The Demise of SEO?

[Vasili]

Cameron Chapman wrote an interesting post at instantShift today, explaining well about the position of SEO in web development & internet marketing world lately which is getting less & less important:

Social media is a big part of the blame for this situation. People can now ask their friends or complete strangers for recommendations on virtually anything, and get human-filtered results within minutes through Facebook, Twitter, or other social networking sites.

Internet users are also becoming more savvy, and can cut through search results to find the best content, regardless of optimal placement for the best keywords.

Even in cases where search engines still send significant traffic to a site, search engines are becoming so much more intelligent that it’s getting harder and harder to get good placement unless you’re providing the best content.




According to Chapman’s article, the 7 main reasons why SEO is getting less important are:

1. Facebook Admittedly, Facebook is one of the biggest internet players with more than 500 millions active users. Facebook has forever changed the behavior of internet users (core to the real Facebook agenda) by establishing a trend so "chic" that it becomes an accepted normalcy: rather than finding the information through search engine, they now prefer to find the information through their network on Facebook (groups, friends) and rely on the “confidence” factor rather than the empirical method Search traditionally presented. It's not just "cool" to be on Facebook now, it's critical if they are to keep you addicted as they roll out their advertising revenue scheme that depends on Users prefrerring the platform...
2. Social Networking & News Since so many people are really active in social networking and news aggregators nowadays (Digg, Reddit, Delicious, Stumbleupon etc.), they exchange/sharing relevance links for specific topics, tagging & rate information in which will help others to find the relevant info easily and “personally” rather than trying to find more accurate info via Search.
3. Better Search Engine Algorithm The thought is that SEO has turn internet world into a “spam” world where people trying to put non-relevant info into their sites just to have more presence in Search Engine. Because this prevalent practice has grown overly widespread and irrespective of traditional methods and nears “Gray Hat SEO,” Search Engine have been forced to become more intelligent, and the need to get smarter to decipher real Content value and relevancy more pressing, which is best seen with the “contextual metric search” as seen in BING.com which makes on-site SEO strategies less effective and harder to implement optimal practices on sites to better comply as well as produce top Search results and positioning.
4. Blog Roundups & Showcase Blogs are getting popular indeed and with an influx of non-professionals online churning out Content without restraint has completely transformed personal and predominantly irrelevant content into content that competes with professional & community presence, roundups & showcases. The misunderstood use of selective list-making about specific topics helps people to find the info, but it does nothing to provide the quality rating Search Results were originally construed to indicate, which also limits alternative info sourcing.
5. Twitter No doubt twitter is the one of the negative contributors to the loss of SEO importance. Initially because it has spawned a new vocabulary and method of communication by abbreviation and lack of conforming composition (a reflection of the populace’s lack of communicative skills). Another factor is that Twitter has changed the way internet users sharing information, exchange links, searching for topics, bookmarking, etc. The quick-as-lightning speed of delivery has become a favorite, and even though it has significantly lowered the expectation and quality of the information, it is so popularly accepted that it’s become one of the biggest target of internet marketing media despite the low conversion and ineffectiveness to solidify a real market share. People are simply all right living the low life?
6. People Already Have “Favorite Sites” Most active internet users already have favorite sites for specific topics, bookmarked it and visit it regularly, and are still loyal to first impressions and market share strategies. Rather than searching for topics (and sites) via Search Engine, they prefer to find the info in these websites which they already familiar with and trust as a good resources for themselves, most again being referred via the emotional factor (Social Media sharing) rather than relevancy findings.
7. More Savvy Searchers Yes we’re all more savvy, more familiar and know how to use Search Engines fairly well, but many will not admit that they still do not know how to optimally use Search they way it was truly intended (with long tail and custom keyword inquiries, for example), and thus, the reliance on Social Media to fill the gap for comfort’s sake and self-affirmation with a hint of justification. People are simply satisfied to be aware of this self-delusion because it “feels” better than the lonely empirical method. This puts artificial pressure on SITE SEO to position high in Search, and will likely force a new generation of SEO Professionals to re-visit Gray SEO Methods, much to the detriment of the many ethical SEO spe******ts that still uphold organic metrics and deep relevancy …

Edited For Correction and Clarification (perspective added), Article is Re-Printed from CHAZZUKA

[VodaHost]

Re: The Demise of SEO?

Amazing article...well done!