lol I just read that article.....one of the first comments the guy was saying the next update is going to be all google ads on the first page haha

So is SEO dead in favour of paid ads?

Is there any chance of another search engine taking google's place anytime soon?

So many questions, lol. And I've just spent a month developing my SEO business. Never mind, we live and learn.

I suppose don't put your eggs in one basket is the sentiment echoed here. This has just messed up a lot of people's income and businesses if it goes ahead.

If Google do fill the first page full of ads, it would pay to put your ad there in that niche.

I always thought the point of Google, from the beginning, was to have a clean search engine without the in-your-face ads?
Looks like their motive shifted a bit over time.

Sorry but SEOs do not get up in arms about these updates. It is the low quality back link builders that will have to answer to their clients and be flipping out about it.

Hmmmmmm.....The game may be afoot. Mr Watson remind me to inquire when we come back from parliament why it is that someone who is no longer "playing the SEO game anymore" would be reading a blog entirely about SEO.

Perhaps not getting enough traffic elsewhere?

I personally have no issues with the updates, they have done a great job at killing a lot of the crap sites that where in my way. Every time they update my site increases rank for its keywords, so kind of hoping it hits soon. Could be all I need for a few hitting #1 if I don't get there on my own in the meantime.

OLD OLD news. Been on WF about 34343 times.

Jarring & Jolting

I can't wait

This one time at band camp, I was doing SEO and Google did this update that everyone was freaking out about, I didn't even care, and like, everyone was running around all crazy like, and people kept logging into the forum and asking what was wrong, and like, why was everyone freaking out, and like, I told them that Google just did an algo. update, and like, they started freaking out, and like, I told them to just chill out dudes it's no big deal, and like, they still kept freaking out and kept posting the same thing all over SEO forums, and like, it never stopped, it just kept showing up in new threads, and like, Google finally unleashed their latest Google algo. update, it actually happened this time, and like, people still kept starting new forum threads talking about the latest algo. update, and like, their pages kept dropping in the SERPs, and like, nobody knew what to do, the sky was falling, and like, more new forum threads kept popping up on the SEO forum, and like, I told them to chill out, but nobody ever did chill out, and like, two months later, another Google algo. update was unleashed, and like, everyone started to panic again asking which backlinks are working after the latest Google algo. update, and like, I didn't really care but people would sometimes recommend fiverr gigs, and like, I would laugh because I thought that was funny, and like, then everyone would finally start to chill out but it was too late because Google, like, started another new Google algo. update, and like, the same forum threads would start getting re-posted all over again on the SEO forum, and like, I would say to myself, here we go again, everyone's getting ready to freak out again, and like, I never did freak out, because like, I never cared about the latest algo. update.

Yes it had that feel to it of a thread moved from the main section. Light on substance to do with SEO long on hype (in this case the fear kind). I think that the one thing posters in this thread have in common with the OP is precisely what you just said- we could not care less what people outside of SEO think or how they are doing . It works for us and ton loads of people.

NO need to get all upset. You claimed to know something about the future of our shorts and we merely responded we are in a better position to know about them than you are. many of us did fine in Panda and Penguin. The idea thAt everyone has to sit trembling in a corner because there is an update is a myth.

Most successful businesses are based on repeat traffic and repeat visitors. Google is great at sending you new customers but you really can't get clobbered by any update if you have built up traffic from that google traffic because you would have repeat traffic.

Seat belt firmly fastened and I will keep my arms and legs inside the ride at all times.....

Time to diversify folks. Get traffic from multiple sources to be sure you are protected whenever Google decides to change. The ride gets a lot smoother when your traffic is spread out among many different sources.

Heck I have even taken my seal belt off lately as most of my traffic comes from niche ad sources, FB, Linked in targeted ads etc....

Google's business is based on supreme search results, not selling products.. they make money that way via adwords/adsense by being the #1 search engine. People will simply go elsewhere for their searches otherwise, and google doesnt obviously want this. Adwords/adsense will stay, maybe grow more prominent, but I highly doubt they will give their whole first page solely to ads.

Only the strong survive !

UP to now, we should be familar with Google's nature, temper etc.

It is like page rank update, there is no system to update on regular basis as algorithm of Google.com no one knows.

FYI...

From Brett Tabke...
"The above 'quote' is not what I heard. I heard, "They CAN BE jarring and jolting". It was a statement - not a prediction."

I think SEO can't be dead because Google just proclaimed and absorbed SEO's white hat approach and then differ it from its opposite "webspam". This just shows that they already agreed and absorbed SEO itself.