I appreciate the fact that you are debating this issue in a reasonable matter, and have refrained from name-calling. It is my belief that it is possible to disagree about this issue without being disagreeable.

I am not a prophet, and I am certainly not prophecizing the imminent death of SEO. Nor would I go so far as to say that “SEO is Here to Stay,” anymore than I would claim that “PPC is Here to Stay” or “Rock and Roll is Here to Stay.” We all live in a world in which technology, and the markets it creates, are morphing and changing radically: almost minute-to-minute. The precise form which SEO will take in, say, five years, is practically unknowable, but I would venture that it would be very different from the world we find today. This is also true for paid search.

In my view, no one on either the paid or the organic side of the equation should be at all complacent about the changes which are rolling down the pike. Gord Hotchkiss has been quite discursive on the impact which so-called personalized search will have on SEO practices. There will certainly be other unanticipatable changes which will surprise all of us.

FWIW, I do stand by my claim that SEO is Not Rocket Science. I said this because I believe the field needs to be demystified, and its principles disseminated beyond the SEO Ivory Tower. Among the principles which shall endure, whatever Google and the other SE’s have in store for all of us, is the principle of relevance. Like it or not, the SE’s are hellbent on increasing/improving this, they have billions to spend doing so, and we should, I think, all take account of how this will change optimization strategies and practices in the months and years ahead.

Sincerely,
Dave Pasternack
Did-it Search Marketing

Good to see you out and about and link building for your bio page. So you are a believer in SEO! I knew it all along!

I agree, there will be plenty of changes to come for all of us under the Internet marketing umbrella. For those of us who make a living practicing SEO, I’m sure you can understand why we feel strongly as I do that SEO is here to stay. I admit there’s always the possibility that it may not be true, we’ll all see.

Now, I completely understand how people like you want to “demystify” the world of SEO. For the most part, no, basic elementary SEO is not rocket science. Some advanced SEO tactics (and I’m not referring to black hat SEO, hopefully you understand the difference black and white hat)can get extremely complicated so I also can understand why certain people feel that SEO can be “rocket science”.

What is undisputable however is that there are plenty of companies and websites that would never be found without the help of SEO’s. It’s no secret for any of the clients I work with. I make it perfectly clear that the way to great rankings are by adding high quality, original content and link building for their site. Now is that rocket science? No, it’s common sense. Yes, there is more to SEO than that, but that’s the basics. White hat SEO’s like me have nothing to worry about when search engines get more relevant. We already understand this and we optimize with that in mind. I’m all for that because it means black hat tactics become less and less effective all the time. The reality is that as long as SEO’s are helping their clients to be profitable through the work we do, businesses will continue to need SEO’s like me. This is after all marketing right? As you well know, it’s all about the ROI.