Is SEO dead or alive?

Ever since the beginning of SEO, there has been constant talks on whether SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is dead or alive. Some feel that SEO is not dead because we are still searching for things online while some feel that SEO is dead. So, what is it? Is it really dead like some say or is it very much alive? Before we bounce right into answering the question of the day, let us understand what SEO is and how it works.

What is SEO?

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is a process that companies use to increase both the quality and quantity of their website traffic and increase the exposure of their companies’ brand through non-paid or organic search engine results. In layman's term that would mean companies trying to optimise their website content so that search engines will show the company’s website link at the top of the search result when someone searches for a certain keyword or keywords.

So, how does SEO work? There are basically 3 components to it, and they are, the crawler (“bot”, “spider”), index (massive database) and query processor.

1. Crawler (“bot”, “spider”): It is a program used by search engines to collect data from the internet. When a crawler visits a website, it picks out the entire website’s content and stores it in a database.

2. Index (massive database): Index or database, is the information of all the websites that Google or other search engine was able to find. If a website is not in a search engine’s index, users will not be able to find it.

3. Query processor: When a user enters into a search engine a string of keywords and press enter, the keywords helps the search engine to algorithmically match results with the query and the results are displayed on the search engine results page in order of relevance according to what the user has searched for.

So, how did all these websites get to the top spot of a search engine result page?

For example, if I were to search, Search Engine Optimisation on Google, websites such as Wikipedia and Moz come up to the top of the page. How did they manage to do that? The answer is through understanding how Google ranking algorithm works.

To give us the most relevant results based on the keywords that we type in, Google takes many factors into consideration such as keywords, relevance and usability of pages, expertise of sources and outbound link quality. Then Google will weigh each of this factor against the nature of our query and then return us with a list of results on the search engine results page.

Therefore, for the company's website to rank high in the search engine results page, companies must understand what are the factors that Google or other search engines are using to generate search results and implement some of it into their website.

Other than that, it is also important to understand the keywords that their potential customers might be using when they are doing a search online and have their website be updated regularly with new information and the latest outbound links. This helps to increase their probability of ranking high in the search engine results page.

Black hat vs white hat techniques

Also, companies can consider the use of black hat or white hat techniques. Black hat is technically all the illegal methods that one can use to make their websites end up at the top of the search engine results page.

Hidden texts

stuffed keyword

These methods include invisible text which is by making some of the text white so that it blends in with the background and goes unseen by users or stuffed keywords which is the constant repeating of the same keywords multiple times in a paragraph.

Black hat techniques do give companies benefits in the short run such as improve search results ranking and helps to get back their return of investment fast but in the long run, there is a lot of disadvantages. For example, penalties imposed by search engines such as Google will damage companies’ reputation and result in high bounce rate as most of these websites that uses black hat techniques have useless information on their websites that nobody is interested in.

Hence, companies should consider using the white hat techniques which is to provide relevant content, links and references for their potential consumers. This is the type of content that users are interested in and would like to see.

Is SEO dead or alive?

So, after discussing so much about SEO, is SEO dead or alive? To me, SEO is very much alive, it is thriving! This is because statistics have shown that 82% of the marketers have reported that SEO is becoming more effective and 61% said that improving SEO and growing their organic presence is becoming their top inbound marketing priority. These statistics alone are enough to prove that SEO is alive and is actually becoming more important.

In addition, a blog post by Neil Patel, an author and marketer, talk about his views on whether SEO is dead. He says that SEO is not dead. In fact, it is becoming more and more important in the society nowadays with the increasing use of IoT devices. IoT devices allows us to perform searches anywhere through any platforms so this is causing search traffic to go up and creates need for more intuitive content.

Also, technology advancements such as the introduction of augmented and virtual reality. Even though this technology will create a whole new user interface and change search engine results, but the basics of search will remain unchanged. New technologies used in new ways can still draw visitors in the same way as being listed on Google Maps can. It is all about how you use it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, SEO is alive, and it is only going to be increasingly important with more technology advancements and the introduction of more IoT devices. Those who probably think that SEO is dead probably did not try hard enough and did not provide enough value in their content or did any of the factors mentioned above to actually let Google or other search engines to think that this website is good enough to rank top in the search results page. After all, in order to get the best results out of SEO, it requires constant hard work and not a one-time thing.

So, what do you think is SEO dead or alive? Share your thoughts with me and I am curious to see what your take on this topic is!

With that I will leave you with this really funny website that I happened to chance upon while reading Neil Patel’s blog post on whether SEO is dead. Reading through this website makes me laugh but yet at the same time he does mention quite a few good points here and there. Have a read and tell me what you think! :)