Apr 26

While scanning standard websites I visit daily, a blog post by Matt Hulett caught my attention on HackerNews, Matt's post "Is SEO Dead?"

Matt poses an interesting question? So pardon me while I brain dump my thoughts. It's late, I can't sleep, so I'm writing this post.

If you've read some of my former posts, you may detect a certain disdain for most SEO professionals in my writing. This is because I believe all but a few are charlatans. In my opinion, SEO is fundamental and should be fairly straightforward and applied during the site design and tweaked mostly by the addition of good, well-written content. But I digress.

 

My take on Matt's position (and maybe I have it wrong) is that as Facebook, and to a lesser extent similar competitors, wall off "web users" in their fiefdoms or encapsulate it, SEO ceases to be necessary. If people start to search less and instead turn to the social "net" of their choice to find referrals or solutions - it's easy to see how in the future, it may be more beneficial to spend time and money cultivating a good reputation and good word-of-mouth on social networks. But I don't think it's that simple.

It seems like every person or every business is clamoring to participate in social marketing.

It's the hot new thing. And yes, it has it's place, and it can "spread the word." Social networking (i.e., Facebook) is relatively new, and it will have it's place in the marketing mix. And yes, I think Matt may be partially correct; just like the internet drew dollars away from other media, I think money spent on SEO will be redirected to social marketing, but I don't think it will eradicate SEO. I think it will simply mix things up again, and it will be another medium marketers will need to consider.

 

After all, not all businesses or services are a good fit for social networks and social marketing. I mean, most people aren't going to post on Facebook that they're looking for a good Proctologist. That's something you're going to ask a close friend or family member. Or perhaps, dare I say, you would search for on Google.

 

Moreover, social networks are completely different from traditional media and are different than even the internet itself. Standard business websites are more like a sales brochure or a salesman. Or they're a resource you use; a tool. But social networking is more akin to neighbors chatting across the fence. Ads and sales pitches are out of place.

 

It's certainly going to be interesting seeing how things pan out.

However, I like to keep in mind, Google only launched in 1998. Facebook debuted in 2004, supplanting the previous social networking darling MySpace (which I always thought was awful). And the internet itself has only been around since about 1988 or the early 90s truly. Though internet companies evolve and go extinct at break-neck speeds - I thinks it's premature to simply write-off search engines and the need for SEO (though I'm OK with ditching SEO consultants and their fees). I'm sure that it will simply morph into something different. Perhaps you won't be optimizing your site for Google in the future, but you may be building your pages for Facebook. Even now it's almost a requirement to have a Facebook and Twitter button on your site. 

 

In 5 years or 10 years, who knows where we'll be or what the next big thing will be? Why will we even need search in 10 years or for that matter a social network? At the speed things are progressing, cell phones will get smaller but be far more powerful, humans will be virtually wired and online all the time (if we're not wired directly into the internet somehow, e.g. implants), and we won't type a search, we'll simply ask our "communicator" a question and he or she will answer us. And if we want to chat with grandma across the country, we'll do so via video displayed on our iGlasses streaming in 3D video as our car drives us to where we told it to go. And our kids will laugh and ask, what's a website?