SEO Dead? Hardly…
Another SEO Eulogy? Image by Wikipedia.
Whenever I hear someone say that SEO is dead it sort of reminds me of the whole Myspace is dead pronouncement that has cropped up over and over again until their recent re-emergence.
Essentially, what it boils down to is that just because you have something that appears to be a contentious threat on your heels doesn’t mean that you just fold up and call it quits.
Now when we talk about SEO we’re of course talking about something that isn’t controlled by one entity. But nonetheless the countless participants in the discipline known as SEO will and have begun to adapt to changing online environments.
Anyhow, here’s what sparked this post…I recently bumped into a post where someone, Ben Elowitz, argued the point that SEO is dead. What follows is a comment, in it’s entirety, that I posted on Ben’s personal blog in response to his original guest piece on Paid Content entitled, “SEO is Dead and SMO is the New King”:
“Yes, we both agree that the the consumer is at the root of the discussion. Where we differ is in how we as marketers are to address the consumers needs.
At the center of your argument are four premises:
- Search engine volume is declining
- That in their zeal to appeal to search engines publishers became all about the numbers, forgetting the consumer and proliferating the web with a bunch of disingenuous answers aimed at search engines
- That the algorithmic approach practiced by search engines is faulty
- That likes and other consumer behavior patterns exhibited on social networks are more accurate predictive models than search algorithms
The problem with these arguments is that while they may sound good on paper they exhibit a disconnect from reality.
Here is what I will do…Let’s make the conversation more practical. Imagine that search engines or rather SEO tactics were German manufactured car dealerships and that they represented the first dealerships on the block in Atlanta, GA on a street called Peachtree Industrial Blvd. Due to their first to market and near monopoly status in this section of Atlanta they reaped every reward that a market economy can offer, right?
Now for the sake of argument let’s say that a new kid on the block shows up expecting to shake things up-Japenese manufactured car dealerships (SMO)-several of them now purchasing prime property on Peachtree Industrial…Conventional wisdom would have you believe that the BMW, Mercedes, & VW dealerships will lose substantial business, right?
But in most cases the exact opposite happens, economists call this counter intuitive phenomena clustering. Essentially, overtime consumers will come to view this location on Peachtree Industrial as a one-stop shopping experience where they can go to one place and see everything they need to see without having to run all over town. In other words instead of cutting the pie into tinier pieces the pie actually expands.
This analogy applies to online vs offline. And the rising tide of SMO simply serves to both drive larger numbers traditional marketers online and it also helps more offline consumers (if there is such a thing these days) make it online. When they get online each group will inevitably choose between one, the other or both. But if you follow the logic you can see that search expands as SMO expands.
So thats a macro level explanation…Now lets go micro…I am a consumer, I’m bored, its the weekend, plus I’m a thirty something professional looking for some entertainment. I’m a pretty connected dude..So I first hop onto my Twitter client and tweet-”whats going on in Atlanta tonight?”
After a couple of minutes a few friends tweet back various events that are going on…So what do I do? I wanna know more about those events, but just to be on the safe side I hit the search engines up-first to get the locations of each event so I can determine which location is the closest…but then the light bulb really brightens up and I ask myself, “hey, if I’ve gotta pay money…may as well make sure that these events are worth it…what are other people saying about these events?”
So then I do another search (note: in this example the decision to turn to search is a subconscious one that is made on the basis of being able to get a split second answer-as opposed to having to wait) this time I type “reviews best of Atlanta Concerts” into the search bar. Then something interesting happens-a section of the search results page is sectioned off and it displays results from my social circle-both on twitter and Facebook and maybe even a few other networks/blogs. So I do what anyone in search of an answer does and click the links and the cycle continues becoming more and more refined until I feel confident with the answer.
In this example the consumer is channel agnostic and that’s because they’re following the scent of a possible solution-no matter where the scent leads them. This my friend is reality.”
This is how consumers make decisions-if you analyze it you’d find that its a very irrational and disorderly process-but then you’ll realize that as human beings irrationality is our nature because we’re composed of experience, emotion, and reason and often these stimuli conflict.”
11 Responses to “SEO Dead? Hardly…”
dan_stevens on November 1, 2010
Experience, emotion and reason might seem to conflict sometimes, but the fact of the matter is that when push comes to shove that's the only way we're able to reach decisions with our limited computational abilities.
As far as the death of SEO goes – this is not the first time there's a buzz around SEO becoming redundant, and every single time the field of SEM has adapted to the shifting reality around it. I'm not at all concerned
My recent post Halloween SEO
BeninB on November 1, 2010
So I can see why you're not concerned. I guess the only reason that I get concerned with these things is that I find untruths seem to spread around the web quicker than anything else and therefore I find that its good to try to stop the spread of them.
Otherwise, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts!
dan_stevens on November 1, 2010
Trying to stop the spread, or at least to contain it to some degree, is a respectable goal but not necessarily a realistic one.
My recent post Halloween SEO
BeninB on November 1, 2010
I feel you on that and can see where you're coming from. Never really thought about it like that. But it reminds me of a discussion that we here about w. offline media which is the discussion of why mainstream media publishes sensationalism without necessarily fact-checking first.
My response is that sometimes the audience themselves want to know whats circulating to the extent that not publishing these stories could spell the doom of media outlets not getting involved in the stories. What do you think?
dan_stevens on November 1, 2010
As conventional media outlets find it harder and harder to gain and retain audience (=customer base), online venues have less trouble with the above – mostly because they are available to whomever and they've got databases of information stored (unlike a conventional newspaper, which is limited in page count and general volume).
I most buzz cases, online media tap in very quickly to take advantage of the generated traffic, and they tap out just as fast when the buzz dies out. Conventional media should be (and generally are) more careful with this, since they are in a medium of higher obligation to ethics, professionalism etc.
My recent post Halloween SEO
BeninB on November 1, 2010
dan_stevens on November 1, 2010
You're not the only one, by the way – many other bloggers and SEO professional dove right into the matter and published hundreds of "Defense of SEO" posts and articles. You're in good company man
My recent post Halloween SEO
BeninB on November 2, 2010
Doc Sheldon on November 4, 2010
Great point on the expanding pie – I think that is spot on. Logic would tell me that there’s some finite limit to the size of a pie, but experience seems to indicate otherwise. I guess I won’t worry about it, ’til I see we’re down to the last slice.
Your “channel agnostic” point is well taken. I’ve certainly seen that trend increasing, and I expect it will continue to do so.
BeninB on November 4, 2010
So it is with consumers being channel agnostic. To the consumer its all just a means to an end-reaching their goal. Thank you so much
Terence Dayton on December 7, 2010