Site improvement isn't dead - in fact!

 

At regular intervals, SEO is declared dead. Typically, the argument has been that Google has now become too smart to influence the search results, that they do everything they can to keep the users themselves, that the competition is too high, or that everyone eventually just clicks on the ads - forward for the organic results. The truth is, though, that SEO is by no means dead. On the contrary. A major study from June this year clearly documents that the value of SEO is still very high. In this post, I will take a closer look at the study of why SEO is certainly not dead - and why it probably never happens. 

The vast majority click on the natural outcomes

Let me start with one of the survey's perhaps most startling results. For every one click on a Google Ads ad, an organic result is clicked 11.6 times! So despite the fact that the ads are definitely filling up more and more in Google, many (thankfully) still choose to click on the organic results. 

Does this mean that Google Ads is dead? No, certainly not. There are so many searches in Google that there are plenty of visits to pick up via both Google Ads and the organic results. 

Google tries to keep users engaged

The survey also shows that Google is really trying to hold on to users by giving them answers directly in the search results, rather then sending them on to the websites that have actually written the answer. 

It happens i.a. with what is called "Featured Snippets" - what is sometimes also an "Answer Box". 

Below is an example of a Google search for “What does CPA mean”. Google has found what they believe is an appropriate answer in Waimea's dictionary, and therefore brings directly - at the top of the search result, the answer to the search user's question. It's both good and bad. Of course, it is bad that Google "steals" our content, gives search users our answers directly on Google and they may therefore to a lesser extent end up clicking into our website. But it's not just rubbish. For it certainly has value, too, to be highlighted in Google in this way - in a highlighted box, ahead of all the other, common organic results. Our goal with the dictionary here at Waimea is precisely to highlight our knowledge within SEO, so people can see that we are experts in the field. That goal helps the answer box to strengthen. That we then maybe lose a little click naturally counts down a little, we can see that there is a very large proportion of “Zero Clicks” - ie searches that do not lead to search users clicking on our sites, and that this number has been increasing in recent years. But the total number of searches is also

increasing. Very. Other studies suggest that 10-20% more is sought each year, which - at least to some extent, compensates for the increase in Zero Clicks. 

Google sends search users to their own products

Another argument that SEO should be dead is that Google is increasingly sending searchers to their own products, such as Android, YouTube, Google Maps, or Chrome. 

The study shows that out of all searches where the user clicks on a link, it is approx. 12% going to a Google product. That's a lot, of course, but the good news is that it does not seem to be increasing many years by year. Nevertheless, this is precisely what the competition authorities in both the United States and Europe are very aware of. Google is accused of exploiting its monopoly-like status to keep competitors out of the markets in which it operates. I certainly believe that there are teams in that accusation. In the worst case (for Google), Google may end up being forced to split the company, as has been seen in the United States in the past. In Europe, it could lead to even more fines. 

The opposition is wild - yet not feasible

The final argument that SEO should be dead is that the competition to get to the top of Google is gradually getting so fierce that it is virtually an impossible battle. Yes, there is no doubt that the competition to reach the top of Google has become much tougher - year by year. There are more and more websites to compete with and many of them are good for search engine optimization. But the competition is certainly not impossible! we work with hundreds of business optimization in Google. And the results speak their clear language. We create lots of good results every day. This applies to both smaller companies with keywords for which there is limited competition - and large customers within some of the most competitive areas. My experience is quite clear that you can certainly get to the top in Google - even on very competitive searches. Of course, it requires a lot of work, but it is certainly not impossible. And no, it's not just about "manipulating" Google - and thus not about Google becoming too smart to "cheat" them. It is much more about understanding how Google works as a medium and then meeting it through a sensible optimization of the technical and editorial conditions that they emphasize.

SEO never dies

Now, of course, one has to be careful about saying “never”, but as long as there are search engines, just as long as there will be opportunities with SEO services in Islamabad. And I have a hard time imagining that we can completely do without search engines. In many ways, you can compare Google with other media - such as. newspapers. Newspapers also consist of a mixture of editorial content and organic - editorial, material. If a newspaper cuts too much on the articles and patches the whole magazine with advertisements, then it will lose its credibility as a newspaper. 

The same goes for Google. If the advertisements become too dominant, or they succeed in holding on to all the users themselves, then they also lose their credibility as a search engine. And I also very much doubt that will happen. And yes, even though the competition will probably continue to increase in the coming years, there is always some website that must be number one, and it is not a law of nature that it should not be your company. It "just" requires that you know how to do SEO, and allocate the resources needed to actually achieve the desired results. 

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