This is a question we receive frequently. While the ‘SEO is dead’ drumbeat has been pounding for years, it’s definitely getting louder these days. And for good reason. But first, a little perspective.
Chasing Google’s Algorithm
When we first started out in SEO 20 years ago, the process of optimization was a fairly simple and straightforward one. With a few tricks here and there, and some strategic keyword placement, you had a pretty good shot at ranking for your target keyword. But Google raised the bar, again and again.
New factors were regularly added to their ranking algorithm and each time there was an update, it sent SEO professionals scrambling to adjust. For example. upon learning that inbound links were a key ranking factor, some folks devised methods to get thousands of links to their site through link farms and other black hat methods. So Google modified the algorithm to qualify links based on the respectability/authority of the link source and devalued links from low quality sources.
This has been the persistent cat and mouse game that we’ve seen in the SEO world as long as SEO has been around. But while Google has made many updates to their algorithm and ranking factors over the years, which consistently sends SEO professionals reeling, Google’s stated goal has remained the same when it comes to their rankings. And that is, in short: “content is king.” If you produce high-quality, original content that is truly useful to people (not search engines), you will likely be rewarded for your efforts with higher rankings (Google has a great guide to what they perceive high quality content to be). But if you (or an SEO professional that is assisting you) are spending your time trying to game the system and get ahead of the algorithm rather than focusing on your content, you will ultimately be wasting your time for short term gains.
The Current SEO Landscape
Google has evolved dramatically in their capability of understanding language and evaluating websites for original, quality content. As a result, they are less reliant on signals like links from reputable sources to tell them if a website is worth ranking highly. This isn’t to say that links are no longer a factor, but they’re less of a factor than they once were.
Similarly, pursuing a specific keyword by strategically placing it in multiple key locations on a page does not yield the same results it once did. Because a keyword no longer exists in a vacuum. No longer are you going after a keyword, you are actually going after a topic. The sites that are going to fare well are sites that have extensively covered all aspects of that topic. And Google has evolved to understand not just the keyword but other words that are related to it, and the entire ecosystem that any given word occupies. While Google has been steadily advancing on this front over the years, it was their introduction of BERT that really took Google to a new level of language understanding, to allow it to better parse queries in order to return the most relevant results.
What this all boils down to is that Google is smarter than it’s ever been and is better at understanding website content and search queries to provide the most helpful and relevant results. Does it always succeed on this front? Definitely not. But it’s also important to bear in mind that, while content may be king, there are also still a number of members of the royal court that still have a role in the search ranking equation.
So, Is SEO Dead?
The answer to this is the same now that it has always been. No, SEO is not dead. It’s alive and well. It’s just harder to rank now than it was five, ten, twenty years ago. You aren’t going to see success with smoke and mirrors. If you want to rank highly for a given keyword, you need to put in the work and create useful, original content. And a lot of it.
On top of that, your site still needs to be well-constructed and optimized. And while links might not be as important as they once were, they do still serve as a signal of the usefulness of content. If you’re willing to do things the right way and put in the necessary time and effort, you’ll have a good shot at seeing positive results.
What About AI?
Now, this is the big question that nobody can truly answer yet. We’re already seeing some strong indicators that AI is replacing search engines for some things. For example, if someone is researching a topic, they might ask it on ChatGPT and receive an in-depth answer that thoroughly covers every aspect of that topic. But there are many reasons why someone may opt for a traditional search engine to provide them with this information. They might want to know that the information they’re receiving is coming from a trusted authority on the subject. Or that they’re receiving a diverse set of answers that might not be fully covered in the information that AI has pulled together.
But just like search engines, AI is also pulling from sources on the web. And like search, it’s looking for unique, authoritative, and comprehensive content on a topic to determine if this is information that should be used in an answer. Below is a screenshot from ChatGPT, asking about the best mountain biking in California. It sourced five prominent sites on the subject and linked back to them.
AI will most certainly change the way we search and all search engines are already embracing the power of AI. But will it make search engines obsolete? It doesn’t look like that is going happen yet. But if anything is going to kill SEO as we know it, AI will be the thing to do it. For now, though, SEO should still be an essential aspect of your website strategy. The bottom line is that whether you’re concerned about AI or SEO, the same principle applies if you’d like your content to be seen. Produce quality content that is your own and and bring something unique to the table. Google uses the E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) model when evaluating content, and it’s a good model for any content creator to keep in mind at all times.
