Why SEO is NOT Dead
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webpronews has put a Bruce Clay Video from pubcon 2008 saying that “ranking is dead” which was given spin by some people to put it as SEO is Dead (if we see google trends of this term, I am pretty sure this term is being generously used since 2005).
So I thought to put my own Blog Post on why SEO is Not Dead. Infact I will go ahead and say, even ranking is also not dead though its very difficult to take ranking as a parameter to evaluate ROI and results now (I think this is what Bruce Clay was saying, the rest of people who say SEO is dead are just trying for link bait)
Why SEO is not Dead
1. As long as search engines are “ranking” pages I don’t see “ranking is dead” phrase making much sense. Personalization is going on for years now and I haven’t seen it making too much difference in generic and personalized results. Also if you think about it, the chances of a showing 10 results for one user and showing 10 totally different results to other users are very less. There may be exceptions but eventually its the quality of the page which get highest precedence. Personalization is more for fine tuning rather than for showing totally different results.
2. SEO was never about Ranking - Those people who think SEO means getting on top of search engines have certainly not understood what SEO really is and haven’t got the concept of how business on web works. The only thing that matters here is ROI. If a person is spending $10k on his SEO campaign and even after getting on top of search engine, is not making any sale then coming on top of serps is useless. On the other hand, if the person is not able to come on top of search engines but still the traffic is up by 20% and the campaign has helped in getting more sales and more brand value creation then we can certainly call the campaign successful. So in short, its not about being on top but its about Return over Investment.
3. The way search engine rank pages hasn’t changed much and is not going to change much either very soon - Lets be honest here, most of the macro stuff as far as ranking pages is concerned is already out. The only thing search engines can do is refine things which they are doing by adding personalization and asking users to rank content. So the factors which make pages rank still exist, its just that some new factors have got added but this don’t mean that the value of old factors like on page SEO and backlinks have got reduced.
4. Net is Growing fast - Since the net traffic is growing very fast, even if you lose a portion of traffic due to personalization and factors like user bahavior, you can get compensated by new users. Saying that you should stop trying to come on first page of search engines because now the results will be different for ever user is total rubbish.
5. Your competitors are using it - This is one of my favorite lines 
.. if you are in a niche where you have 4 competitors, all of you selling same product and have similar websites and if one of them is using SEO to be in front of others then you have 2 options, to do nothing and to think that you can’t do much since SEO is dead or to take action and to convert lead into sales.
People are calling SEO is dead since 2005 (and I can bet most of them are making loads of money through SEO only) so to me, SEO is evolving along with search engines. But the traditional definitions are certainly meaningless and practices useless. If you can keep in pace with current search engine changes then SEO can give you huge returns (considering where PPC is heading!) and if you are stuck with link exchanges and adding keywords after every 80 words,then you are doomed.
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3 Comments on this post
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Alex Panait said:
I totally agree with you on many points but especially on 1. I have seen the webpronews video today and Bruce Clay might be right in some things but saying that seo is dead wasn’t so smart.
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:37 am -
John said:
A search engine may use hundreds of factors while ranking the listings where the factors themselves and the weight each carries may change continually.
December 5th, 2008 at 11:40 am -
John Alexander said:
To say “ranking is dead” is not true. Ranking has not died, but it has changed considerably in 2008 and more in 2009 through the effect of Personalization. Someone recently asked me to review their new “rank checking tool?” They were complaining that it seems like there is so much conflicting in reporting and “since all the old tools are no longer working” they said, they were building a new one. I hated to tell them that there really was nothing wrong with the old tools, the challenge is not with the tool itself, but it is the way search engines are now delivering up results based on your personal search history. Another professional firm that’s been around for years called to say, “John, what is happening? We’ve never seen anything like what we are seeing now. The conflicting ranking results are causing us to fight with our clients.”
I understand exactly what Bruce is saying although I have not seen any of his material.
But rankings are no longer based on a traditional linear ranking scale.
While it is still important to rank well, it is no longer ranking in the traditional sense. Now, and especially in the future, it is going to be more about how well you rank, for what percentage of your genuine audience of buyers and also for what percentage of the time.
Saying that ranking is dead is a good pitch for a headline, but it’s not quite true.
SEO is alive and well but the rules have changed significantly and will continue to change more in 2009. Distinguished IBM Engineer Mike Moran has said that in his opinion, “Personalization of Search” is one of the biggest SEO industry changes since the introduction of “Pay Per Click.” Mathematician Michael Marshall, who often conducts Search Engine Academy classes for the US Patent Office has been teaching about the upcoming implications of Personalization as well as the solutions to handle it, since about 2004. But it was not until 2008 that people began wondering what was happening in their results. 2009 will be no different. For those who get a handle on the latest SEO skills, (as opposed to tools) SEO is not dead. But SEO may seem to be dying to many who do not realize things do change.
Many times, people will teach SEO as a process, but they never really get a firm handle on the “why” factor. Why do you do a certain process, the way you do? This is very important because if you understand the “why” you can also take notice when the industry changes. If all you have is a lit of “How to” factors and don’t understand why, it’s very easy to miss it and be left behind.
February 9th, 2009 at 1:01 am