May 27 2008
Watching the SEO House Fall Down Slowly
By Jeremy Schoemaker
56 comments »
Watching all the SEO’s run around talking about how its not fair for Google to police the internet and email me about how I was right about there not being a future in SEO has been interesting.
I really have nothing to add that I have not said in the past. Don’t make Google Look stupid. The are a publicly traded company and they will do what is in their best business interest. Like any other business would do.
- 56 Comments. What say you?
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Yes, otherwise they’ll send the Smiths after you! (Send the Cutts after you just doesn’t sound scary…)
-OT
Come on shoe yo know you want to say I told you so and rightfully so.
Still, its only a matter of time before google’s domination of internet search comes to an end.
I think the best strategy is yours, Shoe. Make content and sites that people will naturally want to link to. If you have to “game the system” to get search traffic, chances are it isn’t something all that wonderful that people would naturally spread the word about. So common sense, yet so many people out there trying to get found with their shitty content.
SEO is dying, true, but Google will not be able to police the internet forever either. It’s only a matter of time before someone figures out a way to search the internet better…
The future is a bunch of monkeys typing tweets very rapidly.
Jeremy, what was the name of the conference you’re going to attend next week? Search Marketing Advanced? Thought so… :.)
Isn’t the whole idea behind being an SEO is that you’re an expert at how Google works? When did they forget that their mandate was always dictated by Google?
Shoe,
Not trying to pick a fight or anything, but this is like saying the Amazon or e-bay will kill affiliate marketing, not the case. As long as there is a way to publish a website to better your chances for users to convert and engines to rank, there will be SEO’s.
Believe it or not, people still buy paper that have stories and are printed daily. Just like everything that has a future, it has to adjust to the changes in the environment that it is in. SEO is no different. A few decades ago everyone thought that Sears would always be the biggest retailer in the world… Google cannot control the Internet, no more than the US or Chinese governments can. Things change, you just have to stay ahead of the curve. Google is trying to stay ahead of the curve, doing very well I might add, but that doesn’t mean that they will always reign supreme!
actually I will not be there… mostly due to incoming 2nd child.
Search marketing != SEO. Also I have nothing against SEO… I was asked to speak about SEO at the eBay live conference and it was the highest rated session they had. I can guarentee you will see me at SEO conferences in the future.
Too bad you won’t be there…hope all is well with the family.
ho hum. Another false dichotomy (SEO vs. branding, SEO vs. marketing, something like that).
Can’t say you were wrong…not exactly. Trouble is, I think “SEO” is an empty term to which everybody attributes their own definition. It can be “beating the system” (spam), “working the system” (to quote Seth), or it can be, as it is most popularly defended, “everything valuable and honest that results in Google loving your site.” Any way you cut it “SEO” is a flacid term. What many people call “SEO” today is simply creating valuable content and promoting it…there are technical issues involved, sure, but gaining Google’s love involves a lot more than optimizing your title tags.
If quality SEO now means, “being awesome and building awesome stuff,” is there really much use for the term? It’s nothing but a buzz word.
Yeah, I definitely agree. People think “it’s not fair” but don’t understand that Google is a business, not a charity, and they’ll always do what makes them the most money.
I just can’t see SEO being obsolete. I am not as integrated as you, but really SEO gone? I have yet to see specific proof of this. Where is the change in SE’s or algo that will kill SEO?
content, content, content… funny how that works…
None of us are fortune tellers. None of us can predict the future. We’ve all seen Shoe’s UFC picks, we should all easily see, niether can he.
i dont care one way or another
i am just her to learn how to make money lol
Google is the future ! I heard that google doubled their benefit in the last 3 months ! Anybody can confirm ?
Time will come when Shoemoney will also stop opposing SEO..
Who knows any more? National magazines say it’s one of the top growth industries and you say it’s over. Who do I trust?
Like it or not, agree with their practices or not, search engines are private companies and can pretty much do what they want with search results. That said, Google is the largest and most popular search engine and so has the most influence so their game is the one that most people focus on and focus on playing. If Google don’t like you, there is nothing keeping them from removing your site from the search results :S
As long as there’s an algorithm there will be SEO.
See above
He already says he has nothing against SEO!
I hope i can dream cracking google SEO code soon
As long as there are search engines, there will be search engine optimization. SEO means creating websites based on the standards that search engines favor. SEO as it is today will surely change but SEO itself won’t die.
That’s kind of like saying mechanics will go out of business because we won’t have cars that run on fossil fuels in 20 years. They’ll still be in business, but their job is going to entail some different functions.
Google is not policing the “internet” they are policing their product. It is a business not a government. If you rely on Google for your business that is something you will have to deal with and step in line with the business partner you have chosen.
It is Google’s job to produce the best product they can, if you want to be included in their product, you have to follow their rules. Seems simple to me!
These SEO’s ‘running around’ are likely the same people who talk economies into recession. There is always a future in SEO. As long as there are rules and systems, there are, for want of a more elegant word, ‘loopholes’.
People just need to harden up and stop being obsessed with SEO. If your site is decent and adheres to basic rules the search engines will take care of the rest.
Nominated for stupidest comment ever on shoemoney.com
I gotta agree. The trend is showing white hat SEO is a growing business and well received by Google. Shoe must mean black hat SEO, which has always been about cashing the crack pipe.
I will defer to my comments in the previous threads. seo is on life support. pull the plug!
no there have been alot dumber remarks before
It almost makes me want to start gambling with him and just take whoever he doesn’t pick
~Terry
calcanis wannabe..
Yes, but now there is human editting as well. So there’s “less” of an alogrithm.
WHITE HAT SEO lives and thrives, only someone that practices it can really say for sure by the results that are evident.
Google is a multi billion dollar firm & if they lose some Dollars to SEO then i think shouldn’t hurt themmmm!!!!
I do not believe in future
There might be an end to selling links, or buying links, but I don’t see an end to SEO from
organic methods.
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Having done SEO now since 1998, I have found that effective SEO nowadays simply requires excellent content, an understanding of how your internal website operates, article frequency of posting and other a few other thingees.
I build for the future, not for today’s SEO algorithm that might change 29 seconds in the future.
Data points,
Barbara
lol Matt Cutts isnt it?
It’s not only because Google is business, it is also because the world keeps moving and tech too. The algorithms change and the variables change too. Content, content, content…this is going to be the main variable because good content generates traffic, and traffic generates better ranks…
What you say makes perfect sense Barbara
One thing is that Google is the 500 pound gorilla…more like a thousand pounds. They aren’t going anywhere and they have the bank to do what they want as far as internet search engines are concerned. People (read “SEO’s”) have always complained when Google changes things, but the people adapt or move on.
lambebotas
I have to concur with you, Graham. Google’s search technology can be eclipsed by something newer , maybe an opensource search engine….imagine that….there definitely won’t be a need for SEO then…..
Agree with the formula of search engine marketing equating to search engine optimisation. It is more and more comparable to a giant popularity contest, rather than index cards in a library….
Its as relevant to the internet as location, location, location is to retail….
Agreed, content is abSEOlutely king!
You have to believe in the future. It’s for the children…
Human editing? You have got to be kidding me. At the scale google is at, you think they can have a bunch of minions determining search quality. Especially for the myriad of queries they need to execute in short order. Please…google is about scale and humans don’t scale very well.
Will you be at the next eBay Live conference again?
I think we may have another shoestrodamous post again he he…
Ditto - would be interested.
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