SEO Is Dead
Um, what? I’m in the SEO business and here I am proclaiming the death of it. Yeah, pretty much. And, to add to the matter—I’m not even disappointed about it.
Well, now that I’ve got your attention, let me explain. First of all, I will admit that my title is perhaps a bit inflammatory but I feel that it needs to be in order to get the point across. We’ve been hearing for a long time now about how Google is changing what it’s looking for in the way of SEO.
Take a look at this quick “Then-and-Now” view of things:
Ok, you get the point.
What once worked wonders does no more. What we all came to know and love as SEO is gone—dead, you could say.
But, wait—there’s one more thing that really should be added to this:
Huh? No, I’m not really struggling with multiple personality disorder nor do I get a charge out of arguing with myself. It’s just that both of these things are true—yet very different.
In years past, you wanted to work as hard as you could to get the best SEO results possible. Today, you want to work as hard as you can to get the best SEO results possible—like it or not, we all need those results. It’s what you need to do in order to get them that differs. The level of your effort should remain as high as ever but the execution should look very, very different.
It’s Not All About Google
That’s right. It’s not.
It’s all about your customers—and potential customers. Stop spending (dare I say “wasting”) time on trying to woo Google. Focus instead on what your customers need and want. Talk to your customers. Acknowledge their problems. Give them solutions. Arm them with information. Earn their trust. Cultivate a community. Build your brand—and your SEO.
Yes, You Can Do It
I am excited about this change. It’s refreshing and much needed. In some ways, I even believe that it somewhat levels the playing field in this admittedly ever-competitive game. Companies don’t have to be experts on keyword selection, link structures or schema markups. What they really have to be are experts in their business and their customers—and make their offerings and communications match that.
