Good SEO - does it have a future ?

[Whitey]

Top SERP positioning is being squeezed from all angles , so much so that getting to No1 now means getting to No 7 on a large part of the web. Next week it may be page 2.

This must mean less value for SEO clients because of a reduced ROI . Google is only a whisker a way from taking on subscription based / or advertising sourced clients and it has other things up it's sleeve.

Google doesn't need links in all cases to decide what's hip and what's not. It has other signals to rely on from more diverse and timely sources. It's previous out of control factors feeding it's algorthimns are more within it's control than ever.

No more black hat tricks , no more twists , Google tolerance of the imperfect site because it knows and doesn't need to be told.

So where's the value for SEO's and clients in the future ? Positive responses only please :)

[tedster]

I've been pondering this question quite a bit. If by the term "SEO" we mean any specific set of techniques, then the future is the continue evaporation of that tool-kit. But SEO, by definition, does not point to any specific set of techniques. It points simply to authoring website content in a way that allows search engines to give it optimal placement. As long as there are search engines that attempt to organize the web, there will be SEO.

The rise of the content management system (CMS) has changed the tool-kit of SEO. Today, understanding and optimizing the CMS takes up a large amount of my time with clients. Websites of any size are simply not hand-coded - it isn't practical. And taken out-of-the-box, almost any CMS has huge shortfalls that create obstacles for search engines. Those shortfalls are what SEO needs to address.

Does this mean that hand-coding skills are dead, or that an SEO of the future will not need to know HTML or CSS or whatever those languages evolve into? Not at all. If anything, these root skills become extremely important in creating the themes and templates that a CMS uses. Websites will excel - if they make it easy for computer analysis to reach a high level of certainty about their content.

The future of SEO is also broadening into wider business areas. This is because search engines are now measuring the business itself, and not just the website that represents it. A website may be the contact point, but users want more than digital bits and bytes - they want to contact a dependable business that stands BEHIND the website.

These are some of the ways I see SEO evolving - but it's definitely not disappearing, even though the tool-kit changes.

[aakk9999]

New SEO = business-led web results

[Tallon]

I hear what you're saying whitey, no matter how excellent your content is, no matter how excellent your seo is, if the best you can ever manage is a page two or three listing in google...will the need for good seo diminish?

I think that's possible...but there will be other opportunities to fill the google traffic drop. And google wouldn't be the same either (imagine knowing--as a searcher--that google doesn't have access to say 25% of the websites on the net due to being blocked by webmasters since it has no use to them anymore, would you still use google or another search engine that has full access). Users will ALSO be looking for alternatives.

Webmasters are VERY GOOD at promoting and spreading the word about online properties...twitter, facebook, high volume blogs, etc. If facebook (just an example) became a better traffic source than google, wouldn't you spread the word about it so more net users will learn to use it (and find you)? Isn't that how google really got rolling, by webmasters promoting it?

One door closes...another door opens.

[FranticFish]

We may have to get used to less of the cake than there was to go round before, but that's because a lot of people had it really good for a while and people started paying attention.

I got into SEO in the early 00s at the company I used to work for, and the first customers to take out SEO contracts for their sites were, in quite a few cases, in niches where there was very little online competition. Some built their businesses from their websites with no other advertising whatsoever and saw fantastic return on their investment.

It has got noticeably busier in the SERPs, the big boys have muscled in, and Google keeps stamping out business models on a monthly basis it seems, but I still think that there are opportunities out there.

It seems like you need a lot more skills and a lot more knowledge these days, and things change increasingly faster. But I think the takeaway from all of that is that it is the principles that are more important than the practice - what Ted said about the 'toolbox'.

I used to have a set way of working because I only followed current practice. Now (thanks mostly to this forum) I understand the principle, and have confidence that I can adapt the practice as necessary without being stuck for ideas as to what to do.

That positive enough for ya? :)

[Simsi]

I think one day SEO will evolve into content optimisation with much more of a user focus - User optimisation basically. Why I think this is because I believe the goal of search engines is to learn to understand user behaviour better and gain a better AI.

As that happens, the algos won't need pointers like "votes" (links), won't need to monitor keyword density and relationships. They will monitor the effectiveness of content in relation to the user's query by watching how the user responds.

So ultimately an SEO will be more focused on how a site can meet the requirements of a user in order to boost its rankings through behavioural traits.

[rros]

So ultimately an SEO will be more focused on how a site can meet the requirements of a user in order to boost its rankings through behavioural traits.

But rankings may only be boost to that particularly group of users, as personalization advances. The challenge for webmasters might then be segmenting the target audience, analyze and categorize behavioural traits and adjust content for each particular group, in order to scale traffic up.

[Planet13]

@tedster:

The rise of the content management system (CMS) has changed the tool-kit of SEO. Today, understanding and optimizing the CMS takes up a large amount of my time with clients.

Reminds me that the Chinese ideogram for the word "crisis" is made up of the words "danger" and "opportunity."

I imagine that an enterprising SEO expert could sell ready-made SEO-optimized templates to the thousands of people using free CMS programs.

And I know that some people on these forums spend a lot of their time explaining to clients how to create SEO friendly content. Seems like it would be a good book opportunity there.

Yes, big business is moving in, and I think that any SEO "artisan" who is able to scale their craft might do incredibly well for themselves.

Just my two centavos...

[MrFewkes]

There is no point in SEO if the best it will get you is page 2.

Therefore - if the best it gets you is page 2 - then SEO will be dead.

What will replace it? Nothing while google is around.

Google will basically turn into a "goto.com" of sorts - but with traffic - whereas goto had none.

Yes - hopefully something will come up as it were. One door closes and all that.

The fact is - that for small sites the net is not a pretty place looking forward.

CMS or no CMS - that is irrelevant - if number 1 is page 2 - the format of the content is totally and 100% irrelevant.

Once all "natural" listings are gone from page 1 - SEO is dead because it will all be down to how much you can pay google.

The saddest part is that we all sit here like rabbits in headlights. For a group of intelligent people - its sad to see that we still havent learned to use our strength in numbers. And even worse - we (here at least) arent even allowed a call to action.

After being treated like dirt for so long - we still sit here and wait for the next bucket load to drop on our heads and do nothing - even though we talk about it coming.

Its sad.

[Whitey]

rise of the content management system (CMS) has changed the tool-kit of SEO.

It's not beyond the realms of possibility that Google can acquire or create it's own suite of CMS for distribution - especially to better connect with it's other platforms like Android, Chrome , Maps and whatever else they introduce or play with. Coupled with this they are effectively already providing directory templates, or landing pages to connect to business websites and format content. Restaurants is one that springs to mind, yet Google may have hundreds of other verticals up it's sleeve.

I guess it's Google automation versus the old tactical skills of SEO's to facilitate the content. Is automation going to take over?