Has SEO Changed?

Hi, I’m Vi Wickam, and this Honest SEO Basics, brought to you by the Get Listed Program, and Social Edge/Social Media training.

Has SEO really changed?

Now, if you’ve been watching search engine optimization or online marketing for any amount of time, you will have seen something that says, “Google has changed everything! SEO is dead! Online marketing has changed! Everything is different!”

And I’m here to tell you that’s true… and that’s totally false.

Let me clarify.

The tactics of online marketing are always changing. The specific tasks for you to do to market yourself online have changed a thousand times.

Which social media platform are you going to use? Which online shopping platform are you going to use? Which Pay-Per-Click system are you going to use? Which AdWords management system are you going to use? Which management system are you going to use to automate your social media?

All of those tactics change all the time. But, is that really the question?

Or is the question, “Has search engine optimization fundamentally changed?”

And I would argue that search engine optimization today is really no different than it was in 1998. If you do it right!

For those of you who think search engine optimization is about gaming Google, you are right on board with buying that idea that everything has changed today, and it’s going to change again tomorrow, and it’s going to change again the next day.

For those of you who want a long-term successful site, who don’t want to get slapped down by Google, who don’t want to get in trouble, but want to build a long-term online presence that’s strong and powerful- search engine optimization today is the same as it was yesterday and as the same as it was in 1998.

Now what do I mean by that?

What I mean is that search engine optimization is all about creating great content that answers the questions that your customers are asking.

Let’s step back… Great content, that’s well-written, and answers the questions your costumers are asking.

If you create great content that’s authoritative, that’s well-written, that answers your customer’s questions, you will find that Google likes that content.

Why do you think Google likes that content? Because their job is to answer the questions of the people that typed in a search phrase on Google.

So your job is to make it easy for Google to do that.

If you write great content and you do it on a regular basis, you will find that your online presence grows, and grows in strength, and that you grow in authority.

Now, really, who’s going to get the most traffic? Is it going to be the person who’s trying to game Google, or is it going to be the person who is writing authoritative, useful content that is well-written and answers their customer’s questions.

I think you know the answer!

I don’t even have to answer this- you know, deep down, that the person who writes something that’s useful and well-written is always going to be the person who’s not trying to play the games.

Search engine optimization is about the tortoise. The tortoise doesn’t change.

You will have lots of hares jumping into the game, saying, “I can shake it up! I can beat the game! I can go so fast, they won’t know what’s going on! I’ll float like a butterfly, I’ll sting like a bee!”

That’s not the game of SEO.

SEO is about long-term, strategic thought, answering questions, creating content- whether it’s videos, or whether it’s photos, or whether it’s writing- that’s well done and building on it incrementally over time, and establishing yourself as a credible source of information for your potential customers.

So answer the questions. Use that as your guide. Don’t try to play games!

Have an awesome day, I’ll see you next time!