Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been a critical aspect of digital marketing and overall branding strategy since the inception of the internet. Content production, website optimization, and backlink building are multibillion dollar industries because ranking higher on Google is so incredibly important. Clearly it's still a top priority for webmasters, marketers, and business owners worldwide.
But does SEO still work these days, or is it dead? Everyone seems to have a different opinion, and it obviously depends on how long you've been in the industry and in what capacity. I asked dozens of SEO pros in an anonymous (although I did include their job title for some context) survey and here is what they had to say:
SEO Pro 9+ Years:
It does, but probably not in the way you’re hoping. For one thing, real, lasting results take time (often 4+ months) to fully see effect. With all the latest updates, backlinks have now become one of the most-if not the most-important ranking factors. You could buy 1000 links from fiverr and see a temporary boost (only to come crashing down a month later), or you could create compelling content and cultivate relationships with other sites in order to get white hat links that won’t eventually come back to hurt your (hopefully). In addition, keyword research in incredibly important, and many people don’t put enough time into this. You could target “best roofers” and try (and fail) to rank on the first page of Google, or you could get more granular, and try “best tile roofer in henderson, nv” A fewer amount of searches each month, but more specific to your business and easier to rank for. Again, however, you need to get your technical/on-page SEO in order, create backlinks, and wait for Google to discover all of it, which could take months. From my experience, the people who say “SEO doesn’t work” (including my past clients) have, for the most part, not given enough time for it to work, or followed SEO best practices.
Tech Company Founder:
I think SEO still works. However, it is a long term commitment, and it is not easy to rank in Google first page. Google ranks sites after analyzing over 200 factors. It is Google to decide whether your site to be worthy of the Google first page. Google constantly updates the search algorithm and adds new conditions and factors. At the same time, the company does not report any changes. Professionals themselves have to get acquainted with the changes, evaluate their effect on existing campaigns and react accordingly. SEO experts work hard to collect data from thousands of sites in a few days and determine how algorithms affect ranking. They optimize their strategies, taking into account new information to improve the position in the SERP.
SEO Consultant:
The short answer is yes it still works. There is more involved to succeeding in SEO now more than ever. When it comes to delivering results you have to deliver on customer service and client education. Many don’t know the industry, they know their business and what works. There are a few misconceptions with SEO that make people very hesitant: Believing that you can rank on the first page or #1 right away. SEO is a process that will deliver for your business in the long term. Not a quick fix scheme. Putting the hard work for long term success is also an issue when clients want results today and the SEO person tries to take shortcuts. Hiring freelancers or agencies that have not changed with the times. At our Digital Marketing Agency we deal with this all the time. Cleaning up bad link tactics and keyword stuffing that no longer works. Google constantly update their algorithms and it is important to make sure that the agency or freelancer you hire is capable of staying up to date with any of the changes. Many tactics from 10 to 15 years ago are no longer providing the success they once had. As I mention earlier there is more competition with 4 paid ads, PLA (Google shopping ads), Local map pack and Answers just to name a few. So it makes it tougher to rank really high, but if you have a plan in place you can find yourself in a situation where you are ranking on the first page and become a resource for many. People are looking for answers to their questions. With more people doing DIY projects they are looking for answers to how to do things and understand what the issue is whether it’s plumbing, financing, home improvement or self-improvement. It still works it’s just a matter of staying up to date with an ever changing industry (SEO) and learning how to track your early successes to help you know you are moving in the right track.
Small Business Owner:
It not only works, it’s actually even more crucial for business owners and marketers than ever. Nowadays we have so many channels to obtain information, maybe too many. It means that we become less patient to look for the answers. (can you imaging going to a library to just find out what “IoT” stands for instead of just googling it?) Not to mention that we now even check the reviews of restaurants before we pick one for dinner. In my opinion, SEO has always been about providing relevant and good quality information about your brand/business/product… to your audience/customers, so that when they need your type of service, they can easily find you when googling. It’s a good idea to get your SEO strategy in place to make sure your brand/product/service is out there in the digital world your customers can find useful information about your brand/product/service easily if you are for profit, make sure the traffics you bring in via SEO do convert into revenue use SEO to stay in touch with your stakeholders and customers Anyways, what I am saying is that people in face don’t want your product/service. They want the favorable result of using your product/service. And SEO is the most effective way to connect two ends. Never too late to improve your SEO performance.
Tech Co-Founder:
Yes, SEO always works because google algorithm is changing from Time to Time. From PENGUIN to MACCABEES UPDATE, Google algorithm has changed a lot and it will be continuously doing so, to keep search world user friendly and to deliver exactly what searcher wants. Our SEO Team is working on all White hat SEO techniques, to bring our Clients in 1st page.
Retail Marketing Specialist:
DOES SEO WORK TODAY? Does not work! You will say it and you will be right. Yes it works! And you will be right too. You must understand that SEO is not what it was before, when it was possible to do a number of events with the site (or even with the announcement) and get into the top at the desired request. Today - this is a whole complex of fruitful works, which includes working with content and social factors. You need a marketing plan, consistency, patience and perseverance. Although, there are no clear rules that you need to follow to keep the site growing. There is one important indicator - the credibility of the site. If there is trust to the site by search engines, then the site will not lose its position under any algorithm.
Internet Entrepreneur:
What is not working anymore is SEO understood as 5 years ago. If someone thinks in SEO as main keywords reoptimization, as links and magic words in title that’s OLD SEO and it does not work. SEO 2018 covers some fields from other departments: UX reponsive design Performance and speed HTML User intention Strategy SEO guarantees that all these disciplines are ok for Google. Even If you have those departments checking those bullets you will need a SEO consultancy to check and coordinate.
Website & Mobile App Developer:
Yes definitely SEO is still work and if it do proper way so it gives best reslt. It only organic way to improve your website ranking and SEO is also helpful for search engines to know any website business categories and content also. By SEO help any business to get good rank on proper keywords. But it gives best results if it done proper way, these some of points if do well so definitely get proper response: Website design Website content Website speed User friendly layout Balance of keywords Complete on page optimization Social media presence High quality links Customer reviews Proper keywords selection
Online Marketer:
Yes, good SEO works and will be around for a while. It' how google decides who to rank. Employing shady techniques may feel like they are helping initially, but you'll be screwed if you're penalized by google. Be wary of seo companies using black hat techniques and request monthly reports to monitor the results. Doing proper seo is far beyond the scope if this article but as someone studying the su next I'd love to discuss it further.
Business Consultant:
Search engine optimization (SEO) will die when search engines die. According to me, "SEO is not dead, it's modifying". Looking at the image, we can say that that people are no more interested in generic SEO plan.
E-Commerce Manager:
Long gone are the days when keyword placement and backlinks guaranteed success in SEO. As Google gathers increasingly more data about us, search results have become more accurate, timely, and personalized than ever. As such, the SEO’s job today is more than keywords and backlinks. It’s more than metadata optimisation. It’s more than even content. It’s the assurance of a frictionless user experience while delivering the right information at the right time — and in a timely manner. A lot happened in SEO last year, but I don’t want to burden you with technicalities. Instead, I’ll discuss what I see as the most important trends in SEO on a macro level, which will give you a big-picture view of where SEO is headed. You’ll notice how these trends build on each other, signaling the importance of a systematic and integrated SEO strategy.
Multimedia Marketer:
If it didn't work … There won't be search engines. You won't see relevant results when you search on search engines. SEO agencies will not exist. Nobody will be making money from SEO. I won't try to prove it to you. So obviously it still does!
Entrepreneur:
SEO still does work but its much harder to rank websites today than it was 10 years ago for example. Today you need a proper SEO strategy in place to rank a website. This means high quality and well optimized content on your website, as well as high quality back links from guest posts and authority sites.
Despite a variety of different perspectives and experiences, the overall consensus was a resounding YES that SEO still does work. Since SEO isn't going anywhere, make sure to optimize your websites to the max! Bootstrap Business is here to help improve your SEO.
I hope you enjoyed this article about why SEO isn't dead yet and how to improve your website rankings.
Interested in more articles about search engine optimization?
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