Subscribe in a reader
HOME
SEO isn’t dead but it is dying
Posted on April 17, 2007 - Filed Under Tips | 12 Comments
Will there ever be such a thing as search engine compliant SEO?
You know, where all it takes it 1, 2 and 3 to get a website ranked in search engines using only basic optimization in the form of crawlibility and buzz marketing?
Or will there always be weaknesses in algorithms giving the unfair advantage to those who are good at gaming the system?
If Google is successful in algorithmically determining “paid links” the only thing that might be left for “clients” will be clean code and traditional marketing.
When I had a quick chat with Danny Sullivan awhile back I asked if SEO will be replaced by internet marketing. Danny did not really follow what I was implying so let me try again by saying:
SEO isn’t dead but it is dying.
April 17th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
The better and better search engines get at ranking sites based on their merits versus their tricks of the trade, the better well designed sites will rank and the lower the “optimized” ones will. Ideally Google would have the goal of the SEO be to build the page so it’s the best user experience possible. Unfortunately that doesn’t pay dividends yet, so companies hire an SEO who helps them make the page crawlable, then markets it with their link network of buddies. Until that doesn’t work quite as well, it will always be the way.
Keep an eye on those SEO contests, the day the guy with the most subdomains and sites to link from doesn’t win, and the page with the best content does, then SEO is dead. Until then, SEO is alive and well.
April 17th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
I am seeing good change in the value of links, it takes very few natural links to get a new site going. If you keep a site out of the “paid” inferno and do not dirty your internet footprint you can only rank well in future (Google) algorithms.
Exactly and as usual, well said JLH!
April 18th, 2007 at 2:06 am
Hey Aaron, we have seen changes like this over and over again for years. I think you can expect changes and the normal attrition of the SEO’s who depend on a current method to attract links or cloak or what ever it might be will faze out.
But basic SEO still works, and if you can come up with a decent linking campaign it can really help as well. This is usually done with a great PR strategy as well as a solid networking strategy. Not to be confused with social media.
It’s amazing how many links you can get from people after you meet them in person.
April 18th, 2007 at 6:39 am
Better be careful with how you use the PR abbreviation, Aaron Shear. Someone might get confused. ;)
As far as “dying” goes, I would say that it’s more a case of “evolving”. SEO amounts to nothing more than a large-scale game of human chess between a search engine and those who would game or optimize for it it.
A sample scenario (that doesn’t apply in all cases, but is just for illustrative purposes) :
Search engine introduces change, affected SEOs figure out how to gain rankings lost by the change.
Search engine introduces second change, affected SEOs come up with a link exchange or some other idea.
Search engine introduces third change, affected SEOs whine like children who just had their toys taken away while the unaffected SEOs shake their heads, maybe get a good chuckle out of the situation, and poke sticks at the raging affected SEO bear.
And so the game continues…
In other words, it’s not really dead. It’s not even necessarily dying. It is merely evolving into what appears to be a more complex game on the surface but really is quite simple underneath.
April 20th, 2007 at 10:10 am
As long as there are search engines there will be ways to optimize for them but link building is not search engine optimization. True organic search optimization skills are rarely utilized in the so-called SEO industry these days.
In that respect, Aaron, I agree with you: SEO is not yet dead, but it’s dying. However, it’s dying because of neglect, not because of anything Google does or can do.
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:26 pm
I’d have to disagree that SEO is dying. I would agree with Adam that a better word is “evolving”. There is an inconsistency in your post when you mention your question to Danny Sullivan about SEO being replaced by internet marketing. SEO IS internet marketing. In the tag line for your blog you mention “Search engine optimization a.k.a. SEO is a subset of search engine marketing”, and I would add, that search engine marketing is a subset of internet marketing. SEO’s are marketers. Marketing has been around forever and always will be. Search Engines will evolve and may eventually disappear to be replaced by something more advanced. But not anytime soon. SEO may evolve into something else, or may disappear in the future, but it’s healthy right now, and I predict it will be for a while.
April 28th, 2007 at 11:21 am
the sad thing is, regardless of how smart search engines become, there will always be something or someone out there trying to cheat the system.
May 17th, 2007 at 6:44 am
There is no way seo will die. As long as optimizers keep up to date with the search engines there will always be a way to figure them out with testing.
June 17th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
You are absolutely right! We have to replace seo with a holistic approach. SEO is a technical issue- but online marketing consists of concepts of communication… SEO is about tagging and giving an ergonomic structure for the contents.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:37 am
I dont usually comment, but after reading through so much info I had to say thanks
June 30th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Well written and and got some very good points regarding SEO
October 21st, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Well, as with search engines the SEO strategies are evolving. The future of search is now focused on mobiles and PDAs and so have the SEO strategies. I know a lot of people in the industry now focusing on mobile search and its paying back