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As the public begins to believe Google isn’t as useful, what happens to SEO?

theverge.com

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Re: As the public begins to believe Google isn’t as useful, what happens to SEO?

#11

Post by dustincoates »

thegrim33 wrote: post #3

This is a meta-level comment, but a technique I've been using for a while now, which I've found pretty helpful/useful, is that if an article starts off with an anecdote I immediately know not to bother reading it. It shows you that the author is more interested in pushing a feeling/emotion/story rather than relaying actual information. They're trying to manipulate how you think about the topic from the very beginning…

A "fun" game I like to play with articles from the Verge is how many words until there's a first person pronoun. (It's almost always in the first sentence.) Maybe I'm getting old, but I don't need the journalist's backstory before I get the meat of the article.

Re: As the public begins to believe Google isn’t as useful, what happens to SEO?

#12

Post by escapedmoose »

thegrim33 wrote: post #3

This is a meta-level comment, but a technique I've been using for a while now, which I've found pretty helpful/useful, is that if an article starts off with an anecdote I immediately know not to bother reading it. It shows you that the author is more interested in pushing a feeling/emotion/story rather than relaying actual information. They're trying to manipulate how you think about the topic from the very beginning…

There’s more than one reason to read an article. Often the story is the point.

Re: As the public begins to believe Google isn’t as useful, what happens to SEO?

#13

Post by lukas099 »

amadeuspagel wrote: post #7
ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #6

The internet was ruined when it was de anonymized by Facebook and LinkedIn etc. I remember growing up in a completely anonymous internet. You could be who you are, say what you want and explore digitally. Then you would go back to society as the real you and temper yourself a bit to fit in and work with others and that was ok because you could blow off steam on the internet.

There are many anonymous websites, like 4chan, and you are free to create your own, which is itself something you can do anonymously.

I'd even wager that the number of people posting content anonymously has only grown in absolute terms.

Re: As the public begins to believe Google isn’t as useful, what happens to SEO?

#15

Post by asdfman123 »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #6

The internet was ruined when it was de anonymized by Facebook and LinkedIn etc. I remember growing up in a completely anonymous internet. You could be who you are, say what you want and explore digitally. Then you would go back to society as the real you and temper yourself a bit to fit in and work with others and that was ok because you could blow off steam on the internet.

The internet was ruined when your normie older relatives got on it, unfortunately

Re: As the public begins to believe Google isn’t as useful, what happens to SEO?

#17

Post by zeruch »

I cant foresee a scenario where an endlessly growing mass of AI-generated noise, stacked upon itself, will be useful to anyone. Humans will invariably find a less contentious path (maybe its seeking out more localized options, maybe its balkanizing into various specialized domains, maybe its $NEWTHINGYETTOBESEEN, or all of the above. But the current trajectory cannot hold.

Someone else mentioned the "reverse-takeover of Google by DoubleClick is the Fall" and I find that spot on.

The Dionysian appetites of adtech will be its own downfall.

Re: As the public begins to believe Google isn’t as useful, what happens to SEO?

#19

Post by asdfman123 »

phendrenad2 wrote: post #9

"The internet" doesn't really exist, now, now does it? 99% of users are living in an AOL-style world, where they live within walled gardens. Why leave twitter/facebook/instagram/youtube/tiktok/reddit? There's nothing out there but a wasteland of crumbling has-been sites. Sometimes you'll find yourself on a blog or news article, but you just click/tap the back button to go back to the walled garden. Nobody is subscrib…

There's lots of good content out there, but the problem is finding it. A Google replacement wouldn't be any better, because everyone's attention would be directed into optimizing new replacement site.

It frustrates me when people say "Google should search reddit by default." The reason reddit is still halfway decent is there isn't as much money in gaming it, but there would be if the entire world was sent to it.

Re: As the public begins to believe Google isn’t as useful, what happens to SEO?

#20

Post by richforrester »

xwdv wrote: post #16

SEO has always been a moving target. So now it’s all about social media optimization. Think channels, not search results.

Plus a lot of it has been about semantically correct formatting of your content and code.

It's a moving target in that a lot of orgs try to "game the system", or at least exploit it as best they can :)

Good content will mostly rise to the top because that's what search engines strive to optimise.

Nothing really changes that much probably. Just semantics.

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