A question that has been debated in many social media groups and digital marketers alike. Many complain that certain markets are saturated with too many competitors and are impossible to rank on page one. Other agencies bellyache when search engines like Google or Yahoo change their algorithms to correspond with the changing way we place value on information we get from the Internet. Even large social search companies like Yelp started inversion narratives in a failed publicity stunt to gain hate against search engines. All this miss information out there leads many to believe that SEO is dead. But is it?
Clearing the Confusion:
Let’s take a search engine like Google for example. For almost two decades Google has been providing a way for people to find information and websites through its search directory. But it has been doing something else. Every time you enter a search term or question in Google search it stores that question and keeps count how many times everyone enters the same question or search term. The founders of Google realized this part of the search is its value and have been storing that information since the beginning. Imagine knowing what people are looking for can be a valuable marketing tool. This is Google’s bread and butter; access to keywords and the ability to sell those key terms in placing ads on its website.
Enter the SEO Agency:
Back in the late 90’s, the popularity of search engines gave rise to a business model to help organizations rank on search engines. Since search engines were in their infancy there was little oversight for malicious behavior. As a result, many SEO agencies saw tremendous opportunity to collect high monthly fees, push a button, and an automated process spew out unrelated garbage across the internet to game the search platform and rank a company on page one quickly.
Search engines like Google saw the integrity of their business model starting to erode. They developed automated processes and algorithms to detect if a domain is gaming the system and penalize of their search site those websites who are doing it. Search engines like Google established a hierarchy of what it believes is important to rank on search engines. This hierarchy periodically changes due to how we value what information we get from the Internet and how we get it.
As a result of these changes many SEO went out of business and others had to re-invent themselves to accommodate the change. Even today there are still a few “flash in the pan” SEO agencies that still practice the same business model of the 90’s but their days are numbered.
Misconceptions of SEO:
The is a common notion out there that SEO will solve all of your marketing needs. Just pay a SEO firm they will get you on page one of Google and cash will automatically pile in. Although this works in some cases for others soon find out its much more complex. Real questions have to be raised with your SEO company to determine if SEO whether paid or organic will work or if there is better use or combination of resources.
So do we Bury it?
I say no. SEO is still alive but not for everyone or every agency. It takes an upfront agency to first look to see if your organization can benefit from SEO and map out the effort needed to accomplish this. One thing all SEO firms can agree on that SEO today is not a sprint but a marathon that sometimes takes a lot of hard work and time to accomplish but the benefits can be fulfilling.
Success Media Services can determine if SEO or other digital marketing platforms would be best for your organization. We have the experience of delivering attention to your digital platform. Contact us today to see how we can help you.