SEO is dead, SEO is spam, SEO, SEO, SEO…. Just some of the rumblings that scatter the twitter stream as the last few days of 2009 come to a close. The rise of social media has changed the landscape for SEO Consultants. SEO’s can no longer just understand website structure and keyword targeting. They need to have the mindset of a marketer.
Search engine results pages are now filled with real time social results, news items, Youtube videos and websites. They look completely different then they did five years ago. It is now more important than ever for search engine optimization consultants to adapt to their current surroundings and include these new marketing tactics in their arsenal.
Some SEO’s will argue what they are tasked with is optimizing a company’s website so it shows up on SERPs. I disagree; an SEO should be optimizing content across the board so their client holds down spots on SERPs and drives conversions.
Search engine optimization consumes whatever items appear on a SERP, whether its social media results, news articles or videos, SEO consultants should be consulting their clients on how to have their content appear on SERPs.
Social media has played a large role in the shaping of what Google, Bing and Yahoo will present to the common searcher – for small SEO companies to succeed they need to coach or consult their companies on how to utilize social media, article submission, blogs or they will not survive. I believe there is a reason SEO’s are not WO’s or Website Optimizers, it is because they need to assist their clients in having a presence on search engine results pages, no matter what the content.
