Is SEO still as important?

[peterhanneman]

I've been asking this for a while now and I know it sounds stupid, but is SEO still as important? Obviously SEO is very important when it comes to getting a site higher ranked on search engines. Recently, I've found without much SEO work, I'm getting high ranks on search engines so I was wondering whether it's still as important as it used to be. Thoughts?

[sweetbet]

High rankings in search engines for competitive search terms or long tail search terms? Unless the site has a high trust factor, a lot of quality backlinks and a decent amount of SEO work, I can't imagine a site ranking for highly competitive keywords.

[edgarf76]

It is still important but you may be in the honeymoon phase of your site. Like sweetbet said, trust is huge, and it take a long time to establish trust and get first page rankings and keep them for very competative keywords. Focus on quality content and good marketing, not just backlinks and you should get lasting results.

[RepusPartners]

I think that SEO, done properly, still works and is the foundation for appearing higher in search engine results.

[Simmo!]

Gradually, year by year, algo change by algo change, the sites that rely solely on artificially manipulated rankings (SEO) will give way to sites that are authorities in their niche as technology advances. The search engines future depends on providing the answers that users want but we are some way from that utopia as it stands.

So what that says to me is that if you genuinely think you know more about your niche than your competitors, or can provide something that they can't, stick out for the long term and focus on building your site. If you don't then it it is probably prudent to use every last SEO technique available and get what you can in the short term. The "short term" is still likely to be measured in years anyway.

[Miles_FTA]

If you don't then it it is probably prudent to use every last SEO technique available and get what you can in the short term. The "short term" is still likely to be measured in years anyway.[/QUOTE]

I think if you want to sustain in this industry then what Simmo is saying is 100% correct you should use any tools in your Arsenal to succeed ..@ Simmo hope you got that Play on words was meant Just for you ..use any tools in your Arsenal

[gamingmodern]

Off course SEO is still and always will be an important part for any website. Without good basic work no-one site get high rank in Search Engines. So always focus on quality work in slow time process. Don't make fast SEO steps.

[MrBinaryAff]

Good points made, and I just wanted to support a point that you have to focus on content and marketing (ie interacting with your followers, clients etc). I liked one of the articles by Internet Marketing experts in my area: http://www.ics-digital.com/article/b...meme-at-a-time

[WagerPod]

SEO will always be important however the landscape has changed significantly, some areas we would associate with SEO are now changing and we are focusing on different areas, predominately user experience like loading speed.

[DanHorvat]

SEO is a powerful tool, but still just a tool.

Far more important are your business model, your customer profiling, what you do with the visitor once he visits the site, and how does the visitor interact with your site. Anyone can get a casual visitor from Google and lose him in the first 3 seconds.

There are profitable sites that make a good income with 100 visits per day, and sites that have tens of thousands of visits and their owners struggle to make any kind of income. Depends on what your niche is, who is visiting your site, and what's your revenue model.

Advertising is an art of being there at the precise moment when the customer wants to purchase the product you're selling. SEO is one way to do it, and a very good way too, as the customer is revealing his intentions to you. You can pick and choose which customer do you want.

Many webmasters - constantly hungry for traffic - just focus on ranking for a certain keyword and neglect all of the above.

[peterhanneman]

High rankings in search engines for competitive search terms or long tail search terms? Unless the site has a high trust factor, a lot of quality backlinks and a decent amount of SEO work, I can't imagine a site ranking for highly competitive keywords.

That's true and it's hard to rank highly in certain keywords, especially gambling since so many sites are competing for it.

[billymartin]

Content is KING!

[martinseomcgarry]

Create a list of best search queries in your industry... do you want your website to be on Google for those search queries Yes or No? If you answer Yes then SEO is important to you.

SEO is managing and maintaining your site in respect to its search presence and the queries that you rank for.
SEO is not second guessing the Google algorithm and engineering techniques so that you force your site to the top of the pile

[jamesnader]

I have talked to many search agencies over the years on this subject - I do think that Google have performed down the on-going importance of back links over the years. Back links that should come from high approved and concept related websites are only effective.They do this currently by looking at the links to the site, the popularity of the site and pages and the quality of the content on that particular web page.