Especially For the
"SEO is Dead" Brigade

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There are many so-called Web design professionals out there who are promoting the idea that SEO is a dead duck, and that the new kid on the block, social marketing, is the only way to go. The two articles that follow should be studied by all those who have been affected by such poppycock. 

Article #1:

Is SEO Dead?

By Jonathan Leger
February 25, 2009

I was reading a thread at a big webmaster forum yesterday which made the claim that "SEO is dead." Now, it's hard to say whether or not the original poster was being serious or sarcastic, but he referenced some other news he'd been reading on a few authority sites that made the "dead" claim.

The notion was that, because of the prevalence of Web 2.0 community sites, the idea of needing to optimize for any of the engines was going away - and fast. The idea was also put forth by another poster that, because of the huge number of content management systems that are already setup to be "search engine friendly", the need to have any additional knowledge to rank well was quickly diminishing. Just search for "seo is dead" in Google and you'll find many people expressing the same ideas.

My answer to all this? Poppycock.

First, while it is true that there are many CMS programs that are search engine friendly out of the box, on-page factors matter so little to ranking (at least in Google) that even if the on-page playing field was leveled, it would make little difference in the current search engine results.

Second, SEO is about far more than just what's on the page. The way you analyze what keywords are worth optimizing for, the way you write the content around those keywords, and the links you get to the pages that you want to rank for those keywords all have a large role to play in how much traffic you get from the search engines - and that analysis takes specialized knowledge. Anyone can learn to do it, but it does have to be learned.

Third, and most importantly, Web 2.0 is nice, and sites that revolve around that kind of community are huge traffic mongers (e.g. YouTube), but there will always be a need for full-text indexing of the web.

Seriously, does anyone go to YouTube to find information on important topics like cancer treatments or solar power or mortgage refinancing? Uh, no. Does anyone go to Facebook or MySpace or Friendster for any of those important searches? Hardly. As for Twitter. how much serious information can you put into 140 characters?

The only real Web 2.0 contender I've seen in those areas is Wikipedia. However, I have never seen a "how to" article in Wikipedia. I've never seen a review of a commercial product there, either - just two of the many very large markets that info-sites like Wikipedia have no share in.

To understand why many people will never rely on Web 2.0 properties for important queries, hop over to Yahoo Answers and read some of the responses to the questions asked there. Many answers are completely devoid of referenced facts. Some are barely legible. Others are clearly written by teenagers - or people who have the mentality of teenagers anyway. That's not the kind of resource folks will turn to for serious inquiries.

No, people will still go to the big search engines which, hopefully, will rank pages from sites that demonstrate some kind of authority in such matters.

This whole "SEO is dead" foolery reminds me of the popular idea going around some years ago that "print is dead." The thought was that because computers are so commonplace now, people would stop buying books. After all, it's so much easier to search through information on a computer, and it's faster and cheaper to produce books on a computer, so people would in time stop reading physical books.

That was more than 20 years ago. Have people stopped reading books? Let's see. In 2007 Barnes & Noble sold $4.68 billion in books. Borders sold $3.41 billion. Amazon, $4.63 billion. According to Reuters Entertainment, the UK publishes 206,000 new titles per year. The USA publishes 172,000 per year. So much for print being dead, right?

Web 2.0 sites are good sources of traffic, and are not to be dismissed when planning your site's traffic-generation campaigns, especially if you are in a niche that caters to the kind of content readily found on such sites. But to drop all efforts at ranking in the search engines because Web 2.0 sites are popular would be a serious mistake. I daresay that most of the people who are serious about buying aren't the kind of folks who would turn to such sites for advice or direction. They'll go to the search engines - and our sites will be waiting for them.

It really seems to me that the folks crying "SEO is dead" are the folks who have been unwilling or unable to do what it takes to rank well in the search engines. They want SEO to die because they think it will be better for them. They feel that Google and the other big engines will eventually include social media sites into their search algorithms, and then all those optimized sites will drop out of the rankings.

But guess what? SEOs have been using social media sites to improve their ranking for years! And if Google ever does include social media ratings and rankings in their algorithm, how long do you think it will take the SEO crowd to start finding ways to improve their social media rankings and improve their search engine results? Yup, SEO may change a bit, but it will still be alive and well.

But hey, I hope folks take this "SEO is dead" nonsense seriously and drop out of the competition. That makes more room for us to step in and get their traffic, right?

Article #2: 

Top 10 Reasons SEO Rocks: "SEO is Dead" Is Dead

By Mark Jackson 
Search Engine Watch, Sep 25, 2007
Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/3627115 

The death knell for search engine optimization (SEO) rings so often and so loud, sometimes intelligent marketers can't hear themselves think. The latest: "SEO Deadheads" claim personalization is pushing SEOs out the door. Others cry the complexity of universal search, or any number of innovations by the search engines, now makes effective SEO impossible.

Wrong. SEO remains one of the best investments any marketer can make.

Most folks would hold firm to the reason they do SEO: drive relevant traffic to their sites. They hope this relevant traffic will result in more leads and/or more sales. Those are great reasons (and will be part of this list), but there's a lot more to consider. A whole lot more.

Five reasons SEO rocks PPC:

10. PPC and CPC: Not Your Lenin's CCCP: Paid Search, AKA PPC or pay-per-click search marketing, is no communist manifesto. Online marketing's ultimate expression of capitalism may be the pay-per-click auction. It's as close to a free market free-for-all as you can get, with one exception: marketers buy their way into the GYM (Google, Yahoo!, MSN) and Ask, as well as other major search engines.

So PPC isn't really a free-for-all. It's a "free-for-none."

Companies, large and small, jump into the pay-per-click arena due to its simplicity. It's easy to choose keywords and bid, bid, bid.

The benefits: advertisers set a monthly budget, choose the text (or creative), and choose landing pages that show up in the SERPs (search engine results pages).

The downside: the rules of paid search are so simple, playing is easy. Many, many companies are already in the game. The more companies involved in the auction, the higher the CPC (cost-per-click) and, in general, the lower the chance for a significant ROI (return on investment).

Moreover, when budget runs out for a given month, advertisers may lose their presence in the search engines.

With organic SEO, Web sites can -- and do -- show up 24/7/365. While SEO can't "guarantee" any site owner high rankings in search results, you can spread your presence across a multitude of keywords. As long as sites have pages/content to support selected keywords, SEO can deliver a more consistent presence across all the major search engines.

9. High Cost of Competitive Keywords: If your traffic-driving keywords are highly competitive, "buying" a regular presence on the major search engines may be cost-prohibitive. Outsourced SEO may provide the presence you're looking for at a fraction of the cost. If that's an option you'd like to explore, make sure the firms you interview devise a solid strategy to get you where you want to go. Again, though, there are no guarantees in SEO. But, over time, with a diligent plan, some great things can be accomplished.

Companies must measure the success of SEO campaigns by hard metrics: growth in targeted organic search traffic; increased number of leads; or increases in sales volume, for example. Many clients and prospects, though, tend to gravitate to ranking reports to see how their presence has increased or decreased against a given set of monitored keywords.

8. Ad Blockers Tackle PPC Ads: I was reading this week, in Advertising Age, about Adblock Plus, which blocks not only pop-ups and banners, but paid search ads as well. No question; some people just want the editorial. With organic SEO, you're there. If you think about the adoption rate of pop-up blockers (who, reading this article, doesn't already have them installed?), then you might want to be a little concerned about the adoption rate of ad blockers now tackling paid search. Certainly, search ads are often relevant and mostly unobtrusive (in my view). However, consider the number of people who download ad blockers and enable the "block all ads" function. Something to think about.

7. Organic Clicks Rule, Naturally: No matter what study you believe -- and there are many -- a great deal of evidence shows that more people click on organic results than paid placements. Some studies suggest around 60 percent of searchers click on organic results. Others indicate the percentage is much higher. In any event, organic results get the majority of the clicks, which means organic gets you the best results.

6. Search Engine "Seal of Approval"? No search engine gives a seal of approval or endorses any companies that come up in organic search results. Nor do search engine endorse companies that advertise in their paid-search networks. However, when your site ranks high in search engine results, there's a strong case for user perception of "implied endorsement." When you advertise in paid search, many -- if not most -- searchers realize you've paid to get your Web site in the sponsored listings. With organic SEO, the user will likely believe in the ability of the search engine indexing to deliver relevant results.

There's an unspoken consensus that if a search engine ranks your site as relevant, you must be a leader in your field.

Next week: The Final Four Plus One when I'll name an undisputed champion. My next Top 5? Written in stone and locked in a vault. If anyone in the SEO community can beat any one of my final contenders, I'll knock mine out and put yours at the "Top of the Top 10" SEO Rocks list.

Biography: Mark Jackson

Mark Jackson, President and CEO of Vizion Interactive, a search engine optimization company. Mark joined the interactive marketing fray in early 2000. His journey began with Lycos/Wired Digital and then AOL/Time Warner. After having witnessed the bubble burst and its lingering effects on stability on the job front (learning that working for a "large company" does not guarantee you a position, no matter your job performance), Mark established an interactive marketing agency and has cultivated it into one of the most respected search engine optimization firms in the United States.

Vizion Interactive was founded on the premise that honesty, integrity, and transparency forge the pillars that strong partnerships should be based upon. Vizion Interactive is a full service interactive marketing agency, specializing in search engine optimization, search engine marketing/PPC management, SEO friendly Web design/development, social media marketing, and other leading edge interactive marketing services, including being one of the first 50 beta testers of Google TV.

Mark is a board member of the Dallas/Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association (DFWSEM) and a member of the Dallas/Fort Worth Interactive Marketing Association (DFWIMA) and is a regular speaker at the Search Engine Strategies and Pubcon conferences.

Mark received a BA in Journalism/Advertising from The University of Texas at Arlington in 1993 and spent several years in traditional marketing (radio, television, and print) prior to venturing into all things "Web."

Other Excellent Articles by Mark Jackosn:

Search Engine Optimization in a Down Economy
By Mark Jackson, SearchEngineWatch.com

During the last downturn, we witnessed Google become a leader in their space without a huge marketing budget. They had a better widget. To me, search marketing is the better widget, when it comes to the average marketer determining how to spend their now-limited budget. Mar 3, 2009

International SEO Challenges and Tips
By Mark Jackson, SearchEngineWatch.com

Search engine optimization for multi-national companies' Web sites comes with its own set of challenges and pitfalls. Here are a few challenges that companies with an international Web presence face, and some advice for how to create an optimal Web presence that can do well in international search engines. Feb 24, 2009

Ignorance: The Trouble with People Who Claim SEO is Snake Oil
By Mark Jackson, SearchEngineWatch.com

URL structure makes a difference in SEO, but it's just one of many things! Ignorant columnists making false claims about topics they don't understand are bogus! From what I can tell, writing an "interesting" and "provocative" column about SEO means facts are optional. Feb 17, 2009

Give SEO Time!
By Mark Jackson, SearchEngineWatch.com

As an ethical SEO consultant, sometimes it's best to turn down some SEO projects, especially when the client has unrealistic expectations of the time and money necessary to succeed in a competitive market. It's best to be clear with clients about the time it will take for them to see SEO results. Feb 10, 2009

Using Search to Help you with Search Engine Optimization
By Mark Jackson, SearchEngineWatch.com

Link research can take time, but there are several ways you can use a search engine to find quality links. Today we'll look at queries you can make using your favorite search engine that can help you find places to acquire links to your Web site. Feb 3, 2009

SEO Web Site Review: Water Filter Corner
By Mark Jackson, SearchEngineWatch.com

This Web site recently launched and has several elements that need to be corrected to lay a sound foundation for future SEO success. Jan 27, 2009

The Better You Rank...the Better You Rank!
By Mark Jackson, SearchEngineWatch.com

The more popular your Web site is, the better the likelihood that your Web site will rank. You need to maintain momentum in your SEO and general marketing efforts to keep a steady flow of traffic coming to your Web site. Jan 20, 2009

Should Your SEO Strategy Target the Head or the Long Tail?
By Mark Jackson, SearchEngineWatch.com

If you're focused on ranking for that one major keyword, having a deep Web site full of great content is necessary to achieve authority in the eyes of the search engine. So, whether or not you intended to do it, you'll be optimizing for the long tail in order to achieve your goals. Jan 13, 2009

There's No Shortcut to Good SEO...Or Is There?
By Mark Jackson, SearchEngineWatch.com

If search engines want all SEOs to operate in an ethical manner, they should show us that they're penalizing the Web sites that abuse their guidelines, and reward those who follow their guidelines. Anything less makes it hard to justify following the rules. Jan 6, 2009

The Paid Links Debate Rages On
By Mark Jackson, SearchEngineWatch.com

Most ethical SEOs will tell you that paid links are a dangerous path to go down. Google will tell you that paid links will get you into hot water. At the same time, you see rankings which are obviously being generated through paid links. What's an ethical SEO to do? Dec 30, 2008

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