..Well, let’s look at the Data…
On Google alone (not even including Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines) there are about 5 billion searches per day. While that may seem like an astronomically large number, there is a lot of content being curated through blog posts, websites, and forums that make up a bulk of that information. This isn’t even considering social media platforms where businesses are posting and advertising their services and products.
What you’ll see by the image below is that Google corners the market in search engine optimization by a landslide. Since there are a lot of places to get this information, people sometimes think that SEO is ineffective, not worth it, or “dead”. But we’re here to answer one of the most asked and answered questions, is SEO Dead in 2022, and if it isn’t why or how not?
We have to realize that search engine optimization is not the same “SEO” it was back in 2012. Back then, you could easily dominate the market with keyword stuffing, spamming backlinks, and a lack of competition. SEO has just changed and will constantly be changing, which means digital marketing agencies and businesses need to adapt as well.
A site with a ton of backlinks (think of these as links back to your website or “votes” the more you have the better, but not all are created equal or count the same — similar to the electoral college, learn more about what they are and why they are important by clicking here) but not user-friendly and not keyword intent or user intent designed won’t rank well (at least not for long). With every Google update, digital marketing agencies and SEO experts are seeing how backlinks are impacting rankings. Google is also finding websites with low-quality backlinks, and we’re seeing it is negatively impacting websites that use this strategy.
So the game is changing and we must keep up.
What used to work, doesn’t work before… so what does work?
In order to answer this question, we have to think like the consumer. Google is a business and wants to be the best in its class. So, what does Google want? Well, it’s actually quite simple. Google wants to show the consumer the most relevant information based on what they are looking for. Therefore, it ranks websites heavily accordingly to user intent. It wants to provide the most valuable information to the customer in the quickest amount of time. It does not want the user to have to sift through pages of websites to get the information they want.
Google is a well-oiled machine, and it gathers all of its information from the end user and makes adjustments based on that. It gathers information from social media platforms, brand awareness, and clicks based on searches compared to competitors constantly… which is why rankings constantly change and are impacted by actions each day (think clickthrough rates, bounce rates, etc).
Understanding how all of these things work together can impact and create a powerful SEO strategy to help you consistently beat out your competition…
So while there may be information overload on the internet, SEO is not dead, it’s just changing so we as search engine optimization experts must adapt to it to make sure that it is a valuable asset to the businesses we work with.
At Local Marketing Solutions, we approach SEO to beat out and dominate the competition in all aspects of SEO. This includes technical SEO, content, user experience, backlinks, and overall strategy. But most importantly we think of the end-user… just like Google. We give the customers what they want to see and what they are searching for. Think about it this way… when someone goes to google (or yahoo or bing) they are searching for either an answer to their question, or a specific product or service. Depending on what you want them to do, you create your website and content around that. Being ranked for high-intent keywords gives you a long-term competitive advantage that differs from paid ads or social media posts. It’s a completely different approach than social media marketing.
For example, if you don’t post on your Facebook for three months, your friends and family won’t see it on their timelines. If you stop paying for advertising the traffic from those paid ads will stop. If you stop paying rent… your landlord will evict you. You get the point.
Search engine optimization or SEO when done properly provides a much more impactful return on investment. As you focus on ranking for keywords based and adjust based on the end user, Google will reward you. The Google algorithm wants to give the customer the best experience. By focusing on that, you can be the business your target audience sees when they search.
So to answer the question, SEO is not dead in 2022. But if your marketing strategy around it isn’t done right, it might as well be.
Contact us today and schedule a free strategy session so we can review your marketing plan and SEO strategy.
