10 April 2010

Is SEO Dead?

Every once in a while, I will hear someone in the industry claim that SEO is dead and something else is going to take its place (usually social networking). While, I do feel that search engine optimization is only a small component in an online marketing strategy, I would have to say that SEO is here for at least the next few years. It’s a popular statement for ‘forward thinkers’ to claim that Google’s days are numbered and that soon, the masses are going to stop searching in the traditional method and start find information on the web using some other form of media. These ‘forward thinkers’ are also usually self-proclaimed radical thinkers that can see ahead of the markets and know more about media than actual media and marketing experts. Unsurprisingly, these salesmen usually follow up their claims by getting you to invest in their great new idea.

The truth of the matter is, like it or not, Google is going to be around for the foreseeable future. Just like the Yellow Pages were around forever back in the pre-web days, there simply is no viable alternative. Google indexes everything it can and provides people with a tool to quickly flip through and find what they need. How do you replace such a simple, basic idea?

SEO will be around for at least a few more years simply because it logically has to be. Google is not powered by magic, it is powered by technology. Google sends out its bots to crawl the web and index what it can find so that we can search through an ever changing online environment. Obviously the Google algorithm is based on hard facts to display appropriate information when someone makes a search query. The secret to SEO is not to try and trick this algorithm but make it work for you and in the process, develop a better product. True, proper search engine optimization takes a lot of hard work and dedication. SEO experts know this and some do what it takes to generate proper code and content while others are constantly finding new ways to cut corners.

When people say that ‘SEO is dying’, what they mean is that those out there cutting corners are slowly falling behind. This is good. This means that Google is working hard to reward those of us who actually take the time to create new content, to provide useful information, and contribute positively to the online-world.

When I approach SEO, I take a client’s content and I rewrite it properly. I take points that are important to their message and work on creating text that makes the site a useful source of information. When people learn something new from your site, they tend to trust your products and marketing. When they trust your message, they will start to buy your products. If your information is constantly being updated and your providing new, useful information to your readers, Google will pick up on this and reward you with a higher ranking.

So, is SEO dead? I think that we are nearing the end of the days when SEO guys can make a few keyword changes to a site, point some random links to a client’s domain and artificially get a site moved to the top of the page. If you define SEO as clean coding a messy site and reorganizing content so that it’s easier to read and more informative for your visitors, then ‘SEO’ is here to stay.

Nexonta Technologies Inc