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SEO is hard. And it’s getting more and more difficult.
That’s a good thing.
I spoke with an SEO veteran earlier this week. He was really down.
"SEO just isn’t what it used to be," he said. "I remember the days when competition was scarce and a few relatively simple tricks were enough to get you to where you wanted to be."
This acquaintance went on to say that he was getting out of the business. It had become too difficult.
Makes me wonder how many others will follow?
SEO is hard. And it’s getting harder. The days of shortcuts are over. The days of spending a few hundred dollars and calling it a day and a No. 1 ranking are over. Throw in the fact that the days of few competitors leveraging pay-per-click advertising are gone too, and you’ve got yourself a pickle.
At the same time, optimizing your site is becoming more and more important. If you’re not ranking well on Google, you’re invisible to many new prospects. The number of companies that live and die by their rankings would blow most people’s minds.
Let’s review: Difficulty, up. Costs, up. Competition, up. Importance, up.
So then, is the labor supply keeping up?
By most accounts, I’d say no. Apparently, veterans of the business are getting out. And even though the number of new optimizers is going up, all signs point to a shortage.
Throw in the fact that keeping up with changes in the search market are constantly changing, and you have a heightened level of commitment required in order to stay successful, which doesn’t lend itself to people staying in the business.
I love search. I love the tactical aspects of it. I love watching my sites climb up Mt. Google. I love seeing a client’s traffic numbers and new business increase. I love seeing my clients grow their workforce because of improved bottom line.
It’s very rewarding for me, but I’m skeptical that the same can be said for enough people to support this burgeoning market and the increased demand. If you have a great SEO, consider yourself lucky and don’t take their skills for granted.
Go give ‘em a hug.
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December 29th, 2005 at 1:55 pm
In my past life, I knew the SEO person at Monster, and they started employing a much more complex array of tactics to get Monster to rise to the top: custom pages for specific locations (all of the major job sites do this now), metatags, pages with content referencing specific keywords, etc.
How does this affect you in your business trying to get your clients’ jobs and career sites to rise to the top? i.e. Can an individual employer really compete with the Monsters, Hotjobs and CareerBuilders of the world?
December 29th, 2005 at 3:47 pm
None of the big sites scare me unless I’m optimizing for “jobs” or some very general term like that, which is rarely the case. Most clients need a specific keyphrase targeted, such as “Chicago nursing jobs” or “Houston jobs.”
December 29th, 2005 at 5:53 pm
You know it can get tiring by the end of the day. Trying to stay caught up on the new trends and the new tactics. Trying to figure out what Google favors, and what they don’t, Then figuring out how not to make Google ban you in the process of implementing it.
Your right it is an uphill battle to ge to the top og “Mt Google”. Just like you I love it. It is like a real life version of Axis and Allies, where I need to think my moves out carefully ahead of time and adapt to what my opponents do. I may be tired at the end of the day, but when I wake up I can’t wait to get back into it and figure out where to go from here. Besides, its one job where I learn something truly useful every day.
December 30th, 2005 at 12:44 am
I don’t know how easy it was in past…because I am new. But now I should say SEO is real. I mean those sites comes in top which deserve and it should be like that only. So I am happy…and quite comfortable at my work.
What I do is …. I make site really resourceful and weighted enough that it top in search engine automatically.
So, Don’t be lazy….do invest what you want to reep..and you will get it.
January 3rd, 2006 at 4:09 am
seo is really a challenging job like you have to design according to google’s taste..:P
im also new to this seo stuff. im not even turning into a fulltime (yet) cause im busy with my job and studies. but i like the competition and everything…