Current Status of SEO
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I saw an article yesterday titled something to the effect of "The 30 Minute Crash Course to Keyword Selection" from Moz.
In the comments sections, it was an interesting mix of people basically saying either "wow what a great article" or "SEO is dead the only way to get traffic is by paid advertising" ... typical of an Internet comment page.
I know from past ML threads and also talking with people offline that there is a bit of a mix here as well. Some of you think any concept of designing around SEO is meaningless, and SEO itself is snake oil selling at best. Though some of you have also supported it.
So, just curious here in April of 2018: what do you think? Is it vital to today's marketing? Or is it dead. (If you believe it ever even was alive.)
If you had a friend who came to you and said "I want to do SEO and online marketing" what would you say to them?
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SEO is a real thing and valuable, but it comes from good content. SEO Optimization and consulting is, and always has been, a scam.
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@scottalanmiller said in Current Status of SEO:
SEO is a real thing and valuable, but it comes from good content. SEO Optimization and consulting is, and always has been, a scam.
So do you feel using things such as keyword searching to optimize "good content" is a scam?
Or just the consultants who sell it?
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@brrabill said in Current Status of SEO:
@scottalanmiller said in Current Status of SEO:
SEO is a real thing and valuable, but it comes from good content. SEO Optimization and consulting is, and always has been, a scam.
So do you feel using things such as keyword searching to optimize "good content" is a scam?
Keywords are important, in a way, but are just a part of good content writing in nearly all cases. Write content well, and you essentially have no need for keywords.
SEO consistently rewards quality content, and the algorithms are constantly revised to punish bad content.
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@brrabill said in Current Status of SEO:
Or just the consultants who sell it?
Right, it's an easy sell with no way to prove if it works or not. So that makes for a great thing to consult on. It's like selling someone a "SAN that can never break." Customers never know how to test, think critically about, or study reliability. And customers are isolated from one another. Very few systems break, SAN or not, so the risk of a SAN breaking, even a cheap one that is unreliable, is low. This provides you with huge amounts of reference fodder for even the most useless, terrible solution. On the occasion when one really fails, you just act surprised and say that they are the one in a million and walk away.
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Do you believe that optimizing your "good content" to appear higher on search engine results is valuable?
Hence, designing for search engine optimization?
Or do you really think good content will just find it's way up the search pages on its own?
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@brrabill said in Current Status of SEO:
Do you believe that optimizing your "good content" to appear higher on search engine results is valuable?
Define optimizing. If that means "improving the quality of the content", then yes. Good content > mediocre content.
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@brrabill said in Current Status of SEO:
Hence, designing for search engine optimization?
No, not "hence". SEO is the term used for focusing on "gaming" current algorithms based on false assumptions such as you knowing what those algorithms are and that you'll know when they change. Both assumptions are false.
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@brrabill said in Current Status of SEO:
Or do you really think good content will just find it's way up the search pages on its own?
Yes, consistently this is what people have found. SEO is an attempt to get ranked like good or popular content without being good or popular. SEO is a way to keep selling services to those that can't make good content. Those with good content never needed it. Search engines work continuously to prioritize good content and punish those attempting SEO.
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Would say at its very basic level, SEO means optimizing your content to appear higher on search engines.
Now, there may be "good" and "bad" ways to do that.
But at the core, that is all it means.
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@scottalanmiller said in Current Status of SEO:
@brrabill said in Current Status of SEO:
Or do you really think good content will just find it's way up the search pages on its own?
Yes, consistently this is what people have found. SEO is an attempt to get ranked like good or popular content without being good or popular. SEO is a way to keep selling services to those that can't make good content. Those with good content never needed it. Search engines work continuously to prioritize good content and punish those attempting SEO.
What do you consider "good content"
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@brrabill said in Current Status of SEO:
Would say at its very basic level, SEO means optimizing your content to appear higher on search engines.
Right, which is not what you do. That's the problem. Because doing that today might burn you tomorrow. You can't do it "for that purpose."
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@brrabill said in Current Status of SEO:
@scottalanmiller said in Current Status of SEO:
@brrabill said in Current Status of SEO:
Or do you really think good content will just find it's way up the search pages on its own?
Yes, consistently this is what people have found. SEO is an attempt to get ranked like good or popular content without being good or popular. SEO is a way to keep selling services to those that can't make good content. Those with good content never needed it. Search engines work continuously to prioritize good content and punish those attempting SEO.
What do you consider "good content"
Content that is of good quality. Well written, clear, concise, desired by consumers.
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@brrabill said in Current Status of SEO:
But at the core, that is all it means.
SEO is a marketing term and not based on the English words that it represents. It's a reference to specifically attempting to game search engines for ranking without doing the things that search engines want (good content.)
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@scottalanmiller curious as to how you feel about paid advertising, such as Facebook ads and Google AdWords
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@brrabill said in Current Status of SEO:
@scottalanmiller curious as to how you feel about paid advertising, such as Facebook ads and Google AdWords
Just ads. What is there to feel?
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@brrabill said in Current Status of SEO:
@scottalanmiller curious as to how you feel about paid advertising, such as Facebook ads and Google AdWords
Well from someone who uses them and also sets them up for clients. I love them. My ROI on them, for TMQ is around. .30/click for Facebook. Google Adwords is a bit higher at .75/click. I honestly haven't had great luck with them on the IT side however. The market there is a PITA to deal with.
IF your market research is done well and your audience is VERY succinct, then you can do very well with them.
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@minion-queen said in Current Status of SEO:
The market there is a PITA to deal with.
We love you anyway
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@jaredbusch said in Current Status of SEO:
@minion-queen said in Current Status of SEO:
The market there is a PITA to deal with.
We love you anyway
Yeah I noticed that as well.
You must like @Minion-Queen ... anyone else would have received a much harsher reply,
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@scottalanmiller said in Current Status of SEO:
SEO is a marketing term and not based on the English words that it represents. It's a reference to specifically attempting to game search engines for ranking without doing the things that search engines want (good content.)
Where do you get that definition from? It's not my understanding of what SEO is. Gaming might or might not come into it but that's not specifically SEO.
Google's definition is "Search engine optimization: the process of making your site better for search engines."
Gaming has to be a waste of time these days, anyway. How is some SEO kid going to game Google, with their resources and brains? Google will always win. But SEO should also be about following best practices, and I see plenty of value in companies offering that service. It's about following Google's guidelines, not trying to circumvent them.
