Is the death of SEO coming soon?

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

Ha ha - I knew this article would get some heat. Sorry about that Joe - I know this stuff is exactly what you want to hear.

I'll tell you where all of this came from. I was in a meeting Friday when someone mentioned the Nielsen report. It got me thinking that people were getting smarter about search, but after having that thought over the full weekend I had to say no. That is probably part of it, but I just can't buy that people are 16% better at it when so many are still searching so blandly. It got me thinking that something more significant has to be at play here. During that same meeting Social Media was brought-up as the reason for the decline in searches and I didn't want to believe that. But that is a little more buyable; however, I have a hard time giving social media 16% as well.

My answer is I really don't know. I doubt anyone does. I wrote this article to see what others thought and to bring to light an interesting phenomenon: searches have dropped.

Brian Pasch gave the response I was looking for. He had one little word that makes the difference no matter which way you fork down the road: CONTENT. Good quality content will always prevail. And that was what I was hoping someone would say in this comments stream - thanks Brian!

 

[Richard Valenta (blog)]

People have been saying SEO is dead for as long as I can remember. It is alive and well and not going anywhere soon. Joe, 9 for Search, 4 for SM.

 

[Joe Pistell]

Richard,

I was dead wrong in my SM Shopping ratio. I have a new test that is a better SM tell.

For all you SM crusaders out there, I ask you one SIMPLE question.

WHERES THE BEEF?

#1). Count ALL your FB posts this month.
#2). Count all FB posts that solicited opinions about finding a product, service or professional.

My FB Wall for August 2010
450 posts. Of those, I counted 1 request for a solution for a dog that itches too much.

450:1

Whats your FB ratio?

 

[Joe Pistell]

If I could, I'd short FaceBook. It's a bubble that's reached its apex.

FB is one wrong mis-step from a free fall. For example, You can upload a picture of you or your friend and tag the name of the face in the pic. Now we've created a record connects your FACE to a machine language record.

It brings a new meaning to "FaceBook". ohoh... not good.

You can't tell me that this isn't a firestorm of epic proportions in the making. There's no way I'd ever want that data out in the cloud.

You can't tell me it cant happen, We're really not that far away: http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&r...

 

[ed.brooks]

Joe,

I think your 450:1 is about right. I did a quick scan through my Facebook stream and found some sellers, but no buyers.

Facebook seems like a fine Branding, Brand Management and Community Relations tool, but I don't think it's gonna get many customers on the lot tonight, tomorrow or this weekend.

 

[JIversDCH]

Social media won't replace search, though it may alter the percentage of traffic that comes from search. What is far more likely, in fact I would say nearly certain, is that search engines will figure out a way to use social media mentions/links in their ranking algorithms.

The other thing you're forgetting is that the best SEO strategies are simply good things to do REGARDLESS of the search engines. Good titles get people to click... it's simple copywriting. Links from popular, relevant web sites bring traffic outside of the search engines. The same thing goes for basically any piece of good SEO... after all, that's the point of the algorithms for the search engines: to give you the best results for your search.

 

[Clay Toporski (blog)]

The SEO you are talking about in this article is pretty much already dead. Google was the one that changed the way SEO works, and META tags have been on their way out for a while - being replaced by off site factors, such as authorities linking to your site/blog/etc. I don't see that changing any time soon.

Social media, although I think it can be harnessed for some businesses, probably doesn't work as well for others. I am fairly convinced that facebook and twitter, although nice, aren't going to make a huge difference in the way I sell cars.

Personally, I am trying to focus on creating content that reaches the attention of our online shoppers and their searches. Long tail searches. I would rather ranks for "Red 2004 Toyota Camry NJ" than "Toyota NJ" because I am reaching my target's needs. I can't do that through social media quite as well as I would like.

 

[Mitch Gallant (blog)]

When we hit that fork in the road, will SEO ever die? I personally can't see it, the focus may shift away from Google, but with all the information on the internet I think it's safe to say that some type of SEO will always be around. I think we're way past the point of no return. I also think that if the shift went to SM the money and the brains would and literally the SEO would shift there and find a way to convert leads.

People are way to lazy to not use a search engine for answers now that we've seen the internet/information revolution.

 

[Mitch Gallant (blog)]

When we hit that fork in the road, will SEO ever die? I personally can't see it, the focus may shift away from Google, but with all the information on the internet I think it's safe to say that some type of SEO will always be around. I think we're way past the point of no return. I also think that even with a shift to SM there would still be SEO to be had within that platform.

People are way to lazy to not use a search engine for answers now that we've seen the internet/information revolution. SEO will never die, ever.

 

[Joe Pistell]

Keep your eyes on the new kid on the block.

Blekko
http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=blekko&amp...

blekko Goal: Great Search Results with total transparency into how it all works (from a webmasters POV)