* Is SEO Dead, Again? PLUS: Predictions!
Every SEO guru has declared the death of SEO at least
once, and then they make "future" SEO predictions in their next blog post. My turn, but in just one
post!
By Dirk Johnson
Having been in this BS circus called
Search Engine Optimization for over 20 years now, it’s a reliable bet that some
SEO guru will regularly declare that “SEO is DEAD” and post another blog article along
those lines.
Usually this activity
corresponds with a new Web marketing service that they are selling that is
un-related to SEO. The message is: “Forget about SEO, do THIS instead!”
Yes, it is all kind of
laughable. SEO has died and been resurrected more than all of the characters on
Days of Our Lives, combined.
But this kind of “SEO is
Dead” noise is par for the course in the SEO world. If you don’t believe me,
here’s a long list of it….
https://www.bing.com/search?q=SEO+is+Dead
SEO is Alive and Well, if a Wee Bit Aged Now
Sure, things are
changing in the SEO world a bit. The search engines are finding ways to push
the “free results” down the page in the search results, with fancier ads, video
clips, “local packs”, “featured snippets”, and other noise.
Nevertheless, people
still know enough to seek out the “free search results” on the page, in order
to get an unfiltered look at what’s available to them.
SEO is Still “King of the Jungle” When it Comes to Return-on-Investment
Applying proper and effective Search Engine Optimization basics to a local services
website (like music lessons) is probably still the single most productive and
cost effective thing you can do in the world of marketing. It’s been that way
for 20 years, with no real end in sight.
Maybe the return is not quite what it was when there was very little other
“noise” on the results page, but SEO IS NOT DEAD for most local service industries.
My Own ROI With SEO
In my own case, I have
earned over $120,000 directly from the SEO efforts that I applied to my
part-time music lesson website over five years ago. While I did do the SEO work
myself, I’d have spent less than $500 if I were paying my own SEO consulting
prices.
With a cost estimated at
$500, and income derived from it greater than $120,000, that kind of return on
investment is very hard to beat in the world of advertising and marketing.
Almost ALL of my music student leads in the last 5 years have come from
search engine traffic, and that continues to this day.
So, the next time you
see some SEO guru click-baiting you with a headline that “SEO is Dead”, please
realize that you are either being played, or they are a fool. It’s often hard
to tell in the SEO world.
SEO PREDICTIONS for the NEW YEAR!
Here’s another favorite
among the SEO guru crowd. They LOVE to make predictions about what’s coming
down the pike from Google.
Now, please realize that
NONE of these people actually work for Google, and most have no inside track
information whatsoever, but hey, they have a need to look like gurus who have
crystal balls.
These SEO prediction
articles are almost always…wrong.
The worst offenders are
the ones who align their predictions with their own SEO methodology, in hopes
of inspiring Google to reward THEIR OWN approach to SEO.
OK – here’s a link to
some of this SEO prediction noise….
https://www.bing.com/search?q=SEO%20predictions
Sorry, No Predictions Here
I have no idea what
Google or Bing is going to do next…J
One Hope, Though
However, I do have one HOPE…..and
I have no clue if it will materialize, but the winds are changing, and this is
not a prediction, but reality.
Google is actively
interfering with many aspects of the ecommerce world, inserting themselves
between business owners and their clients, with the intention of peeling off a
percentage of each transaction.
This is not a joke or a
Chicken Little scenario. It is already happening, especially in the hotel and
travel and restaurant industry. Google is actively looking for ways to cut out
the travel portals, by offering bookings for flights, hotels, and car rentals
directly within the Google-sphere.
Google has already
tested “local service” ads for home services, similar to Home Advisor. It’s not
a big thing yet, but they don’t give up easily.
Google is already
looking at restaurant food delivery, and Google Shopping is already a thing.
When Does It Stop?
Sure, Google is going after the big dollar industries first. But when do they
stop? Who knows?
Maybe only when they
have cornered the entire market for just about everything, and every business
owner will have to pay their asking price?
Maybe when they no longer even attempt to put free search results on a search
page, if there is money to be made from the search?
Maybe then businesses
will cry foul?
I don’t know, but the Feds ARE closing in on this.
Monopolies make great
political targets, and since this affects business owners, expect that BOTH
political parties will want a piece of the action here.
Don’t believe me…? Here’s are the links
(right from Google, ha!)
https://www.google.com/search?q=federal+antitrust+regulation+of+Google
Google has built a
juggernaut on the backs of EVERYONE ELSE’S information. Yet, they are no longer
satisfied with the pure advertising revenue that provides, they now want to use
their dominant search traffic position to force much of the business world to
become revenue participants, on their terms.
The alternative is to pay them nothing, and get nothing.
I tend to be an
open-minded business owner, but if you look carefully underneath what is
happening, Google’s focus is becoming much more aggressive. It appears to be
aimed toward a scenario where their power (again, it is wholly derived from
information provided by others) is being used forcefully for their sole
benefit.
It May Take Many More Years
Google knows it that it
must proceed carefully and incrementally, lest they poke the big dragon that is
the Federal Trade Commission and the politicians. We’ll have to see how it
plays out, won’t we?
For that reason, there
is good reason to suspect that good old SEO, as it exists right now, will
likely continue to yield great returns on investment for years to come. Maybe
it is on it’s way out, but that day could be a long way down the road, if ever.
If the Feds clamp down
on their revenue-sharing schemes, then SEO may never die! Long live SEO!
To do nothing now regarding your search engine optimization, with the prediction that it will all come crashing to a halt
15 years from now, is not really a good business choice.
In the Meantime Don’t Hold Yourself Back!
Using the SEO
Guide for music lesson studios, you can either do all of this yourself, or
if you don’t have time, or if you prefer to have someone else manage the basics
of SEO for you, please contact
me.
And,
as always, if you want to get a quick review of your current website SEO
condition, please contact
me with your website address, and I’ll be glad to have a look and report
back to you what I find.
Thanks again for tuning
in!