscribe to our blog here. Thanks for reading the SEOhaus blog!