long live SEO-SEO is not dead

 

In response to a recent article suggesting that the long-term future of SEO is doubtful, a more positive take on the ongoing evolution of the search industry

 

 

Is mobile a game-changer for search? Photograph: maxim.photoshelter.com/Alamy

Search engines, in the most simple of explanations, query databases with the purpose of finding the best match to that query. It is a mathematical relationship that goes: if search query equals A then return B. The mistake many make is that they think search engine optimisation is a practice limited to websites and search portals such as Google. It isn't. Search engine optimisation involves convincing a search engine that a particular database entry should appear as B.
Matt Owen talks about how the latest Google products (Google Glasses and Google Now) and mobile devices will deliver the "killer blow to SEO". I find this to be short-sighted and disagree with the premise that services such as Google Now are "not search in any way, shape or form".
At the moment search is a three way interaction. A "searcher" enters their query into a search engine; the search engine consults a database and returns the best match. Products such as Google Now will not change the interaction between search engine and database, they will simply remove the need for the searcher to be involved in this transaction.
Google Now is a service designed to make suggestions and provide you with information before you ask for it. It will do this by profiling the user. Mobile devices already transmit and record huge swathes of data about you and as mobile use expands so too will the information about you that is held upon these databases. For Google Now to provide you with information you want, it will need to consult these databases, build a profile of you and provide the best match to your profile.
More importantly and as I mentioned earlier, search is not a process that limits itself to the website/search portal relationship. Mobile use has reduced, and may well continue to reduce, the number of interactions between the portal and the user, but services such as Foursquare and business directories rely on search to provide the user with the best match to their query. Where there is an option to search there is opportunity to be found, but you need to make sure you are optimised to be seen. The old technique of changing your business name to, for example, AAA Taxis in order to top the Yellow Pages listings is a perfect example of search optimisation in action.

Google doesn't control me

Putting aside the fact search is not limited to Google and its many portals, there is another consideration to be taken into account. I have free will. I may not want to do it the Google or Bing way. The need for my interaction might diminish or be removed, but it does not mean that I will stop interacting or indeed stop searching.
I don't disagree with all that Matt said in his article; I simply disagree with the idea that changing technologies and habits will spell the end for the search optimisation industry.
What would happen to competitiveness and variation if optimisation and choice were removed? Will life become one of stagnation and indifference, as Google continually serves up the same information over and over, day after day? What space is there for competition if Google creates a situation where you never have opportunity to try and find something new? For that matter, what future is there for Google if they, a search engine, stop providing variation and choice?
The SEO industry will not die. Not while there are a) digital landscapes b) options and c) people to use and search for them. Of course there will be change, but then every industry changes. What remains is that there will always be a need for search; and if it can be searched, it can be optimised.