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Is it still worthwhile investing in professional SEO services or is organic SEO dead and you should change your digital marketing strategy? The doubt on the fact that SEO is alive has been cast for several years by various so-called experts and gurus. They have been tolling the death bell for SEO and pushing for aggressive spending for paid search. Yet, the majority of companies we have helped with SEO services are still reaping the benefits of this promotion strategy.
So, why do people think SEO is dead and organic traffic is a thing of the past? In this article, we will give you the most important reasons why SEO is not, in fact, dead and that you should work with professionals to achieve organic traffic instead of spending money on Google ads and other forms of paid traffic. We will show you that getting found by potential clients in searches for information and products they need is more effective than putting an ad on a website where they are watching a video or reading an article.
What Is SEO?
Before we launch the debate on the topic of SEO is dead and other lies, let us understand what exactly it is. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a digital marketing strategy that focuses on optimizing web pages to be more visible in search engine result pages (SERP).
This goal is achieved by:
- Conducting research to identify relevant keywords
- Auditing the website and fixing any errors that prevent Google from indexing it
- Improving the website to meet Google ranking standards in terms of security and loading speed, among others
- Creating fresh content, optimized with the relevant keywords
- Earning quality backlinks from other reputable websites
SEO specialists use various techniques to achieve these goals, including optimizing the website code, reducing file size for photos and videos and, if necessary, redesigning the entire website to create a better user experience.
Now, let us go through the most frequent reasons you may see on the internet on the topic: is local SEO dead?
Is SEO Dead in 2022?
Those who claim that SEO is dead and other lies are actually not patient enough to implement an effective strategy. They don’t want to wait to reap the benefits. They don’t understand the Google ranking algorithm and do not meet all its requirements. So, they claim that the Google algorithm is arbitrary and that you have no way of knowing if your site meets its criteria. Thus, SEO must be dead, in their opinion.
The truth is very far from these claims. There are clear rules and there is a way of knowing if your site meets them. Google offers webmasters many useful tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Moreover, its blog for developers contains detailed information on:
- How to optimize a website following the latest best practices
- How to avoid breaking Google rules
- What to do if your site was penalized
- How to fix errors that prevent Google from indexing your site
So, is SEO dead in 2022? We say it is not, if you are willing to play by the rules. But let us look at some of the reasons why some people believe this myth.
Why Do People Think SEO Is Dead? There Are Only Dead Strategies!
Is SEO still effective? Should I move the entire SEO budget to paid ads? Should I try influencer marketing? All these questions stem from one big misunderstanding: that SEO is always the same. The reason why it does not work for some companies anymore is because they are still using obsolete strategies.
The best optimization strategy is the most recent one, in line with Google’s latest ranking algorithm criteria. Those who fail and turn bitter against this digital marketing strategy are most likely using black hat SEO tactics.
These are strategies that try to trick Google and take a shortcut to the first page of search results. They usually generate results at the beginning, quickly followed by a severe penalty from Google. The website will quickly lose its page rank, reputation, and credibility.
These dead strategies are:
Poor-Quality Links
SEO is alive if you apply effective and legitimate strategies, such as earning high-quality backlinks. It does not work if you are trying to circumvent Google’s rules by:
- Buying links
- Creating a private blog network
- Having many links from article directories and other poor quality websites
Here is why poor-quality links are bad for SEO. There is a principle called domain authority transfer from a site to a page it links to. If many reputable websites link to you, Google understands that your site also has a good reputation and increases your domain authority.
However, if many low-quality sites link back to yours, your domain authority decreases and your site is treated as unreliable.
Keywords Spam
Keywords are a big part of SEO. If you use the right keywords and in the right proportion, then you’ll find that SEO is alive and well and you get relevant organic traffic. However, there are those who want to get results overnight and think that they can trick Google with:
- Keyword stuffing (using too many keywords in content)
- Hiding keywords (adding keywords in white font on a white background)
- Cloaking (showing one optimized page to Google and another to users who click on the result)
All these practices are against Google’s rules. This is why some people believe that SEO is dead and other lies, so it is not worth the work and effort.
Poor Content
Content is king – this is one of the most frequent mottos you will read on reputable SEO blogs and websites. It is true – content is the vehicle for:
- Promoting your expertise and experience in your field
- Helping potential customers find answers to their problems
- Promoting your relevant keywords
The main qualities of content for SEO are:
- uniqueness (no duplicate content)
- freshness (the content must be constantly written and added to the site)
- relevance (the content must be relevant to your line of business)
- authoritativeness (the content must contain trustworthy and verifiable information)
When someone asks – is SEO dead in 2022? – they are probably not following these rules on their site. The website contains inferior quality content that is there solely to include keywords and bring visitors on the page. This type of content does not offer a reader anything new, useful, helpful, and interesting. And Google does not want to show this type of results to searches.
Algorithm Misunderstanding
In some cases, webmasters wonder – is SEO still effective? – because they do not understand how the ranking algorithm works. They are trying their best but always missing the mark. They should stop trying to do their own SEO and rely on a professional company to help them with optimization. Then they will realize that SEO is still the best promotional strategy you can implement online.
How SEO Works in 2022
If you want to know why SEO is alive, ask the experts. They will tell you how it really works and create a personalized strategy for your business. The main elements of effective SEO for the Internet or local businesses are:
Well-Made Content
An SEO company consists of a multi-disciplinary team, including developers, web designers and copywriters. They will create high quality, original and relevant content to attract website visitors and persuade them to buy your products.
Moreover, the experts who know that SEO is not dead will create a long-term content strategy in line with the latest rules and recommendations made by Google.
Link Building
Is organic SEO dead? Do links still matter? How do you get them? As we explained, buying links is a major breach of Google’s rules. However, having high-quality and authoritative content on your site will determine other sites to link back to you. This is called earning links and it is the most effective link building strategy.
SEO specialists can also identify other ways of building links, such as guest posting on reputable websites and blogs or content promotion on social media.
Adding Proper Keywords to Topics
Keyword research for SEO must be extensive and cover all the main topics on your website. Also, you must use the proper keywords for each topic. For example, if you run an online store for men’s and women’s shoes, each category must be optimized with adequate keywords. Once this optimization is complete on your entire website, you will see that SEO is alive.
Content Updating
Do you know if all the content on your site is still relevant and helpful? An SEO team will go through all your website pages and identify content that needs updating. In some cases, obsolete content will be deleted.
However, pages that generate a lot of traffic will be updated with the latest developments and with extra information of interest for readers.
Performing SEO Audits
Some articles trying to persuade you why SEO is dead forget an essential part of this digital marketing strategy: monitoring and adapting it to the latest changes in the Google search algorithm. Use the services of a professional company and let the experts:
- conduct SEO audits
- identify and fix issues
- implement new strategies
Having a Google-Friendly and User-Friendly Site
Google selects websites to show in search results based on various criteria. The basic prerequisite is having a Google-friendly site. This means that the Google bots must be able to crawl all the pages of your site and index them without errors.
This includes:
- checking that the robots.txt file in the site code allows crawling
- creating a sitemap and submitting it to Google for indexing
- adding Structured Data to facilitate crawling
- optimizing each page with meta tags and headers to help Google understand what it is about
However, one of the most important Google recommendations is this: create websites and content for people, not for search engines. For this reason, SEO specialists will look at ways in which they can improve the user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) to make your website as user-friendly as possible.
Some of these optimizations may include:
- redesigning the website using a modern and responsive template
- reorganizing the site structure for easier navigation
- adding internal links to help users move from page to page
- improving page loading speed
- making the website mobile-friendly
Keeping Up with Google Algorithm Changes
As we explained, SEO is alive if you play by Google’s rules. However, these rules change constantly. They do not change overnight or in secret. The search engine is very transparent about the upcoming modifications to its ranking algorithm and gives developers and webmasters enough time to adapt to these changes.
However, this is specialized and time-consuming work. You need to read all the updates that Google publishes, understand how the change will affect your website, and make sure that you implement the adequate strategies.
Is SEO Still Effective?
The short answer is simple: yes. But you need clear reasons for this answer.
The latest SEO strategies take into account the changes in users’ behaviors, especially the following:
Increase in Mobile Searches
Mobile traffic at global level has exceeded internet traffic from desktop computers and laptops a few years ago. This prompted Google to change its ranking algorithm to reflect this. Some of these changes include:
- mobile first indexing for websites
- mobile friendliness is one of the most important ranking criteria
Increased Use of Snippets
Search result snippets became one of the key targets for ranking. A snippet represents a fragment from a web page which is shown on the SERPs to answer a user’s question. Although they are meant to help users find what they want to know without clicking on the link itself, a large majority of users will actually choose to browse a website containing a helpful snippet in detail.
Increased Use of Voice Search
Digital assistants such as Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Microsoft Cortana allow people to interact with smart devices by talking to them. This is incredibly convenient and many people use voice search to conduct Google searches.
With specific SEO strategies, your website may rank higher for voice searches than your competitors’ sites.
SEO is Alive & Thriving: Let Our Specialists Prove That to You!
For the experts at Direct Line Development, SEO is alive and will continue to be as long as companies choose to work with the best specialists and follow Google’s rules. SEO is very important to help a small local company rank in organic search results and drive relevant traffic to their website. It also helps a large organization achieve its branding goals and reach clients in all the markets it operates in.
Remember – SEO is not dead and it will stay relevant for years to come, so call our experts now: 267-626-2554!
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