Is SEO dead, or just another brand of BBQ sauce?

Google’s Keynote Presentation revealed that Search is changing as we know it. Instead of the familiar list of blue links, we will be shifted into a dashboard that acts like a conversation, rather than a list of results.

Think of it like this: You go to the grocery store and ask a merchandiser, “where is the BBQ sauce?” They direct you to aisle 2. You go there and you see the selection of brands and prices you can choose from. That’s the way we know Google now. We have a query and we are given a selection.

The new method out on the horizon looks like it is going to work differently. When you ask, “Where is the BBQ sauce?” the merchandiser will instead pull out a bottle out of her apron and say “it’s right here.” Less choice, but a more immediate result.

The perks? You get a recommendation based on someone that knows their sauce. Out of all the brands, they see which ones sell out, which ones are a good price, and which one is quite frankly, the best. The downside is it is harder to see those other brands that might be new or lean more towards your taste.

So while this won’t change overnight, it does raise some important considerations.

On-Page and technical SEO – you know, the stuff you see and the stuff you don’t see, but you can control it. How fast does your website load, what kind of content is on it, are there broken links or is the engine running smoothly? These things still matter. In fact, I’d argue they matter even more. Having a solid baseline is important, no matter what industry you’re in.

But the backlinks? Reviews? Getting mentioned on Reddit? These things rely on other people and reflect how good you are. People are going to talk to you if you’re really good or really bad. If you’re just so-so, who cares? So when Google sees that you are getting referenced positively from a variety of trustworthy sources, ding-ding we have a winner!

I’d argue that SEO is not dead but getting far more important. Equally so, the business owner has more of a responsibility than they previously did. They need to deliver good results and ask for public feedback from their clients. The easiest way is to ask for a Google Review.

And… you know what else? Not everyone is going to love this new dashboard idea. I predict there will be a group of people that want a list of blue links back and they will get that from other search engines. While Google dominates now, we may see a shift to more people using these other “more archaic” search engines. And that is ok.

The purpose of SEO is to get your website seen and interacted with by the people who are searching for your services or products. We talk about Google because it is the biggest contender, but there’s nothing wrong with using Duck Duck Go, Bing, Yahoo, or whatever else floats your boat. Or, whatever sauce hits just right.