SEO in 2009

There has been some great discussion about SEO and where it is going in 2009. I find this both interesting and amusing. For months there have been some that have said that SEO is dead. (I’d sure hate to be one of their clients…) Others have suggested that SEO is transforming into more of an "online marketing" role in that SEO is not simply about "manipulating" the Search Engine Results Pages.

For me, SEO has always been about marketing, or online marketing. It is not just about rankings (I’ll discuss my thoughts on rankings later in this series) but SEO is more about trying to help people find the information that they are looking for. Those of us who have been involved in the world of SEO for some time have witnessed a number of changes over the years. We have seen different KPIs and metrics come to rise while others have faded into oblivion. We have seen new tools become available for use in monitoring SEO success and progression. But where are we with SEO in late 2008, as we move into the next decade?

SEO in 2009: Four Elements of Change

There are four SEO-related areas where I see change happening in 2009. Many would say that we have already started down this path during the past couple of years, but I think that we will experience even more marketers going down this path.
 

  1. Refocusing on Metrics that Matter
  2. Understanding that SEO does in fact provide value
  3. Shifting of Budget towards SEO
  4. Personalization and Blended Search Results

I think that we are starting to see a shift in the understanding of SEO. Large companies are learning about the value of SEO as part of their online marketing strategy and as part of their overall marketing strategy. The greatest part about SEO is that, when done properly, SEO is a cost effective way of driving business to your company and improving your bottom line. Yet marketing managers continue to pour money into sponsored search and Pay Per Click efforts. Ask yourself this, how many of you feel that you have a proportional budget between SEO and PPC? How many of you have actual line items for SEO?

In these tough economic times, it only makes sense that marketers take a long hard look at SEO and the benefit it can provide. SEO is a relatively cheap and cost effective way of promoting your products, your services or your brand. When marketing budgets are cut, SEO may just be what the doctor ordered. As mentioned in our series on Organic Search: What is in it For You? series, SEO (or organic search as it is sometimes referred to) tends to provide longer lasting results in the search engine results pages that you do not have to pay for unlike PPC. Strong organic visibility once achieved can provide a fantastic return on your investment.

This series on SEO in 2009 is continued over at SEO-Space.

5 Comments to “SEO in 2009”

  1. Chris Taylor 5 December 2008 at 6:41 am #

    SEO is dead… that will go down as the marketing ploy of 2008 to sell a product.

    Same guru’s up to their normal tricks!

  2. Jody Nimetz 5 December 2008 at 8:20 am #

    The term “SEO” may be dead, but for many SEO was/is synonomous with online marketing. Frankly, I’ve always despised the term SEO. I use the term loosely. SEO in 2009 is not just search engine optimization….It’s time to retire the term “SEO”…

  3. Rodrigo Vargas 9 December 2008 at 11:00 pm #

    Well, bruce Clay said, Rank is dead => Seo(focus in only rank) is dead too. But i believe that is the normal transformation , ie, SEO -> SEO2.0 or something like that…changes are good.
    Cheers
    Rodrigo

  4. Zaheed 11 January 2009 at 12:10 am #

    Many of the points relate to SEO in 2007 & 2008 (nothing really new mentioned here). So does it take a major recession before people value SEO?

  5. Jody Nimetz 18 March 2009 at 8:43 am #

    In 2009, you would be surprised how many big name organizations and brands are not leveraging SEO as they should be. There is literally brands that are lacking fundamental SEO elements on their web properties. When you talk to these people they simply respond with someting like “…SEO takes too long to provide results…” , or “..we haven’t seen the value in SEO..” etc. The fact is that the firms that I have worked with have had tremendous online success as a result of their organic search strategy. They dedicate budget to Search and SEO. They understand Search. Frankly. at the end of the day SEO is much more cost effective than any other medium out there. So to answer the question “Does it take a major recession before people value SEO?” The answer is no, not necessarily but it will make people take a longer look at SEO where they may have otherwise overlooked it in the past. Next question …