Get a Quote
(305) 455.0720 Quick Contact
Building...

Is SEO Dead or is It as Alive as Ever?

Issue #4  – Is There a New SEO?

SEO – Alive and Kicking
Recently there has been a plethora of articles suggesting that “SEO is dead.” Many of these articles submit that there is a more effective way to market online. Certainly, we can all agree that as Google’s rules and algorithms change, tweaks to what is considered best practices are necessary, but is SEO truly dead, or even floundering? Let’s take a look.

Search Engine Optimization is a term that essentially means working to achieve higher rankings, and thus more website visitors and leads. And certainly, for years, there have been many ways to accomplish this.  From optimizing keywords, adding volumes of content, improving meta-tags, creating backlinks and press releases, to updating hundreds of directory listings, the task list is lengthy. At any given time, there are popular ingredients, but most of the ingredients to bake a cake remain indispensable. So if the preponderance of basic tools that have existed for years still work to optimize website rankings and grow lead counts, why do so many web marketing teams and industry players suggest that SEO is a thing of the past while the team at SEOversite submits that SEO remains the single most important investment, after great people, your business makes?

Your SEO History Lesson for the Day
Did you know that SEO and pay per click advertising have been around for nearly 20 years? Even during early stages of organic search engine optimization, the basics were the same: different webpages (URLs) would be submitted to a search engine company, which would use “spiders” to “crawl” the website and “index” keywords and pertinent information to increase visibility on the internet as humans searched for information online.  In 2015, while things have evolved, little related to fundamentals has changed.  Google is now one of the largest companies in the world, the specific algorithms have been updated myriad times, but the end game is still the same. Companies need to use a little of this, and a little of that, to optimize results. Certainly, one can argue that Google focuses on more local search results, there is much more policing of “black hat” tactics to minimize SEO cheaters, and content has become much more prevalent.  Yet, early on, more content meant more keywords and location information being indexed, and thus, meant higher rankings, so are things really all that different? We submit that nearly all that worked before, in essence, works today, so long as your SEO team follows more strict guidelines. And the earful of comments about how much everything has changed and how SEO is no longer viable stems from web marketing teams trying to differentiate themselves.

Branding!
We have many doctor clients who perform facelifts.  Many of those doctors have branded their personal facelift.  From large companies like Lifestyle Lift to individual practitioners performing a “Super-Duper-Duper-Lift”, by and large, these are just facelifts by doctors with varying ideas and skill levels, but, in essence, follow mostly the same processes as their competitors.  By renaming what they are selling, true or not, it is seen as innovative and different. We have an excellent coffee shop near our headquarters in Miami called Panther Coffee – they sell a “Cold Brew,” which is an iced coffee prepared much more like tea sitting for 9 hours overnight in a vat, and they sell a French Pressed Brazilian Ferzanda coffee that has notes of chocolate and macadamia nut.  And yes, they are both delicious.  And yes, they both taste essentially like a good cup of coffee. So is coffee dead and only “Cold Brew” alive? Or are there evolutions and improvements to coffee, but essentially just coffee being offered? We’d argue the latter. Likewise, web marketing firms say “we don’t believe in SEO, our company performs:”

  • Digital Marketing
  • Web Marketing
  • True Agency Services
  • Interactive Media
  • Inbound Marketing
  • And so forth

And the reality is that every one of these companies uses a number of tools in the original toolbox that, in basic terms, increase your online visibility, increase the chances of a potential buyer to call or submit an emailed inquiry and improve ranking and online authority. Or as we call it – SEO.  So lately, we tend to be very impressed when we interview potential SEOversite Preferred Vendors who, when asked what they specialize in, say “SEO, of course.”

So What Do I Do Now To Attract More Leads?
The great news is that in the difficult-to-navigate world of online marketing and SEO, very little has changed for business owners and leaders in terms of needs.  If you want leads, you must have a mobile-friendly (“responsive”) website. You must then hire a competent and honest web marketing firm to do a variety of tasks that we call SEO and they might call “Inbound Marketing” or who-knows-what. You then must maniacally watch over them to ensure they deliver as, unfortunately, very few do as they promise.  If you are unsure if you have the technical expertise to find a great team or to hold them accountable, contact us – we have free and paid services based on your needs.

Summarily, this is an “AND” business, not an “OR” business.  Your web team needs to create content (blogs, links, press releases, social media), AND help you develop more testimonials and reviews, AND perform onsite optimization to maximize conversion, AND complete hundreds of directory submissions, AND code your site properly on day one (dynamic and responsive, never hardcoded nor non-responsive), AND much more.  There are many moving parts so managing your online marketing can truly be a full-time job. Which is why trusting in your web team or hiring an oversight group is crucial to maximizing your marketing dollars.

SEOversite can help find you a trustworthy web team or oversee your current team. For more information on improving your online presence, inquiry volume, and web marketing plan, our friendly and fun team is at your service.  Check outwww.SEOversite.com, call us today at 305-455-0720 to schedule a call with a Web Guru or email us at Guardian@SEOvesite.com. Don’t forget to sign up on our site to subscribe to this monthly newsletter and download our complimentary podcast through our sister company – www.yellowtelescope.com – by searching the iTunes or Google Play store for “yellowtelescope”.

By SEOversite, learn more about our team.