There has been talk about the death of SEO for many years. Once the darling of online marketing, SEO’s reputation is up there with estate agency and the hype has shifted to social media (if the Guardian is to be believed).

There is no doubt that Google is constantly moving the goalposts. Recent algorithm updates, such as Panda and Penguin, have become more punitive in nature and it is understandable why many business owners are increasingly frustrated with SEO.

Digging a little deeper under the skin of Google’s updates, it can feel as though the evolution is designed to bury the SEO industry. Techniques that used to help improve the visibility of a website have been rendered useless or, worse still, damaging. It feels as though Google is systematically killing off traditional SEO techniques.

Is it sensible, therefore, to turn your back on Google and ignore SEO altogether?

However tempting that may be when you are having a bad Google day, it is impossible to ignore the importance of Google as a source of highly targeted traffic. The stats are eye watering, with as many as 97% of internet journeys starting on search engines.

If you have good visibility on search engines for relevant keywords, you can expect to enjoy a steady flow of high quality traffic and your website’s performance will be greatly enhanced. Ignoring this traffic source is a very brave move.

That is not to say that you should become obsessed with Google and focus all your efforts at beating the search algorithms.

To be successful at SEO, you need to have a fantastic website. Yes, it is still important to get the basics right (get some help if you are not sure) but recent algorithm updates have rewarded those sites that publish engaging content that is shared by its readers.

You should not ignore Google, but you should ignore out-dated SEO advice that does not put your users at the core of everything you do. Google wants to find the ‘best’ websites in any field. Rather than fretting about keyword density and building thousands of links from poor quality websites purely to help your site rank, you should invest time and energy in making sure that your website is one of the best.

If you focus on the quality of the content rather than whether it will rank and adopt a PR mindset to get that content in front of the right audience, the chances are that you will be successful at SEO.

I do not believe that SEO is dead. It has simply evolved. Whilst the search engines drive so much traffic, it would be foolish to ignore search marketing and traditional SEO skills such as keyword research and on-page / technical analysis are as important today as ever.

Ignoring Google is therefore not a great SEO strategy, but everything you do should be done for your users rather than trying to please Google. If you get that right, the likelihood is that you will in fact please Google.

 

By Joe Friedlein, Director of Browser Media.

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