The Future of SEO

There has been a lot of noise and hype in internet marketing circles surrounding the announcement last week that Yahoo have agreed to replace its search engine with Microsoft’s Bing. Given that Bing and Yahoo have a combined market share of around 20% of searches in the U.S. the game has changed for SEO professionals. Those used to tweaking websites to cater for supposed changes in the Google algorithm need to think more about how those changes will affect search results in Bing. Up to now SEO professionalis have focused on optimising websites for one search engine’s algorithm, now their focus is split.

But that's not the only issue facing SEO professionals and more specifically, companies that specialise in offering SEO services. While the viability of SEO's future is hotly debated, the demand for SEO services has never been greater. New clients all want SEO services; they rightly want to rank better than their competitors in Google. The problem is, as more and more websites are optimised, it becomes harder and harder for SEO specialists to deliver on the promises they make.

Scepticism is on the rise. The volume of spam promoting SEO services has reached epidemic proportions, associating SEO specialists with those touting p*nis enlargements and Nigerian bank scams. In some cases, this association is justified - I’m not sure where the E fits into things but I’m pretty sure that when it comes to a lot of people out there the S and the O stand for Snake and Oil.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) focuses on improving the position of a website in search engine search results for specific keywords and key phrases with the aim of increasing the number of visitors to that website. The effectiveness is measured by changes in position in Search Engine Result Pages and any increases in the number of visitors referred by those search engines. But the real measure of success of any web strategy should be how many additional enquiries and sales a website generates as a result.

It’s all very well to perform well in search engine results, but if your actual website doesn’t perform (convert visits to enquiries and sales) then much of what you’ve achieved will be wasted. For instance, there’s no point stuffing your content with keywords if the content then becomes illegible to humans. Getting more visitors to your website won’t accomplish very much if their first inclination when they arrive is to leave and never come back.

We’ve had enquiries from website owners wanting SEO services for websites that looked like a dog’s breakfast with usability to match. The crazy thing is that those website owners generally aren’t interested in hearing about the need for a redesign and a restructuring of their websites - they just wanted someone to provide them with SEO as if it’s something that can be done in the background, in isolation from their actual website. Those website owners will inevitably find an SEO specialist who will promise them improved results within search engines without exploring or explaining the need for changes to design and usability.

The problem is that many SEO specialists make recommendations based on what they can charge for. There is no incentive for making recommendations that could improve the performance of a website if the SEO specialist is not able to charge for those changes. If anything, given the budgetary constraints of most clients, there is actually a disincentive to recommend changes to design and usability if those changes need to be implemented by the client’s web designer or web developer, because all of a sudden there’s less money available for the SEO specialist’s services.

As content management systems improve and incorporate many of the features usually recommended by SEO specialists, there will be less of a need for SEO specialists to make those recommendations. The range of recommendations provided by SEO specialists will narrow as a consequence and I can see many of the less adaptable SEO specialists becoming irrelevant.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that SEO practices themselves will become irrelevant, just that SEO specialists will struggle if they don’t adapt and recognise that SEO is only one part of a website's performance. As clients start to recognise the need to focus their website around their broader marketing strategy and optimise for maximum conversions as well as for optimal search engine search results, they are more likely to look to providers offering both web design and web development in conjunction with SEO services.

As Bing establishes more market share, more and more attention will need to be paid to the effect of changes to websites on search results in Bing. This should result in SEO professionals spending less time chasing the tail of the Google search engine algorithm, and more time establishing techniques which work well no matter what state the algorithm is in. There will be less call for probing for better results and more call for establishing better tried and tested techniques.

In Australia however Google dominates market share, and the wave of change felt throughout the U.S. will feel more like ripples. But Microsoft hasn’t really started marketing Bing in Australia yet. You can be sure that once they do, they’ll do it in a big way. They will gain market share and the landscape will change for Australian SEO professionals too.

I think companies that specialise in SEO are in for a bumpy ride ahead, and may find it tough going in a couple of years time. Whatever happens I hope (probably in vain) that SEO spam becomes a thing of the past - it's a blight on the industry.

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