Every so often someone somewhere declares that SEO is no more and has been replaced by artificial intelligence or voice and video search even social media, usually to grab some attention. They pontificate that newer tech has replaced it and Google no longer have an algorithm etc but they are dead wrong. SEO is alive and well in 2021, SEO is Connor Macleod, it is immortal and there can be only one! Is SEO still relevant in 2021? The simple answer is; Yes absolutely. As we know tactics change and somethings that used to work well, no longer do at all. SEO will always be an evolving animal and the result still remains the search engines primary method of working out where to rank. Certainly the amount of companies offering SEO continues to grow so this is a healthy indicator that it is still very much with us. Why SEO is not dead A large number of businesses have been burned in the past by fly by night companies promising instant rankings that they could not possibly deliver, meaning that SEO has a bit of a tarnished reputation. This is a difficult thing to shake as most people will not throw good money after bad when they have already lost some. However, your SEO strategy needs to be well thought out and when done properly, should be one of the largest parts of your marketing plan. It can also be the most cost effective wain in your arsenal against the competition. SEO forces you to understand your audience Dude to the slow burn nature of SEO it is easy to overlook its importance when compared to the instant satisfaction of other mediums such as PPC. By going through the process of optimising your site, it gives you a greater depth of understanding what your customers and the search engines alike are looking for. Armed with this information, you can keep tweaking the site to ensure that you are ticking all of the boxes to make sure that the search engine gods view you favourably and you move up the rankings for your chosen search terms. It also has a knock on effect, for example; making sure that your search terms feature in the copy of your home page will help your PPC quality score and will actually lower your CPC. Authoritativeness and authenticity Social media and PPC lack the depth that you get from a good SEO strategy. Users don’t always engage well with promoted or paid content. When you have implemented a good SEO strategy, users will have more in depth “real” content to engage with and you are more likely to have a sticky site and boost both your authoritativeness and authenticity. SEO leads to much better content on your site and so helps gain the trust of your customers Good SEO leads to a better user experience
Once you start optimising your site well, you will create so much more relevant content which will improve the user experience on your site hugely. The process will also make it much easier to navigate throughout the site so your user experience will be enhanced. This means that people will be able to find what they are looking for really quickly but conversely will mean people will spend more time on your site and so they are likely to engage with your products and services much more. SEO never ends Many people have the misconception that you can go through the process of optimising their site and then that is it forever, they can just sit back and relax and their rankings will continue to build and they will never have to do any further work. Unfortunately SEO is a constant process of improving and adding relevant content to your site. The minute you stop, you are dead in the water and any gains will eventually drop away over time. You need to create a strategy that plans for ongoing updates and constant additions to the site. Will SEO ever die? It is doubtful that there will ever be a time when SEO is no longer an important part of a businesses marketing strategy. It will always be key to ensure that website are easy to navigate, have great content and provide users with compelling reasons to stay on your site. Don’t take our word for it, John Mueller, Google’s search liaison said that search engines will not ever advance to a point where SEO is not required. No matter where you are in your SEO journey, remember at Boost366 we can help with all aspects for you.