The future of SEO: Search, Content, Google Algorithm Updates —
Web developers used to search about; SEO is dead or not? SEO is dying? SEO is different from SEM? And so on.
SEO is still active and growing. It’s just more suitable and effective today as it has ever been.
I must say, it may even be more significant. Today, 55% of all website traffic drives by organic search. You like to read the page 11 Tips Make Your Blog Crawlable/Searchable on Google [SEO Strategies]
SEO is 100% NOT dead, it’s just transforming, and different than what it used to be.
Neither SEO is dead nor it is dying and it isn’t going to die.
It is just growing, improving, updating, and developing its levels. And so the websites require to develop with it. Some professionals claim SEO is dead, but in fact, SEO is growing & succeeding more than ever before. Yeah, click-through rates are decreased and Google changing its algorithm but that’s to be expected.
SEO is still a strong web marketing strategy today. SEO was developed and still updating to prevent black hat SEO hacks and so web spam.
Organizations that lack or have no strategy for optimizing and ranking their web content should absolutely consider the Google search algorithm. You just need to rework to update your search engine optimization technique with advanced SEO tips and techniques to boost your website’s visibility in search result pages. You may read recent post 10 Steps, Ranking Higher in Top Google Search Results [Web SEO Optimization]
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SEO and Its Important Factors
Just to have an idea of the latest trend let’s try to type “SEO is” on Google, and you will see the following results.
The popularity of the keywords “SEO is dead” and “SEO is not dead”, shows how divided all users are over the future of SEO. However, according to me, SEO IS NOT DEAD, and it will never die as long as people rely on search engines like Google/Yahoo/Bing to find information.
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Keyword Research
This is because of all types of search engine bots read your content and its each word. In addition to that, to deliver search results for each query, search bots rely on keywords. So if you get to know about what users like to search for, you can easily target those keywords and rank for them. Therefore, Keyword Research is still working fine as the most important part of SEO. Read 5 Reasons WHY KEYWORDS Are So Important for SEO Optimization? -
On-Page SEO
Not only Google but all types of search bot gives more importance to keywords in page title, headings, and meta description, than those in content. Apart from this search engines also check and count the website loading speed, mobile responsiveness, and content length among many other On-Page SEO Factors. Therefore, On-Page SEO is also NOT dead. Read On-Page SEO Checklist -
Off-Page SEO
To determine and differentiate good content from bad content, search engines still depend on the length of the content, outbound links, backlinks, social shares, etc. So even Off-Page SEO is still alive. Read Off-Page SEO Checklist
Future of SEO: Is SEO Really Dead?
What opinions do people create to prove that SEO is dead? Let’s see.
1. Facebook Search Is The Next Big Thing
Last year Entrepreneur(.)com posted an article that stated SEO to be dead. According to the writer, the logic he believes so is that users are tentative about clicking on paid ads and are rather trending toward internet searches.
Also, according to the author, Facebook has improved its search features to provide you reviews of local shops, places, etc. from your friends which others find to be more reliable than Google’s search results.
My perspective:
Firstly, the writer looks alike confused about the difference between SEO and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Most important, paid advertisement is not a part of SEO; rather it is part of SEM and it is a much broader topic.
Moreover, I don’t understand why users only ignore Google Ads compared with Facebook ads? Users who do not want to click on ads, will not click it; whether it is from Google/Yahoo/Bing or Facebook; as all of them are promotional techniques. So this argument is not valid.
Coming to the topic of Facebook’s improved search results, yes, it is definitely likable to see reviews of the neighborhood shops from a friend rather than an unknown user. But let me ask you one simple question; does Facebook produce enough search results? Not just rankings, does it provide full info? I don’t think so, and I am sure you too would agree.
If you want to search about the chiken recipe or best smartphone under 15000, then will you open Facebook to search about it? Which website will you open: Google or Facebook? Of course, people used to use Google/Yahoo/Bing to search all their queries.
So to sum it up, Google and Facebook are two separate products each having its own benefit. None of them can replace the other, at least in the coming few years.
2. SEO Is All About Managing Few Parameters.
In the last few years, Google’s Search Algorithm has developed to become very smart by means of Artificial intelligence.
Those SEO hacks like keyword stuffing and spammy backlink generation which worked earlier can get your website punished now. Moreover, Matt Cutts has often commented that “blog commenting and guest posting should not be part of your SEO link-building technique.”
All this makes some bloggers feel that SEO these days is all about taking care of a few parameters and expecting that your blog post drives it to the top of the search results. However, this is not true at all.
SEO these days is more about being smart. Instead of uploading your content with keywords, you will now need to work more to learn Long Tail Keywords and LSI keywords that are less competitive and have a worthy search volume. You must learn where to add your keywords, how to decrease your page load time, and how to do internal linking smartly.
You may also like to know; LSI Keywords: How To Use For Better SEO Traffic – Keyword Optimization
Not everyone can manage all SEO parameters equally well. For the same quality of content, the one who controls it better succeeds in driving his blog post at the top of search engines, and the one who neglects it by considering it to be useless and tends to spend his time producing links using manipulative strategies remains there at the bottom and complains that SEO is dead.
3. Social Media Marketing Gives Better Results Than SEO
Social Media Marketing, without a second thought, is very essential to build and grow your brand image and drive a decent amount of traffic to your blog. However, it is not a replacement for SEO.
In Fact, social media marketing and SEO go hand in hand. None of them can be considered as more significant than the other. You just cannot skip search engine traffic and depend on traffic from Social Media, as the latter needs continuous efforts to pull traffic to your blog.
A Facebook post or a tweet on Twitter can get lost in a day or two. According to Moz, the life of a tweet is just 18 minutes. So you require to keep tweeting the whole day to get a decent amount of traffic which is never a good idea.
On the other hand, with search engines, if you posted a well-optimized article, it is going to be at the top of search engines until you are outranked by a better article. It could be days or months or even years. In fact, the more you stay at the top of search engines, the more challenging it is for others to surpass you.
Having stated that, Google checks the number of social media shares a blog post gets while determining the ranking at search engines. Though it may not carry a considerable weightage, it does matter particularly if you are targeting a highly competitive niche.
A good blogger will make sure to optimize his articles for On-Page SEO and then pay the rest of the time promoting his content through Social Media and other forms of content marketing to make sure he gets respectable traffic, and social shares along with developing a brand image for himself which must be the primary aim.
Why Do People Still Say SEO Is Dead?
Now, the question is, why would anyone say that SEO Is Dead even though we have enough evidence to prove it is not the case? There are many reasons for it.
- The black hat techniques of people are no longer working so they feel SEO is dead.
- Social gurus want to divert people to social media marketing to increase their revenues.
- Controversial topics are perfect for link baiting. Whether you agree or not, you are more likely to end up linking to the article. Even I linked back to the Entrepreneur article. Didn’t I? They are also used for click-baiting as they can give you a very high CTR.
- People are more curious to know the views of the author on controversial topics.
It is ironic that people who claim that there is no Future for SEO, actually target the “SEO is Dead” keyword to rank in search engines.
The above screenshot shows how people are optimizing the keyword to include it in page title, permalink, and meta description.
Bottom Line
SEO is certainly not dead. Rather, SEO is growing as Google, and other search engines are pushing to get rid of all the black hat SEO techniques.
With Google’s algorithm changing fast, SEO needs to keep itself updated and try to find out revived strategies to stay ahead of the rest. This only makes SEO more challenging and hence more important than it was ever before.
What do you think about the Future of SEO? Is it dying or developing? Do share your thoughts with us.