* 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!