4 reasons why SEO positioning is still alive
Still alive:
SEO and SEM: And they go peta hundred thousand times. It is enough that Google breathes and announces
some change in the algorithm so that a legion of people throws themselves into the networks, eager for
blood, to proclaim that SEO has died. Like a few months ago we met Google’s plans to further extend the
use of artificial intelligence in its search algorithm, something that should not surprise anyone at this point
in the movie, and that Google has already advanced with the introduction of RankBrain .
But the proclamation that SEO has died has been heard so many times before that it is already like the story
of Peter and the wolf. The day that SEO positioning really dies, it will do so because nothing is eternal in this
valley of tears, except the cold and bony hand of Death (one is a fan of Terry Pratchett, what are we going to do),
nobody knows will believe.
There is something pathological in this endeavor to kill one of the star techniques of online marketing.
Perhaps it is because knowing really SEO positioning is devilishly complex, requires constant updating
and makes you a member of the club of those who possess arcane knowledge that we are vetoed to the rest
of the mortals. I wonder if they recognize each other by shaking hands in a special way. like freemasons and
members of secret societies.
4 reasons SEO and SEM :
That’s why you’ll see 10,000 million ads for online marketing courses, community manager or online
advertising, but far fewer SEO courses or masters. Because knowledge in this field is acquired through
experience. It is not the same to try to position the Pepe Shoes website so that users of Zarcillejos del
Páramo and its metropolitan area can see it with the best professionals in the sector so that your bank
appears first when someone types “mortgage” in Google.
The first is relatively easy with minimal knowledge, for the second there is no masters worth. The fact is that
SEO positioning is proving more difficult to kill than the zombies of The Walking Dead.
Why SEO positioning is still very much alive
1. Google is interested in SEO
To start, as I said in a previous post, because Google itself is interested in the existence of SEO. Let’s see if he would give so many clues about his algorithm. The hypothesis that the development of “intelligent” search algorithms by Google will end SEO is not new.
In fact, it is a recurring theme to justify the idea that SEO has died (or is about to do so). In my opinion, nothing is further from reality. If SEO has proven to have more lives than a horde of cats of the underworld is because it is a technique that evolves in parallel to Google’s own algorithm.
Therefore, an evolution of this algorithm will lead SEO technicians to (after grinding and gnashing their teeth and mentioning all the deaths of more than one Mountain View manager) get down to work and do what they have always done : play with Google the cat and the mouse. They are the mouse and Google the cat. And like most cats, Google has no intention of killing the mouse; Unless he is very hungry, he just wants to play with him.
2. The relationship between SEO and SEM positioning
Google is interested in the existence of SEO because it knows that SEO and SEM go hand in hand and are part of an integrated strategy. Most agencies and SEO companies are also responsible for advertising in the search engine. Therefore, SEO technicians are one of the main prescribers of advertising on Google.
It is not advisable that they know everything, because it would make them lose publicity, but it is convenient for them that SEO has a limited effectiveness, something that ultimately results in more paid advertising in the search results. There always comes a time when an SEO technician tells a client: “here comes what I can do. More than this level you will not be able to reach without paying. ”
3. Common sense
The advance of artificial intelligence is not so much that it is unpredictable. While waiting for quantum computers and neural networks, machines are still machines. However, it is true that for certain tasks the machines are much better than human beings.
That’s why they beat the world chess champions, because they are very good at displaying trees of possibilities in an ultra-fast way, something that is perfectly applicable to the search algorithms or the driving of autonomous vehicles.
Not in vain Google is very involved in the latter, the decades of learning trying to understand what exactly we look for when we write something in the search engine have given them a huge knowledge about the subject. Of course, Google’s algorithm is evolving to be more unpredictable, simply because we humans are too.
The idea is to use the enormous amount of data that Google has about us to offer personalized results to each one. That complicates things for SEO, but anyone who is dedicated to it knows that it is not an easy discipline. It has been a long time since SEO is an exact science, and we are working on approaches based on experience.
Because if Google has data from billions of websites and users, SEO technicians share data from billions of search results. And if artificial intelligence can be applied on the one hand, it can also be applied on the other.
It is not true that SEO has died, in fact it is more alive than ever. What is certain is that it will become increasingly complex and probably require a much greater specialization, in addition to the use of more advanced technology. What will undoubtedly be more expensive.
4. The logic
Another factor that contradicts the claim that SEO positioning has died is logic. For a lot of artificial intelligence to be applied, there are search fields that are perfectly bounded. Let’s say that in Madrid there are, I do not know, 1,000 hotels and hostels. If my strategy is to position myself among the first ones, I do not need to know how Google determines which is the best recipe for artichokes in La Rioja.
What interests me is knowing how to determine which hotel in Madrid interests a given client. And in general this is usually the case, the way to approach SEO rationally is not from a global perspective, but limited to geographical, socioeconomic, linguistic parameters … which makes SEO research a lot easier (eye, makes it a little less unapproachable, it is not that it is precisely easy). To say that SEO and SEM has died is, deep down, to want to kill it.
There is no compelling reason to support that claim, at least no new reason that is very different from previous assassination attempts. It is true that Google’s business no longer grows as before, and that is why it is making changes, such as the disappearance of ads on the right side of search results. At Google they notice the encouragement of Facebook in the neck, and they will do whatever it takes to protect their dominant position in the online advertising market.
But loading the possibility of using SEO to position pages would not be a smart move, and if something has shown the guys of Larry Page is that fools do not have a hair. Also, to say that SEO has died because Google makes changes is to neglect a growing field: We already need SEO and SEM positioning for Facebook (that if it evolved a tad your browser would make us all happy) or for YouTube, which is the second search engine most used after Google.
