Death of SEO, Part XVII

SearchTHIS: For Whom the Search Bell Tolls

From the communications I have seen, the advice offered to site owners is pretty consistent with what is posted on the search site in helping site owners avoid terrible mistakes and helping them structure content better. Rumors abound relating to search sites deliberately trying to remove agencies from the picture with search advice.

They probably don't typically want to remove agencies to offer quality in depth advice in house. They simply want people to realize that PPC ads are better than SEO, which of course is not universally true.

Also, if they can get enough people to think that structuring their site is all they need to do then it becomes much easier to create relevancy algorithms and mitigate index manipulation.

With search sites offering counsel to webmasters on how to properly structure sites, why should a site owner pay anyone when they can simply check in with Google for a search solution?

Because Google will not say "this is the most effective way to undermine our current relevancy algorithms." Most of the people who are making a living from manipulating regular search results may not have enough money to reach those direct search engine channels.

Pay per click will get easier and easier to sell and manage, but that market will also get increasingly competitive.

As long as there are social networks and machines that interpret them there will be SEOs. Surely as time passes it will get harder, but that means more profits for those who do it well.