Is SEO dead?

Seo dead

If you’ve followed the latest news in Online Marketing, or if your business relies on traffic from Google, you would definitely have heard about Panda and Penguin. The Google Algorithm updates, that were supposed to get rid of Spam links and Spam site. But also affected a lot of business sites. Mainly smaller businesses I might add.

Additionally, Google has been rolling out more and more updates to their Adwords Ads. Ad extensions, that allow you to capture more screen real estate and add more links to your site. Displaying phone number, addresses and vouchers, and even displaying images with your ads.

But what you may not have heard is that apparently  85% of the above fold content on a competitive Google search are Ads. So I decided to do a couple searches and fair enough. There is basically no organic content above the fold.

So what does this mean?

I have talked to a number of small business owners in the last few month,  some of which are spending upwards of $400 a month on SEO, trying to get their website to rank for 5-10 search terms. Many of them are locked into 6 or 12 month contracts, which is a lot of money for something that Google is trying to actively discourage.

And which takes months to verify if it is actually working. Additionally Google is making it harder and harder to see data that tells you how people have found your site.

Adwords on the other hand is becoming more and more powerful. Google is making it easier to get access to data from Adwords, and it is so much easier to track if what you’re doing is working.

If you have set up your Campaigns right, you know exactly how much it costs you to get a lead or a sale from Google. With SEO….you’re still stabbing in the dark.

Especially if you are a smaller local business, spending your money on Adwords makes a lot more sense. Not only because you can track your ROI, but also because you know that Adwords is here to stay. Google might roll out another Algorithm update and all your rankings and traffic might be gone overnight. And let’s be honest, for certain terms there is not that many people searching locally.

I have a client, and his keywords get only searched 10-20times per day on the Sunshine Coast. Spending $10-20 a day makes so much more sense when you know that 100% of the time your ad shows up on top. And we know how often people click the ad, and how long they stay on the site….

Obviously, as an Adwords Consultant, I am all for Adwords. Otherwise I wouldn’t do this. And there obviously is room for organic results. But let’s face it. Google is making Billions from Advertising and basically nothing from organic search. So obviously they will make it easy for people to spend money with them.

If you are still ranking organically. Congratulations! Keep at it and write awesome, relevant content. And maybe read up on some SEO basics. If you’re not ranking but would like to. Give me a call 😉

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