Rumors of the Death of SEO Have Been Widely Exaggerated

So how many of us hang onto Google’s every word? When we wake up in the morning and Google had made a change, however slight, how often do we run around thinking the sky is falling and the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) world as we know it has come to an end?

If this sounds like you, I have one piece of advice to give you – stop it!

All too often we confuse window dressing (the cool, neat stuff that is fun to use, but doesn’t really change the core search) with substantial changes from Google. If you sit back and really look at the world of SEO you are going to find that within the past 6 years, things haven’t changed that much. Fundamentally SEO strategies of today are the same as they were back in 2002, with a few tweaks here and there.

Content is King. Have a banner made and hang it above your desk and you’ll be fine for many years to come. No matter how many changes and how much window dressing Google or any search engine puts up the bottom line is that quality content will always be a major factor in SEO. If your content is duplicated all over the net, has every other word misspelled or just plain is irrelevant than no amount of Google trickery is going to save you.

Guess what? When you have good content you are going to get good links – and SEO will love you for it. The more quality publications and sites that link back to your content the better off you are. Don’t forget to throw in a few sprinkles of good keywords (but not too much!) and design your content with accessibility in mind and you are going to have a winning combination for years to come.

Its funny how many people who are into (or claim to be) SEO haven’t figured out these basic principles yet. Instead of spending their time and effort on designing quality content they are watching to see what Google and the other search engines are doing thinking they can find some “trick” to push them to the top. All that wasted energy that could be used elsewhere, what a shame.

A lot of buzz has been made lately over SearchWiki, a new feature from Google that let’s users personalize their results. Over time Google says this data may be used to help rank. This has the potential in the future to affect SEO, but in a positive way. If you have quality content people will “vote” it to the top. If you have poorly written, irrelevant content it will get voted off the island, so to speak. For those who practice good SEO already this “big event” from Google can only help them.

The sky isn’t falling, SEO isn’t dead and yes, Google will always make changes. However by practicing sound SEO practices now you can rest easy at night knowing you are already doing what you need to do now to make your content and sites relevant far into the future.