Search engine dramas have left us with lots of “Ifs and Buts”. Caffeine update followed by algorithm change is only to start with. A lot more is still waiting for webmasters and eventually the website owners to discover.
It is time to think ahead of time. What is there in store for this SEO as a blooming service industry?
Quick questions that came to my mind:
I was just wondering whether SEO industry would retain its position and importance in coming days, or will people take it for granted? With “N” number of SEO professionals (majority from Asian countries) available at cheaper cost, will the industry loose its value and craze? It seems anyone with the slightest bit of SEO knowledge can give you decent results.
Has it become the playground of unscrupulous freelancers and spammers forcing Google to come up with updates one after another?
What does the situation indicate?
Will SEO be the cheapest service in coming days? Does investing in it become a kid’s game?
Or,
SEO is going to be costlier with days. Where is the tomorrow’s catch line?
What is the future of SEO, as it seems today? We need to consider it from both SEO professionals and business owner’s point of view.
1. Think from SEO professional’s point of view:
- Will corporate ever treat SEO as an established technology field? Is it going to be a serious affair?
- Will online giants recognize and include SEO job as a full-fledged operation? Will they allocate a separate budget for like other advertisement expense?
- Should cheap and low quality SEO-service providers reign in the market and neutralize the over-all good effect?
Finally, will the professionals perish for their pay packages? Since, number of providers (do not ask me about their honesty) are rising, there is a chance, website owners will say “Yes” to cheap proposals.
The bottom line is – how safe a good and ethical SEO consultant’s standpoint is in terms of job satisfaction and value.
Lesson:
Do not get pessimistic! Google is watching everything. No search engine will allow people to garbage web and show them to public. After all, all are here to do business and at some point, we have to be ethical to our customers.
2. Think from Business point of view:
For them, the days are yet to be tougher. If you are already tempted with unsolicited mails, cold calls and willing to go for their low cost SEO options, here are few simple questions for you:
- Are you still expecting someone to arrange pool of in-bound links for your site to rank good?
- Do you still believe that paid inclusions, traditional link building activities (though quick and easy options) will survive gracefully (say for another 5 years), so you can rest in peace?
- What is the viability of SEO techniques that your business is following currently?
- Is this going to be so affordable that any one can do away with SEO for his website and the results will simply follow thereafter?
- Do you move on gut feelings?
Lesson:
Businesses who think, SEO has almost become a layman’s job and who better than Asians can do it in bulk, will regret very soon. Cheap SEO services are not going to stay long. Moreover, this will not add any value to your website ranking or traffic generation. Forget about conversions or building long-term reputation.
You may ask why? Is there any definite reasons or, the judgement is on speculation basis?
Here are the possible citations:
- Stereo type job like – traditional link building, directory submission, article syndication and other automated link generation processes are loosing importance to search engines
- Content farms are no more going to boost you PR value or brings you huge traffic
- Nothing artificial and duplicity in terms of information will get value from users
- Customer and viewer ratings will be prioritized, so your site to get on to top SERPs
- Keyword competition, PR allocation, traffic visits are going to be stringent
Forecasting solution:
- Real marketing knowledge need to be applied along with SEO expertise.
- Off-line marketing concepts should be integrated with latest SEO knowledge. Managing and tracking consumer behaviour will gain importance.
- Local SEO service will earn more credit and demands, which need comprehensive knowledge on local market situation.
Conclusion:
The final effect would be much like this:
- Cheap SEO service consultants will perish a lot. In fact, bringing perfection to this competition level will not be possible for them. They cannot afford high-end technical and marketing solutions at lower costs.
- SEO as an industry is going to earn a distinguished place in IT service domain. It will earn much recognition and respect.
- Skilled and talented SEO professionals will have more power and market demand. Their job is secure, but challenging.
- Number of service providers will reduce as search engines are getting stricter. Because, quality comes with price
- Big time players having good infrastructure, resources, advanced technical support will survive. Cheap providers will fade away gradually.
As it seems, future of SEO was never predictable and will not be ever. However, with all these fine tunings, we can hope – SEO will upscale its grade very soon. Are you ready for it?
Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.
Is SEO Going to be Costlier in Coming Years?
