Google Makes It Official: SEO Is Over!

1. 65

   LucidDreamsposted 12 years ago

   They are just driving home the point that user experience and quality is point one!
   
   http://www.eddale.co/google/beware-google-bearing-gifts

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   1. 72

      ttocsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      the link isn't working, what's the news? it sounds dire?

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      1. 65

         LucidDreamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         ttocs
         same ol same when it comes to delivering content that is user friendly and links and such make no difference now days!

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         1. 87

            aa liteposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I didn't see anything in the blog post about links making no difference nowadays.  Inorganic links made by bots on thousands of unrelated blogs etc. make no difference, and possibly hurt.  Good organic links on relevant sites made by people who don't also own the linked-to site, are as important as ever.  Just think, if Google really stopped using links as a "quality signal" would they have really spent so many resources on detecting inorganic links?
            
            I did think the blogger (Ed Dale?) was a bit histrionic in his analysis.  Take the statement "Any link that is pointing to your site that does not have an immense amount of value attached to it is not only useless, it’s toxic".  What is his evidence for this?  Any site must have organic links that don't add an immense amount of value.  I doubt that the links I make in my blogs to authority sites have an immense amount of value for these sites, but I seriously doubt Google penalized them because I linked to them.
            
            I can name several people on HubPages who deliver really good, user friendly content, who are complaining about not getting traffic.  This is because they didn't use on-page SEO to figure out how their articles woudl be found on Google and whether anybody was searching for the stuff they write about.

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   2. 61

      djdaniel150posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Google didn't kill SEO, they're just asking people to play by the rules! I apply many good ideas with my webdesign practices, and many of those ideas get me a much higher rank for my sites, I also make more money. How you present your content is just as important as the content itself. Any seasoned web designer like myself knows that SEO is far from dead! Its actually gotten better.

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   3. 64

      Breelyn Sirkposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Ha, I didn't even see that this post is 4 years old.... and SEO is so not dead. I wonder if this popped up because of yesterday's net neutrality day. The main cable and internet companies are working on getting Congress to pass a bill that would allow them to pick and choose who gets the highest speed on the internet. That will only hurt bloggers starting out. Contact your local representative and talk to them about this. We must keep internet speed neutral, we must protect ourselves from yet another monopoly taking advantage of the system. Thank you for your time if you read all of this :-)

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   4. 38

      Seocompany247posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      nice read
      
      

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      1. 0

         Will Apseposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Lol.

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2. 77

   Greekgeekposted 12 years ago

   Yay, another "SEO is Dead" post! Like clockwork, every time Google makes an announced change, another spate of posts and articles crop up. I think I saw my first "SEO is dead!" post in 2007, but I've seen them dating as far back as 1999.
   
   [If the above link isn't working, here's one that is:
   
   http://searchengineland.com/google-laun … ool-136826
   
   However, Google's long-expected Link Disavowal Too has little to do with SEO. "I'm throwing lots of LINKS around because it's all about the LINKS baby!" was never SEO.
   
   But if some people still think it is, great! Less competition for those of us who have been saying "stop wasting all your time on backlinks that Google doesn't even count and work on your content!"
   
   Delivering quality content and giving users a good experience are both key components of SEO.
   
   Search engines are always trying to find the best content that is relevant to their users' searches. So good SEO is meeting that demand: good content, relevant content, and content that satisfies people searching for it, which means you have to deliver it in an effective and engaging way (user experience).
   
   That is good SEO. It has ranked well in Google for years, even before the Panda update made it official.
   
   It's just taking some people an awfully long while to realize this.

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3. 72

   Kangaroo_Jaseposted 12 years ago

   Yay!!!!! Standard Emergency Operations are dead....
   
   Long live Search Engine Optimisation.......

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4. 61

   indian cookingposted 12 years ago

   Google has made it clear that if Publishers want to make money, then they have to spend money to get visibility. Google came up with the concept of fresh content ranking better and penalizing exact match domain etc only to make people to spend for visibility.  With the first 3 spots on the google search page dominated with google ads, the visibility chances are already low for someone trying to get organic traffic. Following Google's footsteps Facebook also has now come up with the concept of paying for visibility. However, I still do not think SEO is dead. SEO + Social Media definitely works. Write good quality content others would find worthy of sharing. Also get backlinks only from relevant sites on your niche. Don't get into blackhat methods to rank higher... just stay clean!

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5. 0

   calculus-geometryposted 12 years ago

   seven-egg omelettes will never be over.

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6. 65

   LucidDreamsposted 12 years ago

   Wow,
   
   Greekgeek
   
   seems as if you always have something negative to say except for when you post irrelevant information on the forum! This was just another post that I thought should be brought to light since some people do not understand just how important focusing on real quality content is and always will be the number one best way to survive on the internet.
   
   Thanks for the additional link that supports absolutely nothing in terms of what is happening now! Most will not even understand what you linked to. Thats the point!
   
   Maybe we should all run to Alexa and learn how REAL hubbers make money here to get a clear picture on how to do things right like that lame post you made earlier.
   
   If you have something positive to say..,,say it, otherwise just stick to telling people what they already know.
   
   Many are still trying to figure out how to make up for lost traffic. yes, I could go into detail on how to fix things, but just like your rookie question of : "can submitting more sitemaps help" when we already have one here built on Hubpages?.... stick to what you know and leave the hard seo to people whio have a clue!

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   1. 83

      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I just noticed this post, and hey LucidDreams, you are so out of order having a go at GreekGeek,who is one of the most helpful and knowledgeable hubbers I know of.
      
      Sometimes I read threads just because she has posted on them.
      
      That's how much I think of her knowledge and helpful advice.
      
      Too many people (both here and on other sites) seem to be confusing SEO with backlinking. While the two are related in that backlinking could probably be called off-page SEO, it is only a small part of getting your content noticed by the search engines.
      
      So SEO is NOT dead. In fact, it is (and probably always will be) a vital part of online writing.

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7. 65

   LucidDreamsposted 12 years ago

   Idian cooking
   Yep. seems like Google is definately moving towards making top marketers and websites pay to get that traffic. Too much competition with others makes them see things differently, could be their un-doing ot the start of something new!

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8. 65

   LucidDreamsposted 12 years ago

   uh oh, she seems like the type that would run to my profile and flag everything just because. I am so tired of people who run around this site preaching about how great they are. " My traffic is fine" must be something you did wrong....get a life!

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9. 74

   Shadesbreathposted 12 years ago

   I'm glad. Exploiters and loophole finders are the problem with literally everything in our culture, from things as simple as playing video games to big things like banking, healthcare and politics.
   
   I know in the SEO universe, people like to claim Robin Hood status, working the angles against the corporate juggernauts, but to me, it's just two wrongs not making any right, and no masses of poor are the recipients of any of it.
   
   Not saying people don't have the right to do what they want, and "a guy's just got to make a buck," etc., blah blah. I get all that. It's fine. I can't control people anyway, and I have plenty of friends, good people I genuinely like, who do it. But in my fairy tale universe, good, as in the real kind that is just known in the conscience and doesn't require explanations to qualify it for standing, actually matters.

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10. 65

    LucidDreamsposted 12 years ago

    Agreed, just do the right thing, that is what this post was meant to say! Provide quality content, don't cut corners and give people what they are looking for the best you can.

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    1. 83

       GA Andersonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       and still try for relevant, quality backlinks! Not for the search engines - but for the networking benefits of "like-minded" associations.
       
       A better title might be: "Manipulative SEO tactics are dead"
       
       It was a good post and relevant point - thanks
       
       GA

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       1. 61

          indian cookingposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I agree! Blackhat methods do not work. Natural linking from relevent sites still works.

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          1. 57

             Robin Thomas Eposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Black hat methods tend to work all the time, and they shall indeed. Google is smart, but we are indeed smarter, and with the knowledge acquired over these years, we can beat any updates. After all Google is simply an algorithm, and it can be beaten.

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11. 59

    Xenonlitposted 12 years ago

    When I recall all of the stupid hoops we have been told to jump through, I would love to see the death of SEO. Whatever happened to writing content without having to salt it with keywords that draw viewers whether they are looking for something else or not?

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12. 85

    viryaboposted 12 years ago

    About time too. It was such a stupid chore.
    Guess Pcunix must be smiling.

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13. 60

    ezaliaposted 12 years ago

    SEO is not as important as it used to be in the past but it is not dead

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14. 84

    rebekahELLEposted 12 years ago

    SEO certainly isn't dead, it has changed and evolved.  Simply ranking for keywords doesn't guarantee good performance.  Quality content will not be found easily without effective on-page optimization.  I think the SEOMoz guys have excellent, informative, instructional articles/videos about staying current with best SEO practices.  Rand Fishkin has an excellent (current) Whiteboard Friday video/transcript about on-page optimization.  http://www.seomoz.org/blog/getting-onpa … ard-friday

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15. 55

    Southernmapartposted 12 years ago

    At the first link in this forum, we read "...high quality articles that you write yourself, nice long ones, on quality sites, arranged in a link pyramid."
    
    Someone please take time to explain "link pyramid."  Thanks.

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16. 38

    charliegrumplesposted 12 years ago

    What gets me about all of this is that if google is by and large demoting pages with ads on then surely they must lose a ton of money too as they won't be getting the click throughs from the ads

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17. 65

    LucidDreamsposted 12 years ago

    Of course seo is not totally dead, I just wanted to give a little wake up call to any that had not been paying attention. Besides, each little piece of information we gain and discuss, better arms us to deal with what is happening online.
    
    The idea is to write really high quality information and the rest will take care of itself. So, people will probably need to have more patience rather then forcing the issue ranking wise.
    
    We'll see!

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    1. 72

       jacharlessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Cannot disagree.
       
       Compare SEO to Financing { credit, debt, consolidation, restructuring, precious metals, commodities, loans, mortgages and beyond}. In SEO Content is and always will be king. In finance, cash is and always will be king. Some have "change" content, others dollar-bill content. Heck, some have greenbacks! But, some others have Bennie's --even Cleveland's and a few Madison's. {No one has achieved a Wilson, ever}.
       
       Yes, there are ways to "optimize" search engines, that is why it was created by the engines {who optimize themselves as well}. But, tune an engine too much a ka-pow, the block cracks and no more engine. Engine RMP's go up and down, such is the nature of the the "Little Engine That Might"...
       
       SEO will never be over, even if every search engine keeled over, so long as the internet exists.
       
       James.

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18. 60

    noenhulkposted 12 years ago

    Google will be dead if they continue killing SEO. It's their cash cow. People search and research using keyword. What's their problem huh.

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    1. 63

       Sapperposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       That couldn't be anymore wrong. Google gets nothing, money wise, from SEO. Their "cash cow" is advertizing, which is pretty much the opposite of SEO.

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19. 61

    djdaniel150posted 12 years ago

    I agree with Sapper

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20. 57

    Robin Thomas Eposted 12 years ago

    Google never killed SEO. Its still there and shall be there all the time. As a matter of fact they have actually made it easier for people like us to rank, when compared with the kids who shall try ranking with some BH tools.

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21. 0

    EmpressFelicityposted 12 years ago

    Aaargh. Every time Google says things like "SEO is over" or "Quality is the only thing that matters!", people take their pronouncements at face value. It's PR, nothing more (PR as in public relations not page rank).
    
    You often need to look at what someone does, not at what they say, in order to figure out what their real intentions are.
    
    In Google's case, that means more paid results at the top of the SERPs. So in that sense, yes, SEO is taking more of a back seat. But you still need SEO to rank in the natural bit of the SERPs.

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    1. 61

       djdaniel150posted 12 years agoin reply to this

       There aren't that many paid results to begin with. Most of them appear on the right side of the results pages. Also, Google never said SEO was dead. Infact SEO is the basis for the hundreds of videos produced by Matt Cutts. Too many people think SEO is all statistics, and thats because they don't understand web design. The very basics of SEO require a firm understanding of HTML and CSS. Statistics mean nothing at all.

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22. 77

    Greekgeekposted 12 years ago

    Empress, FWIW, Google did not say that SEO is over.
    
    Ed Dale did.  I have learned to take his pronouncements with grains of salt, since he's been denouncing SEO while advocating basic SEO practices for years.
    
    Maybe he just doesn't know what SEO is. (Actually, I think he does, but he often rhetorically equates it to nothing but backlink spamming, when that's just poor, incompetent SEO.)
    
    My guess is that Ed has never watched the introductory Google Webmaster Central video titled: "Does Google Consider SEO to be Spam?"
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS75vhGO-kk
    Useful stuff in there on what IS good SEO, and why SEO is helpful to users/readers.
    
    Also, if Google really thought SEO was over, then it should take down the handy free starter guide to good SEO it created for us a few years back.

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    1. 57

       Robin Thomas Eposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Actually if Google thought SEO was over, they should certainly take down their search engine! If there is no SEO, that means there is no Google, atleast the current one!
       
       People should never jump to these conclusions once a kid start posting SEO is over. Good catch on Ed Dale !

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       EmpressFelicityposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       LOL. That starter guide looks really useful from my brief perusal of it - thank you for posting it.

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23. 55

    Ewentposted 7 years ago

    When someone posts "SEO is dead," it only shows how little they know or understand the concepts of search engine optimization. Those of us with decades of experience in SEO know these concepts as a second skin to writing online content.

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    1. 76

       psycheskinnerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       This is a four year old post.

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24. 84

    NateB11posted 7 years ago

    Four year old click-bait

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