Is SEO in danger of becoming extinct?

Updated happygeek 5 Tallied Votes 6K Views Share

Google's seemingly always changing indexing algorithm continues to hit site rankings as the search giant continues to drive a new generation of SEO relying upon original and relevant content generation and sharing above all else. Now a panel of SEO experts in the UK has warned that companies need to avoid putting all their SEO eggs into the one Google basket and instead embrace SEO strategic evolution in order to maintain and grow traffic.

dweb-google At a round-table discussion, hosted by cloud provider UKFast, Sam Allcock, CEO of Custard Media, stated that the key to successful audience growth was traffic stream diversification rather than a reliance upon Google-led SEO strategies. "Businesses must investigate every alternative method of traffic, including Facebook and Twitter. It just so happens now the easiest way to attract traffic is through Google but will this be the case in five years?” Allcock said.

Naturally, much of the discussion revolved around the rise of social media and how this has ensured that link-building is no longer enough. "With the advent of social media it’s no longer about focusing on the link but on the traffic stream the content can give you" Christian Hill, director of strategy at digital agency Project Simply insisted, adding "It’s now about building the value of the business”.

UKFast MD Jonathan Bowers stated that his company has spent a lot of time assessing the role that hosting and page load speed plays in Google’s search ranking, but admitted that "as we grow we know that traffic is no longer solely Google-led. Original content of value and social media drive a significant portion of our traffic and ensure that should any dramatic changes happen to the Google algorithm, if we were to fall foul of these changes, we’d still have a traffic stream.”

Perhaps the real secret of audience reach that needs to be understood, then, is the changing definition of what traffic really is. Ian Patterson, a digital consultant, thinks that the most recent Google Penguin update has shifted the focus for companies and that they should start viewing traffic as "people with needs". He has a point, and in order to grow in terms of social media reach sites need to deliver the very best user service and experience that they can. This experience factor, however, is not necessarily reflected in Google positioning and the raft of algorithm updates does nothing to actually change this. As Allcock concluded "Searches are important to people and if Google is not showing the best sites in the top positions it will be affected".

Maybe, then, the time to give up on SEO is now and instead concentrate on socially-led search strategies? One thing that does remain a constant, whichever way you look at it, is that content remains king and a traffic generation strategy must continue to embrace that concept. After all, if you have good content then the social networks will surely act as your marketing conduit.

SEO isn't dead, just yet, but the whole site marketing landscape is changing fast and unless you start adapting now the harsh truth is that your future will be very bleak indeed.

mvmalderen commented: Nice article :) +13
Lauren Variant commented: Thanks for your information +0
canadafred 220 SEO Alumni Team Colleague Featured Poster

what is wrong is that Google's now showing half a page of sponsored results before natural results. It so almost impossible to determine what is the best web page for the search and what Internet marketers pay to be appearing important page to consider. I want to puke when I have to scroll to see my own hard earned top rankings degraded half way down the page and i'm sick and freakin tired of explaining my "mediocre" performances to clients. How can I stick a natural result above all the stealthlike sponsored ads above? They used to put the sponsored ads on the right sidebar, at least it was easier to differentiate. They should be regulated to go back to that model. This is just not right. The best web page should rank at the top no matter how much the search engine's bribed.

Is SEO on its way out ... indeed. The corporation obviously didn't make enough money from search advertising last year (38 billion). It isn't about being the best service or the better consumer choice that'll rank web pages anymore. It's about appearing to be and that is part of the grand illusion orchestrated by the do no evil crew for its investors.

johnybates 0 Newbie Poster

what is the solution after google new update of jan 2013

raavn111 -5 Light Poster

No i don't think so...

marketmongoose 13 Newbie Poster

Companies relying only on SEO will see their traffic and sales/leads fade away, as canadafred put it so eloquently. I say this, and I am a partner in an SEO firm called www.marketmongoose.com !
SEO campaigns that ignore social networks, referral marketing, and classified posting are leaving a huge amount of traffic on the table. There is LOT more to it than ranking on page 1 of google to get results for your sites and your client sites.
the internet has billions of pages...any one of them could potentially drive traffic.

mvmalderen commented: Good point ;) +13
Ramkarthick123 1 Junior Poster

I agreed with Davy's fact about SEO extinct. Without seo then Google and along oher engines will not be there

aceinfoway 0 Newbie Poster

which one is the best solution after google new update of jan 2013

getmused 0 Junior Poster

Social networks, referral marketing, and classified posting are parts of SEO techniques!
if any SEO company or professional don't include them in their works, you better find another experts.

raavn111 -5 Light Poster

Google is very vast and i don think they use any technology which can ever extinct because everyday there are so many websites launcing and they want traffic on their sites for that they will always need SEO for their sites to bring their sites on 1st page of google and then maintain that place they need SEO

.................

StandingDog 0 Newbie Poster

Great post Davey. For the last couple of years, I've actually started to referring to my work as "Search Engine Offtimization". I feel that my job in SEO is as much about removing dependance on search engines as it is ranking for search terms.

Jamivsocio 0 Newbie Poster

If you are thinking that SEO will be finished after some time then you are wrong as marketing is always be needed until unless new products are been made or new website become in market cos marketing is the only way you can tell people about your products.

lizwright04 0 Newbie Poster

SEO isn't dead, just yet, but the whole site marketing landscape is changing fast and unless you start adapting now the harsh truth is that your future will be very bleak indeed.

I agree, we just need to learn how we are going to adapt the new changes especially the updates in google algorithm. SEO is still part of the online marketing, different strategies can be use to make the website visible and have higher traffic/sales.

freedomgem -2 Newbie Poster

Hello all, SEO is not dead, it is the one and only area of expertise that can be applied into social media (optimizing the posts and the web presence overall) and in AdWords. SEO is evolving and its top goal is to build a solid business and brand reputation that will last for the years to come.

Also SEO now has to do with CRO as bounce rate, time on site and pages per visit metric have become top ranking factors that have to do with improving the user's experience. SEO is everywhere and its role is more vital than ever.

Today's SEOs should have solid knowledge of how to work with CROs to convert more traffic, increase user engagement as well as with social media, creative and other departments of a company.

A Spot on post with an audio episode about what works in SEO and what does not you can find here at the end of the post: http://seostrategies.quora.com/SEO-is-Not-Dead-Here-is-Why.

Michelle MacPhearson is a guest of Marketing Conqueso site.

starc_davis 0 Newbie Poster

I Think content is now ruling over seo.. even if you build links according to the link diversity you can get good rankings on SERP. what make seo confused that which sort of off page activities they need to do while promoting their websites or keywords.

There should be a way out to solve webmaster's this problem.

juanbeach -5 Newbie Poster

Thanks for sharing this useful article.

kalpesh.sheth.399 0 Newbie Poster

SEO will never finish because if you pay to Google then it is temporary result but SEO give you stable results for your site. SEO, SEM, SMO these are best part for the marketing because these are cheaper then Google advertisements so i think you are wrong and the seo will never finished and if you are updated day by day and doing quality work then you will never panelize so do quality work and come on first page.

garymoore321 0 Newbie Poster

Yes i will agree with you. SEO will never end. But most of the SEO Techniques changing day by day. Which are best Techniques now...

kalpesh.sheth.399 0 Newbie Poster

Just do quality work and you will get results so it is best way for ranking. We are doing only quality work and we are ranking properly and no need to worry with any update so just remember that thing and start posting.

dukee00 0 Light Poster

This is not possible,to get good postion in serch engine just you have to change the SEO style according to the Google updates .

carolm456 0 Newbie Poster

Why are some of you saying 'a' is better than 'b', or vice versa, and it's not fair? We have to do all of them all of the time.

Yes, high value content and putting the customer first is always the most important thing. You must do that, plus seo and social media and video and audio etc. as well.

I can't say I'm happy that achieving high rankings requires so many different ingredients to be successful, but it's a fact - and it's those who manage to do it all, and do it well, that get the rewards.

It's a fact that we are all competing against each other, and those who play the game well, are the ones who win.

If you are in the game, you have to play by the rules, even when they change. We might not like it, but that is how it is, and we just to have get on with it if we want to compete.

halenmartinez 0 Junior Poster in Training

listening to all the discussion i didn't came to any conclusion, and i'm not getting what google upto

jennysmith01 0 Newbie Poster

Google is always developing and modifying its algorithm so that it can give its users the most relevant content they search for. Now the Search Engines are more focused on websites that provides interesting, unique content and it has given rise to blogging and RSS Feeds as an SEO strategy. I don’t agree that SEO is dead but, SEO is changing and it is necessary to be updated of the changes so, your strategy must change with it too.

Member Avatar for LastMitch
LastMitch

I'm not sure.

I can't really make any opinion on it til I actually see how SEO is still useful or how social media and mobile apps is more useful.

lina0078 0 Newbie Poster

Thanks for the nice information which you have provided its also useful for Seo beginners....

midmed 0 Newbie Poster

The more they automate and improve their algo's, the more there will demand for SEO.

dukee00 0 Light Poster

SEO is going to change day by day it is just to provides the better results for user.

T.Singh 0 Newbie Poster

SEO plays a very big role in online markerting field. Every company in the online marketing field takes SEO tools helps for increasing her business. For fast result SEO always use tools. you can know about more SEO tools here : - http://colibritool.com

JimmDavis 0 Newbie Poster

Google is always developing and modifying its own algorithm to determine exactly the right content for each individual search, the changes they make continue to have a negative effect on millions of websites throughout the world.

The early years of SEO certainly focused on keyword meta tags and links. Now days, Google has stated many times that keyword meta tags are no longer a ranking factor and links are starting to loose their power when it comes to the SERP (Search Engine Ranking Pages). It is not that links are becoming obsolete, but there are many other factors that now affect your website ranking. Search Engine Optimization evolves as technology does. SEOs (Search Engine Optimizers) now have to take into consideration local search, mobile devices, and tablets when optimizing. Link building as a stand alone method for optimizing your traffic is not a good strategy anymore.

Fawaz_1 0 Newbie Poster

dear "aceinfoway"

after the google Jan 2013 update now just quality content with quality backlinks will help to improve your site seo. need to do some serious and natural working on getting seo backlinking.

Prabal_1 0 Newbie Poster

Interesting post, at least to me. Thanks for write up. Here I want to share my experience with ColibriTool . It's a cool tool for SEO works. You can try thus leaving all other tools aside. I'm assuring you about your satisfaction like me with this tool. I hope you will be liking it.

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