Why SEO is Not Dead

Neal Cabage is only the most recent writer to use the words "SEO is Dead." in a headline. His article follow a number of blog posts, and even a website seoisdead.net, all dedicated to this topic. This has quickly become one of the oldest clichés on the internet. Any quick search for the term “seo is dead” or “is seo dead” will quickly bring up results from both sides of the argument, though you’ll notice those who argue against this supposed death of SEO populate a larger portion of the top search results. I can’t imagine why…

Let us look at why SEO will never die.

SEO, an acronym for search engine optimization, is broadly defined as including any activity or set of activities designed to get business from the organic or natural search results in a search engine. If you change the title tag on your homepage in the hope it will cause your website to rank better on Google, you’re doing SEO.

There are ways to get business from search engines that are not generally defined as having anything to do with SEO. Adspace on Google is not part of SEO, but can be beneficial to your SEO efforts. 

SEO will only ever die when Search Engines do. Until then, it continues to change and shape it's way around the Search Engines. The key is to stay on trend with the latest developments, and adapt your efforts effectively. So by definition even the word Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means to “game” the Google search engines (and others) to get your valuable content ranked higher than it would be if left alone to the forces of the Web. At the moment, Content is King. Google wants great, shareable content that people care about. 

So, how does Google's changes affect your SEO efforts? 

Simple.

You need to invest in real, valuable, relevant content that your audience wants. Grow your internal thought leaders to where they can add value to your audience and positioning in the market. Follow internal SEO practices to make sure it is found and sees the light of day. Take the time to make it so compelling that people talk about it and share it.

Look to real social media community support, compelling PR, and real content; for that is where true SEO practitioners are turning more and more also.

Common sense, but not common practice.

The bottom line is, SEO is alive, it's a flexible thing that changes more often than not. Bloggers going on and on about how SEO has died, has clearly lost the trend. 

Next week we'll be taking a look at Google's Penguin updates, and how to recover if you were hit.

    

2013-ITWWW-Odette Nieuwoudt