Complexity Compels Changes for SEO Firms

[thejenn]

Authored by: Jim Hedger

Full Text: http://www.searchengineguide.com/hedger/007047.html

A Snippet:

There are now three general types or groupings of SEO practitioner. The first group is in decline; the second in transition, and the third is just starting to find its stride.

[BKCB]

I've always liked and appreciated Jim's comprehensive and clear style of communication (as I tend to be the same way - "verbose" ).

When Jim says "The entrance of large scale advertising firms to the search marketing sector will have a profound affect on the industry as it evolves over the coming years.", I agree. However, after doing presentations for online and off line directory advertising to small, medium, and large traditonal ad agencies and their clients for 20 years, I believe the small and medium ones are now getting in the game too. They have had some very rough years, and the adoption of "accountable" search marketing is desparately needed to save their businesses, and even bring some back into business.

I'm curious if you, Jenn or Jim, agree with Aaron Wall's premise that was part of a question in his Matt Cutts Interview http://www.search-marketing.info/new...matt-cutts.htm?
In it he says "Eventually there will come a time when SEO will be too hard to attempt to teach and traditional SEO will likely no longer be a viable and profitable business model for many SEOs."

If so, I hope there will always be the small and medium sized SEO-SEM's as they are the "backbone" of the Search Marketing Industry while helping the U.S. and world economy, IMO. Any professional comments would be appreciated.

[thejenn]

I think SEO will get more difficult to teach, but I really don't think it will become impossible to teach.

The reason that it will become more difficult it because as search gets more personalized, there are going to be a lot of factors outside of the control of the site owner. There may come a day when a search for "widgets" doesn't return one set of results, but dozens or even hundreds of sets of results depending on who you are, where you are, how you search, how your friends search, etc...

Thus, I think SEO is going to move more into the realm of search friendly design, proper copywriting that integrates real customer language and continued link building and other outside techniques.

Obviously SEM/PPC will continue to be a form of direct marketing that can be taught, studied and refined.

Our industry will undergo huge changes, there's no doubt about that...but I doubt any of them will make what we do irrelevant if we're changing with the times.

[Old Welsh Guy]

The one thing I would disagree with slightly in that article is the reason why independent SEO's such as myself, are moving away. It has nothing to do with it being harder to get paid the money you demand, and everything to do with it being easier to make money through your own sites, and a LOT less hassle IMO.

Often times an SEO consultant will get the job, only to have to fight all the way to get anything done. I am not being arrogant or anything, but when your turning away 9 out of 10 jobs, you really do not need the grief!

Anyone who is any good at web marketing can build sites that will gain traffic, and with that highly qualified traffic will come high levels of revenue.

Certainly this is the way I, and many I know, are going. Easy life with your own sites while having fun, and answering to no one. It gives you total freedom. Which is certainly the way I like to work.

[BKCB]

I understand and tend to agree with both your responses.

I am curious, Old Welsh Guy, if most SEM's go for only contextual AdSense, their own ads, CafePress type set-ups, and affiliate type income on their own sites vs. product or service fulfillment of some kind?

I think it might have been Jill, though, that said that she liked interacting with clients, and that she was not into product fulfillment (not sure if it was her, though).

[MattB]

I would agree with Jen, in that the results are going to become more disjointed because of localization, personalization and semantic indexing. I also believe that "traditional" SEO has already started to evolve.

Pure SEO practitioners (by that I mean those that deal solely with rankings) have had to increase their skill sets to become experts on all or partial phases of site development, copywriting, statistical analysis and other forms of online marketing. SEO is becoming more of the online mix, rather than the "killer app" it has and will be considered for many years to come.

After the boom, SEO will be a part of the total strategy, and to survive SEO's will have to grow into that strategy.


Yes, Jen. I just posted to your forum.

[Old Welsh Guy]

Hi Matt, nice to see you here

BKCB, I am not talking about no interation, hell I would go stir crazy within a week

I am a bit of an oddball as I came to SEo from a sales and marketing and publishing background. I yearn for my own sites again as that was how I first started it all.

I certainly wouldn't miss all the interation, in fact I speak at loacl business start up seminars (for free) as I really enjoy that and want to teach eventually.

People are different though and isn't it great

[BKCB]

No matter what form it takes, I believe SEO, done the way Jenn said it would evolve into, will always be around. I think even Matt Cutts said there will always be a need for Jenn's description of evolved SEO.

Old Welch Guy, I too have a sales ("outside") and marketing background with online and off line directory advertising thrown in for the B2B space. So, I know what you mean about how the "isolationism" of a "home office" can get to you if you're not careful.

Therefore, I'm grateful for the truth in "different strokes for different folks", as I'm hoping the small SEO businesses will always be around. I'm old enough (young at heart) to still believe that "People buy from People" rather than the "image" of a company.