Is Saying SEO is Dead... Dead?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not Dead. But don't get too complacent.

SEO extinction doom and gloom tends to come out of hiding whenever Google makes notable changes to its search algorithm. As Google is a quasi-monopoly in search, these dire alarms should be looked at and evaluated. The changes made by Google primarily focus on filtering out spammers and improving SERP quality. Big changes like Panda and Penguin can crush black and grey hat SEO efforts. But white hat SEO rarely is adversely affected. So use white hat tactics. In other words, if you conduct your SEO efforts with your target market needs, website usability, and original content relevancy as top of mind, then you'll have a good chance to succeed with organic search optimization for Google, Bing, Blekko, and other search sites.

Here lie the ancient ruins of SEO,
destroyed by barbarian pandas, penguins,
and SERPs.

Search Engine Land has produced a humorous infographic detailing the failed predictions of SEO disaster and SEO death over the years. Folks have been predicting the death of SEO for as long as SEO became an acronym for search engine optimization.

As someone who has been successfully conducting and managing B-to-B web marketing SEO for over 10 years, I find this infographic amusing and entertaining. We've heard urgent 'SEO is Dead' warnings before, I just didn't realize that SEO downfall predictors have been at this for so long. This infographic pulls all the SEO doom and gloom prognosticators together in one handy guide.

To see this infographic please visit: "The Death Of SEO, Failed Predictions Over The Years"

For anyone who has been at SEO for a few years, predictions that the SEO sky is falling can have a déjà vu feeling. Like other apocalyptic predictions of death and destruction (zombie invasion, thermo-nuclear war, magnetic pole reversal, peak oil, mega-quakes, killer asteroids, alien invasion, supernovas, super-bug pandemics, evil super-computers, mega-solar storms, etc.) this one has not happened, just yet. Given enough time, like a Monte-Carlo probability simulation, the unthinkable could happen, SEO could be squashed like a bug one day. So in this regard we shouldn't mock SEO death predictors, but monitor their early-warning chatter. One day, they could get it right.

Alternatives to Google Analytics 'Not Provided' Organic Search Keywords: Google Closes The Curtain on Organic Keyword Research.

Website Lead Generation Success: When it all comes together.

Engineering Website Lead Generation Success.

Want to experience the happy result of watching a surge of global B-to-B qualified leads spill out of the various webpages for which you are responsible... to get "one for the record books"? It is a great feeling.

The principles involved are few, but extremely important. Get them right, and you'll see excellent business leads coming out of the woodwork. Here are four principles I find useful and important for lead gen.

Intense focus on webpage content:
Is the content concise, precise, relevant? Is the content updated regularly? Are the right keywords being used for the right potential audience? Is there relevant professional 'eye candy' like images, graphics, videos, etc? Is there a strong call to action?

Search Engine Marketing:


Search Engine Optimization - SEO:
Organic SEO is vital to success. Pages must be found in order to be read. A great webpage, when not found by potential clients, is utterly useless. Is the page benchmarked against competitors in search? Are actions taken to improve content with an eye to raise search engine rankings and exploit long-tail niche targeting? Have additional language options been created when useful?

Paid Search (Adwords):
Paid Search is another important tool, lead generator and effective branding tactic. When Organic and Paid search are used in a coordinated fashion, quality lead generation benefits. Paid search can support organic search, validate your organic search rankings in the customer's mind, and fill in search engine result gaps when they occur. Using of negative search terms in paid search will help improve accuracy, conversion, and cost measurements.

Navigation and Links:
Diligent and intelligent cross-linking to other relevant webpages and blogs, with strong site and sectional navigation menus added and updated help keep potential clients from getting lost in a site. "Don't Make Me Think" is a great book, for this very reason if nothing else. Is Social Media being exploited?

Teamwork:
Having a talented, professional, reliable and innovative website management, design and webmaster team is mission critical. A well-designed website is like a fine symphony hall.... fantastic acoustics, great architecture.... just as a fine concert hall needs fine music to fulfill its destiny, so too, a good website needs good content to achieve ultimate SEO and lead generation success. Good content performs best on a good website. Get the formula wrong, and a mediocre website will produce mediocre to poor leads, no matter the quality of the content.

Discipline and Conviction:
What I have discussed are some general principles to help generate more, better, B-to-B leads. Discipline, inspiration, conviction and work-ethic are required to make lead gen success happen. Make SEO, Navigation, Benchmarking and Linkage optimization a daily habit and good things will happen.

What to do when those great quality leads start pouring in and they have to be classified, followed-up and tracked is another important topic for another day.

Novel Social Media Concept for 2011: Content is Still King

The social media wave continued to grow in 2010, expanding and receiving a huge amount of attention from the media and web marketing professionals. Hollywood even got into the act with a movie on Facebook, a sure sign that public interest is peaking.


Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and many other social media sites, apps and tools gained visitors and have proliferated, chasing both B-to-C consumers and (not in-coincidently) rather large pools of venture capital funds salivating to get into the social media game. One can predict a Darwinian survival-of-the-fittest struggle in the next few years involving social media ventures, search engines and email services as visitor behaviors and usage evolve. We've been there before with Web 1.0 and 2.0. Social media giant Facebook is beginning to tower amongst the others in the emerging social media marketing landscape... rivaling and in some ways challenging the search engine giant Google. Linkedin is revolutionizing how we conduct person-to-person introductions, prospecting and business communication. Twitter has established a unique niche, with no competitors in sight.


But what does this mean to technical and industrial B-to-B marketers? While Social Media is growing in importance and is the popular hot topic of the day, Search Engine Marketing continues to matter, churning out vast numbers of valuable business leads. If you are marketing to engineers, scientists, managers, executives and other decision makers and professionals, webpage content is still king, no matter where you put it. These high value prospective clients don't use Facebook or Twitter to do research and find potential vendors... they use Google or Bing.


Search Engine Optimization, SEO, is fundamental to successful lead generation. What is SEO, but great content on a great webpage, on a great website? Have that great content well-linked both inside and outside of a website, keep the content fresh. By adding a modest Paid Search campaign to the mix one can achieve amazing commercial success.


It's perfectly OK to develop a rational Social Media B-to-B presence in 2011, just don't forget search engine content optimization on company websites.

Search Engine Ranking Nirvana: A Transitory State of Bliss.

Achieving smashing success with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a great feeling... enjoy it while it lasts, because SEO is a variable treadmill and if one doesn't keep running, organic search ranking results can fall fast and deep. Break out the champagne when you win but don't drink the whole bottle... you need to keep your wits about you. It's a tough SEO world out there!

I  recently enjoyed a grand slam success in SEO on Google. I hit a Trifecta + Bonus... an almost mythologically rare result in Google organic searchdom. Out of over 4,300,000 indexed webpages for an important search term, my related webpages from one website scored 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for organic search. An allied blog I run scored at 4th place. So I acheived 1,2,3,4 for organic search... very nice and exceedingly valuable. To hedge it all, I ran an Adword which ranked 2nd  for paid search ads. So I dominated 5 of the top 6 search engine marketing positions for that search term. In other words, I OWNED that search term on Google. It was MINE.

The short search term discussed above has high strategic value for the business... we cannot accept anything else but a high ranking in Google search.

I continue to dominate that search result today, but the ultra-perfect 1,2,3,4 + 2 result above was from last week, great for bragging rights but of no use today. My reality is what is going on now. And sure enough, this week Google took me down a notch and removed one of my 3 ranked webpages, but graciously allowed me to keep the 1st and 2nd ranked pages plus the blog at 3rd place. Why? Who knows? I can only speculate and take SEO action. The good news is that I still "own" that search at the 1,2 and 3 spots, out of 4.3 million potential competitors. My ad is also now number one, with no changes made to PPC. Now I'm at 1,2,3, + 1.

Go figure. Rankings can change quickly, never take them for granted.

For best results, one must remain alert and vigilant with SEO... total victory today can disintegrate into future disaster tomorrow if a well performing webpage for a competitive search term is neglected.

Every day is an adventure with SEO and Search Engine Marketing. SEO is kind of like a horse race. Make sure you're not betting on "Three Legged Wonder", hoping it wins the race. The Google Search Gods can be capricious... changing, advancing, and demolishing search results on what seems like a whim... using their inscrutable, dynamic and logical search algorithm. Good SEO, relevant content, and constant care and attention to your webpages will greatly help in achieving top rankings.

Useful Research and Article on the Value of Google Result Positioning

This is great information for people who strive for Search Engine Optimization. If your using Search Engines for lead generation these two articles are a must read!

1. The Value of Google Result Positioning:

"How much is the top spot on Google actually worth? According to data from the Chitika network, it’s worth a ton – double the traffic of the #2 spot, to be precise."

http://chitika.com/research/2010/the-value-of-google-result-positioning/

Daniel Ruby, Research Director, Online Insights, Chitika, Inc.

Search Engine Watch article: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/100525-160427.

A special thanks to Brian Geddes of  http://www.bgtheory.com/ for posting this valuable information on LinkedIn. By the way, Brian teaches an excellent set of classes devoted to advanced Adwords training. If you can ever take one of his classes, I highly recommend it. http://www.linkedin.com/in/ewhisper