If you follow the world of search engine optimization, at some point, you have undoubtedly read reports of the death of SEO. And although SEO has undergone vast changes since the birth of search engines, there has always been demand for those who are able to help businesses gain targeted traffic from organic search results. However, does the term search engine optimization really encompass all the things that today’s SEO does? Perhaps it is time to put the term “SEO” to bed.
I his post, The Responsibilities of SEO Have Been Upgraded, Rand Fishkin suggests that:
The job of an “SEO” is so much more than what we think of and talk about as the basics of classic “Search Engine Optimization” that it almost feels as though we deserve a new title… and probably a raise
Combined with the fact that in many circles SEO has become synonymous with web spam, and perhaps it is a time for a change in title. This is something that we have actually been contemplating for quite some time.
The fact is that the web is undergoing changes at its very foundation. Media formats, social signals, and location signals are fundamentally changing how the web is connected, which will have an increasing impact on how search engines organize information online.
On the other hand, most people still don’t have a clue of what the term SEO means. If you ask someone on the street about SEO, you’re likely to get a blank look. Perhaps this is even more reason to adopt a more user-friendly term.
Rand suggests “organic web strategist.” While I personally like the sound of that, does it do a better job of communicating the role of an SEO? There have been studies done that suggest that most people don’t even recognize the difference between organic and paid search results. Is it likely that they are going to understand what an organic web strategist does? Does it even matter?
From a marketing position, it does make sense to separate oneself from the dime-a-dozen commodity “SEO specialist.” SEO has become a bad word. And whether it’s because of unqualified or unscrupulous SEOs, it’s tarnished the reputation of the entire industry.
On the other hand, our web analytics indicates that searches including the term “SEO” generate very targeted and engaged visitor traffic. Which means that optimizing for SEO makes a lot of sense.
Perhaps we should keep the term around for at least a little while longer.
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I will assume that since your site is “law firm seo”, you know the difference between seo and marketing. Maybe your clients don’t, or some do… that’s typically how I see it. In the beginning, they need “marketing”. That leads them to discover “online marketing”. From there, they learn that SEO is a specialty within online marketing.
At some point they meet a true SEO. They see that the “SEO guy” seemed to have very high confidence. He was sharper, and more brusk than all the other “online marketers” they met along the way. Nothing seemed unusual or unknown to him. He also didn’t have a lot of patience for many of the channels the online marketers had put into play. He was “do it right or don’t waste my time” compared to the others, who were more about working with other systems, or trying things, or working to slowly build and influence select audiences, or buying ads.
If the client “chooses” SEO at that point, they typically get hurt. They weren’t ready for the powerful speciality of SEO. Their business strategy wasn’t clearly aligned with what SEO delivers. They should have “chosen” a marketing mix that included some real SEO, and integrated SEO guidance into everything else they did.
I suggest the whole “SEO is dead” discussion is dead. It’s really only important to those who either don’t know what SEO really is (a hybrid specialty of online marketing and technical publishing) or they don’t do SEO but want to benefit from the attention SEO gets in the marketplace (due to its potential for success). The former need someone in online marketing to help them learn. The latter, well… they usually engage in these discussions to get links or to bait and switch to link building or PPC ad buying.