Marc 2 Market

The Death of SEO?

I recently sat down and “googled” marketing charts on local online spending in 2012. Guess what, the most useable results focused almost exclusively on social media signals and video, not the traditional link wheels and other forms of page rank promotion.  In fact, contrary to all that Internet marketers have declared over the last several years, very little information returned from my query was actually about search.

It would seem that, in the same way that our cells start to break down from the moment we are born, apparently, search engine optimization in its dependable form has become a part of the cycle of decay in Internet life. Just as human beings eventually reach prime and start to decline, it would seem that traditional off page search engine optimization methods have also, apparently, reached their prime. With the speed of today’s modern world, who is to say when that rot started, or determine the speed of its decay? Right now, the continued usefulness of these methods that I have come to count on is rather doubtful.

We have been the earnest students. Believing that if we entered the right keywords, in the right numbers, in the right places, and created just the right links and content that we would be rewarded with a passing grade. That our hard work would rank up there at the top page one. It now seems clear that the years we spent paying attention to the teacher and scoring well on school tests the rules of keywords placement were perhaps just the first lessons the teacher had for us in this next phase of the Internet marketing era.

And many marketers and clients are left wondering what is going on. Isn’t this how it is supposed to work with online marketing? The search engine instructs what methods are the accepted as best practices; Internet marketers study those guidelines, and do as directed with the idea that higher placements are within reach.

Alas, we obviously understand that the teacher has a higher authority to answer to or to change their minds; that the search engines are looking to the consumers to instruct them who to reward with a higher ranking.  We as marketers we have all performed well at optimizing for the search engines and to provide value in the form of websites, social signals, and by creating landing pages that would earn passing grades from the search engine authorities. Now, though, it seems no one knows exactly what curriculum will earn us a passing grade or for how long the instructions are valid. No one, and I repeat no one, has the clear formula that will work to obtain organic search engine rankings every time or over time, at least not in the way or at the levels that we used to.

What has happened? Well, in its technical, manifestation we see that the updates and changes to the algorithms that determine page ranking are coming so frequently, and are so pervasive, that even the longtime position holders are being tossed about without any linear outcome. It is happening at such a level that the probability of any search phrase worth competing for ranking well with the search engine is quickly becoming a less and less of a perceived outcome.

Thankfully, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for those in the Internet marketing business, who it would seem, had better jump on board. That light is called authenticity, and I believe it is the new normal as far as maximizing search engines rankings for our clients. In this new era, organic page ranking still is a key with over 90% of all purchase decisions originating in the search engines, and organic starts with authenticity.

The degree to which one is true to one’s own personality, spirit, and character is a pretty good definition of authenticity. In means genuinely being who you are, when relating to others, despite external pressures.  This is no different from people to businesses and it is expressed in everything you do online or offline.

By definition, the process of marketing and selling without authenticity is called bad faith and, come on guys, no one wants to be seen as operating in bad faith. It not only sounds bad, it is roughly defined as intent to deceive.  I don’t know about anyone else, but that is not how I want my Internet marketing interpreted.

But building an authentic online relationship with your consumers is not an easy task.

It wasn’t until recently that I personally started to figure out who I am and what my business is really about. It’s cathartic, and it’s not that much fun at times, but I am turning into the authentic professional my dad would have liked to witness me becoming. This is what today’s consumers are after; authentic people that they feel good about spending their most important currency, which is time with.   John Jantsch, Author of Duct Tape Marketing said to, Bring the best of your authentic self to every opportunity. I agree. It opens doors.

So let’s talk about the business manifestation of this age of authenticity; how did we get here? For starters, the search engine real estate, namely the first page ranking on Google, Yahoo, and Bing, has become occupied with businesses and marketers locating themselves in and around clusters based on consumers need. Much the same as the availability of oil, it only makes sense that the search engines maximize their revenue opportunities in and around those clusters that are initially perceived to be the most fertile and developed on the lowest cost basis.  However, as with oil, the need to expand beyond those easy wells is equally present in the search engines and they have expanded

To help illustrate, we can sort search engine users into two simple categories:

#1: Those users that engage the search engines more than 50% of the time in ways that generate the search engines advertising revenue.

#2: Those users that engage the search engines less than 50% of the time in ways that generate the search engines advertising revenue.

Users in category #1 are what I call strong targets. Most of the time, these users are characterized by a consumer-based thirst for their Internet shopping. They use the search engines as a shopping mall for browsing all sorts of products and services that they may or may not need. The phrases used in this group are closely aligned with brands, shopping and purchases, which, quite frankly, have been maxed out in terms of well production.

Users in category #2 are what I call weak targets. Most of the time, these users are characterized by an intellectual curiosity that may or may not be based on any intent to purchase something. The phrases used by this group are hard to monetize and quite frankly not very interesting to the search engines. They use the search engines as a public library and don’t often create much revenue.

It turns out, however, that when it comes to finding locally based products and services, those helpful to the target consumer lives, we find that both groups have potential for generating revenue.

For a long time the search engines had allowed individual companies and marketers to occupy real estate on their front pages in an effort to provide value to the targets who were using the search engines. However, they found that, in many cases, these companies and marketers were exploiting their infrastructure without paying any toll, so to speak.

Around 2009, when the trends for online local spending starting growing even more rapidly, the search engines made significant moves to maximize revenue from the real estate. Realizing the value of what they had created, they did what most countries that control a precious resource do. They put up fences, hired security and formed consortiums in order to maximize their revenue.

I believe that it was at this point the search engines began to fear that the resource could potentially to dry up. It seems they suddenly understood that they are at anytime 6-8 months away from slipping into a declining state of growth. They showed their hand out of this fear; they broke the proverbial sweat. Their reaction included adding maps, places, and tweaking the structure of the search result pages, now paying attention to search phrases that they had previously considered not very interesting.

There were some other mitigating factors that influenced these changes. These included the rising need of the typical user for privacy at about the same time that social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, was exploding onto the scene. Today’s consumers are totally disinterested in the idea of being marketed to. They want to live their online lives in the uninterrupted, free manner that they feel it is there right to.

The search engines started out with the idea that they could index the world’s information. Eventually, though, they realized how valuable that information was, especially when organized and easily accessible. As Fast Company writer, Danielle Sacks points out, the Internet has turned what used to be a controlled, one-way message into a real-time dialogue with millions.  That dialogue, it turns out, has monetary value, which amounts to billions of dollar.

Of course, the search engine giants wanted to make their share of the revenue from this new real estate. In the effort to maximize their returns, they drilled it to the point of endangering the very resource that supports this new real estate.

Upon realizing that its not going to last forever that people change the way that they use the real estate, and that they are probably going to keep changing the way they use it.  The search engines started drilling deeper, in more areas, in order to make more money. As a result, the consumers eventually started to figure out how to get along without this new commodity.

To stay in the game, the search engines started trying to figure out what people really want. They suddenly became aware, along with just about every other company in the world, that people want authentic interactions, not just in their daily, offline lives, but in their online world as well.

Consumers, it turns out, are willing to let you advertise a little, even make a little money, but they have to be able to trust that it isn’t your only motivation. When it does happen, they prefer that it is only according to their wants and needs. Wants and needs which, by the way, seem to change literally as much as the search engine algorithm do these days.

So what is a business supposed to do? Well, we are all learning the answer to that, but I do have some suggestions. The best plan, I believe, is to divide your budget in half.
  #1: Half of your budget should target traditional Internet marketing, including SEO, display, PPC, e-mail, and anything that would be considered interruptive. You may scratch your head and ask SEO? Well, honestly it has been occupied. You may not see it just like you don’t see natural gas wells often times in neighborhoods but they are there.  They just have nice fences and attractive buildings built around them.  Plan on using these mediums for another 6 to 8 months and get ready for a total reduction in spending and results from these efforts.

#2:  Half of your budget should go to doing anything and everything you can to build a relationship with you customer base, online and in person. Use social outposts such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as a means for building that relationship. Be authentic in who you and your company are and find consumers who like you as a business and as a person. If you are advertising something, do so in a way that asks the consumer you are for help and apologizes for the spin if there is any.

Another key piece of advice is to stay on point. Always be aware that time is the currency that most people find most precious. If you want to gain a little of this currency from them if you want their time and attention that can convert into their money you need to respect the value they place on it. Be authentic when considering who would really be interested in your product or service, and focus your energies there.

Online marketing in this new era means that it is important to determining who you are, what your business can do for its target demographics, and that you create marketing strategies that focus on that. According to Darren Rowse, Founder of Problogger, There are no magic wands, no hidden tricks, and no secret handshakes that can bring you immediate success, but with time, energy, and determination you can get there.

It is time to stop doing stuff online just to impress the search engines. None of it really impresses the consumer. Instead, those tactics make it clear that it’s all about making money, which doesn’t build trust. Trust is what brings the consumer back. Building trust is what becoming authentic is all about.

Don’t get me wrong; making money is still important. But advertising, especially the traditional SEO way, as a means to obtain a revenue fix has now become like a drug addict who spends all his time trying to score. The outcome is just too short-lived, it’s not fulfilling, rather odorous, and the motivation is totally obvious to the rest of the world. It is time to make your authentic self and business more obvious.

08. January 2013 by Marc Pickren
Categories: Marc2Market | Tags: content marketing, search engine marketing | Leave a comment