Whether you monitor your keywords by searching for them on Google, using Google Search Console or a tool like Moz, most of us keep an eye on our website’s rankings in Google’s results.
Whether we should do so is another matter. Why? Because there are too many ways to get it wrong.
It’s pointless to monitor the wrong keywords. And it’s mistaken to assume that what you see is representative. On top of that, I’m starting to think that keywords are no longer particularly relevant to SEO.
It’s also almost impossible to look at your rankings without trying to understand why your competition is above you. We look at the many different factors that may contribute to their elevated position, ultimately with a view of reverse-engineering their success.
It’s time consuming and highly ineffective.
There’s good news though. I believe that all of this is about to change. Google’s end goal in all of their updates is to change the heart of their algorithm to one that accurately recognises quality. And to do so in a way that will be almost impossible to trick.
If I’m correct then we’re heading towards a future that considers links, page titles, cblocks and social media signals of far less significance.
I believe that the guiding principle will be “if it can be tricked or manipulated, it can be ignored“.
So does that mean that SEO is dead? Yes. And no.
The SEO of yesterday is dying. If you in any way depend on tactics that seek to manipulate Google or their rankings, now might be a good time to rethink your strategies. And while the time-scale for the effectiveness of those techniques may be limited, their potential for incurring penalties will last far longer.
The SEO of 2015 and beyond, what I call RealSEO, is thriving and well. RealSEO is about guiding Google, about helping them to understand the content of pages on your website. It’s about connecting the dots between your ideas, intent and the words that you use. That sort of SEO isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
Real SEO is more effective than the old way and it’s also easier to achieve. More of that in future posts.
SEO is dead. Long live SEO.
