Is SEO Still Relevant to Small Businesses?
- Image by smemon87 via Flickr
Does SEO still matter?
So we’re on the heels of today’s big announcement from Google’s-Google Instant is here! big announcement. Google describes as a search enhancement that shows results-as you type! As one might expect this has led to quite a stir amongst the blogosphere.
Interestingly I’d began this post before learning of Google Instant. But this new development does reinforce the urge to openly ponder the question on whether “SEO is irrelevant?”.
Before we get into that I’m going to do is provide you with two quotes-one is from someone whom I have followed for a while, Robert Scoble, the other is from a site that I just learned about called My SEM Experts.
SEO Detractors
From Scobleizer:
“…The writing is on the wall. Small business marketing is moving away from focusing on SEO… there’s something deeper going on. Google has built systems that aren’t Page Rank controlled anymore and are giving far better analytics to small businesses than they did a year ago. They know a LOT more about your behavior now other than you clicked on a link, even to the extent that they know whether you called that business or bought something and THAT is changing the skills SEO/SEM types need to have.No longer is it about optimizing search engine results and the new breed is going beyond just search engines to provide holistic systems that find and track customers not only on search engines like Google and Bing, but on social networks like Facebook and Twitter…”
SEO Defenders
Now for an alternate take…this one is from Emma Davis at My SEM Experts
“…Internet searching isn’t going anywhere, and this means that if you seek success with online strategies, potential customers still need to find your site. When using the most sophisticated mobile apps, most users don’t even realize that much of the data they are consuming is pulled with technology based in search engine algorithms. Thus your website still must be full of relevant keyword-saturated content and it must still appear highly ranked in search results if you hope to generate high levels of traffic through any online source.
SEO is the Root of Everything
No matter what your online strategy of choice is, you can’t succeed with any of them without a successful product website from which to sell your goods, whether they are tangible objects or abstract concepts. Pay-per-click advertising and social media marketing both depend on pointing traffic to a well-designed and easily navigable landing page…”
So where do I stand? Somewhere towards the left. I can identify with Robert Scoble’s notion that 1) as search engines continue to evolve websites will become less dependent on SEO as primary drivers of traffic and 2) as surfers become more entrenched in alternate ways of finding content they will depend less on search engines for finding information. That being said in the here and now organic search is still relevant. However, the bigger question to me is this, “is our current definition of organic search engine optimization still valid?’.
SEO today is as much about usability and conversation (probably more so) than it is about backlinks, anchor text, and keyword density. Indeed the backlinks, anchor text, and keyword density aspect of SEO has been made redundant by blogging and social media-meaning that a person who knows little about organic search, but who engages in smart blogging and social media practices can still achieve solid rankings in the search engine results.
However, if we are defining SEO as getting customer reviews, building a community around your content, adhering to usability standards, utilizing online newsrooms & content rich online press releases, and creating an accessible site then SEO is still relevant. Any takers?
10 Responses to “Is SEO Still Relevant to Small Businesses?”
Julius on September 15, 2010
Oh by the way I think you have included part of the quote twice in your article.
My recent post 4 Mistakes that Will Easily Suffocate Your Reader Engagement
BeninB on September 15, 2010
Dan Lew on September 16, 2010
Nice post, for me this is why even as SEO being my main focus I also do not close my eye and when I can act on other methods when I need too, particularly with Social Media, Viral Marketing and sometimes PPC.
The online world is evolving quicker then we ever imagined, getting to the first page is one thing, creating community and building relationship is where the future is heading!
See you around!
Daniel
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My recent post Top 5 Ways To Improve Your Search Engine Results
BeninB on October 26, 2010
Sorry it took me so long to write back. Something told me to check my Akismet folder and when I did there were multiple legit comments-including yours. Right, this is how we write or should write anyway. And for the record, I agree with you SEO is here to stay. Anything that uses the energy of the visitor to accomplish goals is a keeper.
Thanks for the comment and sorry again about that.
søgemaskineoptimering on January 25, 2011
BeninB on January 26, 2011
deal with stress on August 2, 2011
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