Is SEO dead?

by 52 replies
59
Lately i've been hearing a lot of people say "seo is dead".

Some of the people saying it clearly don't know what they are talking about... however some are very well known and even they claim that SEO is dead.

I find it hard to believe though? maybe things have changed... your less likely to rank for certain keywords because big companies just buy up all the links online and rank high quickly.

So if seo is dead? whats left? will it ever die?
#search engine optimization #dead #seo
  • I wouldn't say it's dead but it is a very un-reliable and very un-stable way to build a business. There are far better and more reliable ways to reach your market than seo
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • Sounds better when you put it like that in fact.

      Every way is pretty much unstable.
      I'm trying to see if i can make a site successful by not doing any SEO... so far no good! LOL
      • [1] reply

    • I would say SEO is not dead, it is just changed from the way that it use to be done. Google is trying to kill certain aspects of seo, (I have done a lot of research on this lately.)

      What I learned was, we have to take things from google's perspective. If it can give the user the answer right away, then it has done its job.

      This is why it has built in functions such as google maps, or the unit conversion function, or time conversion, or even currency, or any number of other functions. The point for them is to get their customers the answer for what they seek.

      While things have changed, we do have to remember, when there is change their is opportunity to be had. Look for the opportunity and you will be successful.

      Andrew
  • Yes SEO is only dead for the people who are not doing it in a way it's supposed to be done. SEO will not be dead, Google always need to rank websites.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Yeah that is true, but there is no instruction manual haha. It's just a gamble and if you make one wrong move... your site drops.

      For example you can spend months building backlinks and promoting your site then the search engines drop it... waste of time and money. Its bad to build a business model just relying on one source... no matter how good it is.
  • If you are in the SEO business you have to get results. The constant updates and algorithm changes just make the business problematic and unreliable. I'm transitioning into other things. It's hard to beat the search engines in a game and platform they create.
    • [1] reply
    • Indeed. I am also moving away from SEO... not completely just a small move, im focussing my time on content rather than SEO. targeting untapped markets as well.
      Don't know if it will be as successful?
  • If SEO is dead, it is either a zombie or a vampire because it just keeps coming back...

    I guess a better question would be "Is SEO Undead?"
  • The old way is but I am ranking 1st page and very high for 5 different products. It seems to be way easier then it used to be. I only started the site a month ago.
    • [1] reply

    • could it have just been that you have applied your skills more effectively or there is less competition for what you are trying to rank for?
      • [1] reply
  • Of course... SEO is dead...
    it happens every other week...
    long live SEO.
  • OMG.... Is it for real this time? SEO is dead for the nth time in threads
  • I'm not sure it is dead. I still use search engines to find the things I want...so it is still the mode to be found.

    However, if the question is...

    Is SEO a reliable business model, I would say no. Do I still get traffic from it, yes.

    Is it the mainstay of my business no.

    No matter what your business model is there are three things every business needs.

    Product, people, and profit.

    people's methods are different in acquiring those three things, but seo might fall under the people tag. How can we get as many people seeing and interacting with the products we offer.

    Here are a few suggestions IMHO
    • Create great content...
    • Be where your market is
    • Build your business off your own platform---
    • Over deliver

    There are about 20 powerful methods of generating traffic to your site. And depending on what you are trying to accomplish they will all work.

    Then there are three that you can really build a business off of...even if you used but one of them...and I'm not sure SEO would be one of them...it changes to often...at least for me...
  • SEO isn't dead. Scraping, spinning and backlink spamming are on their way out though. And those techniques were the heart of what some people called SEO.
  • I can't think that SEO is dead and will be.
  • Banned
    Go to the latest product news sites and rank for them, since they are new and no one knows about it yet. Just today I made a campaign for Guilds War 2 and it wasn't too hard to rank for. SEO is not dead but very hard and time consuming for specific words. Don't waste your time. Use Social Media and Viral Traffic, get noticed on other blogs and sites. Or if you want to do SEO use YouTube videos and optimize them.
  • Every time I'm on this forum I find on this every week
    SEO will never be dead, unless all the search engines go down becuase of a Zombie Apocalypse
    Practically everything on the internet involves SEO.
    • [1] reply
    • SEO - Alive and kicking!

      Massive backlinks, link wheels, link pyramids, thin "made for Adsense" sites (basically, crap SEO designed to game Google) - Dead or dying.

      As long as there are search engines, we will be optimizing our content to rank in those engines. If it's not Google, it will be Yahoo, Bing, or whoever else owns the search marketshare...
  • SEO is Search Engine Optimization and a term will never die...lol.

    As long as there are search engines SEO will live. The day search engines shut down SEO will die.

    Every search engine will always have criteria that will rank websites and if you make the best out of your site by following those guidelines and criteria you will have a good ranking for your site.
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • SEO is not dead and it cant be. more and more businesses are running towards online presence and they spend their money and time to make it possible. SEO can never be dead.
    • [1] reply
    • No SEO cant't be dead, it's working as it is yes after the penguin Google strict for those who used to do unethical techniques
  • SEO is not dead but yes the way of doing SEO is changed a lil bit.We should take it as a challenge and move ahead with the new guide lines of Google......
  • No, it's not dead. It's just that more and more people are moving towards Ads/CPC because they fail in SEO.

    The penguin has been great to me -- 300% increase in organic traffic in 2 months. Definitely not dead.
  • Banned
    SEO is dead.

    [insert useless irrelevant PRn/a backlink here]
  • seo is appearing death for the lazy ignorant.
  • SEO is not yet dead, I think we should do some adjustments with our strategies in accordance too Google Algorithm.
    • [1] reply
    • LATEST UPDATE!

      Authorities have confirmed that SEO is still dead.

      There is still no word on the health of Article Marketing, Video Marketing, or Internet Marketing in general, but authorities are assuming that they are also dead.

      There is, however, no confirmation on the rumor that I am dead...
  • This thread really went soft. Where are the SEO attack dogs? LOL

    SEO isn't dead, it just has emphysema, heart disease, and lung cancer. It's due to a bad diet of spammy backlinks
  • Yeah, SEO is definitely dead. Nobody is ranking anymore. When I try to Google something, it is nothing but blank pages coming up now. :rolleyes:
    • [1] reply
    • You can always tell the fat people by the fact that they can't imagine a world where not everybody eats Ice cream and cake.

      Well yeah ...me too . Heres what I don't understand.

      We had the wake,
      The funeral was good
      they lowered the hearse
      the family had a reception
      and everyone left

      So why all these people who say its dead hanging around the front yard?

      They terminal too?
  • Banned
    Funny how people that start these "SEO is dead" threads usually drop a backlink.

    If it's dead, why drop a keyword anchor-text link? :rolleyes:

    The real story is, drama gets everyone stirred up enough to keep the OP link intact.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • SEO still is an important part of any successful web marketing campaign. As long as you use the right strategies and avoid unethical techniques, you will benefit from SEO. Now, more than ever, you have to focus on user experience and provide quality content in order to attract visitors to your site and rank well in search engines.
  • - Grayhat and Blackhat SEO is ALMOST dead
    - Whitehat SEO will never die

    My 2 cents.
    • [2] replies
    • You clearly do not spend enough time on Blackhat forums if you believe that.
    • Sorry to break it to you, but most real BH'ers don't really give a crap about the latest and greatest Google changes. They're already 10 steps ahead and making plenty of money.
  • FINALLY! Someone brought this topic up!

    I've been in internet marketing for 7 years now and I've seen nearly every traffic generation tactic out there.

    I've spent a great deal of my time online learning all things SEO and to be quite honest, IT SUCKS! Not saying that SEO is not a good way to drive traffic, just that the whole process of it is bout the most tedious, mundane task I've ever had to do.

    Over the years, I've pretty much gotten the hang of SEO, however in my opinion it certainly is NOT the best way to drive traffic or build an online business.

    1.) It takes WAY too long to really see any scalable results (including the whole process of it all)

    2.) If you do happen to make it to the first page of Google, it's never really guaranteed that you'll stay there.

    Those Google engineers are always playing cat and mouse with us.

    3.) When/If you find some good keywords, it takes an obscene amount to time and effort to get a #1 ranking and even more blood, sweat and tears to stay there.

    If you're dead set on utilizing SEO to send traffic to your website, I would suggest that you actually pay someone else to do your it for you. Your time is much better spent on other business building activities. You can easily outsource it for a few bucks an hour to someone overseas.

    Or you can take those IM'ers who are still die hard SEO fanatics and piggy back off of them by implementing some stellar paid advertising.

    I explain how to do this in my recent post here: 5 Steps To KILLER Bottomless Pit Banner Advertising

    Ti
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      Finally?

      Where have you been, lol?
      • [1] reply
  • SEO is alive & Rocking ! Google has been working on killing it for years now ! They are starting to get close what is coming next is the devalue of none quality backlinks. That is when the shit is going to hit the fan. Google thinks with these updates they are making things better when they are making things worse. Now people are working on negative SEO practices. In other words kill your competition site. Because of some of googles updates now that s--t possible and being practiced. The SEO game will always be alive just how we play it will change.
    • [1] reply
    • Yes, Google wants a perfect "search engine paradise", where we all just write pristine content without keywords at all, and Google decides what your content is about. Good luck with that!

      SEO is just like a lot of other strategies/technologies - reminds me of the "copy-guard" race that's been going on for years - movie companies put blocks on their movies to prevent copying, the pirate software producers find ways around it. Movie companies find ways to thwart the movie-pirating software, the pirates come up with a way around that. Spy vs. Spy (Mad Magazine).

      For that reason, SEO will never completely die - people will always find ways around the rules.
  • SEO is not dead, but it is changing slowly..

    And other thing is greed of webmaster, they think that they would get the result quickly.......

    I ask you how many sites do you maintain at a time?

    Most of you would be targeting too many sites, so how would you expect from SEO.

    SEO says that create one site, develop content, promote your site legitimately and your site would be authority site, you would be getting good result...
  • ANYONE THAT SAYS SEO IS DEAD IS A COMPLETE IDIOT

    Jesus, have people forgotten what S.E.O actually stands for?

    Let me remind you,

    Search Engine Optimisation

    So as long as search engines exist, we can optimise for them.

    By asking is SEO dead you might as well as say is Google dead.
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • I don't think SEO is dead.
    It is pretty much alive.

    But you need to keep finding new ways to succeed.
  • lol ! Liars ! seo is alive than ever !
Join the discussion

Next Topics on Trending Feed

  • 59

    Is SEO dead?

    Lately i've been hearing a lot of people say "seo is dead". Some of the people saying it clearly don't know what they are talking about... however some are very well known and even they claim that SEO is dead.