Micah Baldwin, now with Lijit networks thinks search marketers will be out of a job in 3 years. I disagree. What do you think? Micah used to own a search marketing agency in Current Wisdom:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/micahbaldwin
10 Comments
http://www.linkedin.com/in/micahbaldwin
10 Comments
Comments
I think having heard similar comments for over 10 years, SEO ain’t dying. I appreciate what he says about making SEO part of the organic nature of what a company does. But I think he underestimates how long it takes companies to integrate this type of thing, or the fact that plenty of companies simply can’t take SEO in house. So the idea that SEO firms will be bust in 3 years? It’s like saying PR is organic and that all PR firms will go away. They haven’t, and I don’t see SEO firms disappearing either.
Apparently, the "SEO is dead" linkbait is alive and well. I haven’t been doing this long but I’ve figured out its a rapidly evolving market. People who don’t want to adapt often complain that its over, but every change brings in new opportunity for people to learn what works today and compete. In fact, such low barriers to entry are a pretty good sign of a healthy industry.
SEO will be dead because SEO bloggers are giving away "SEO secrets" for free in order to outdo each other or attract visitors to their websites. Web designers in the future will know all "SEO secrets." There is no need to hire SEO anymore. :D
Can’t agree. Companies building online reputation, doing business online, can’t ignore SEO.
"SEO is dead" ... check.OK, next on the list: "SEO is part of SEM or SEM is part of SEO"After that: "XYZ is coming -look out Google!":)
"With WordPress, install two plugins: All-In-One SEO and XML sitemaps. That’s it for SEO."I hope my competitors adopt that philosophy.
SEO Consultants will be out of business in 3 years - at least most of them.- good companies understand the importance of SEO;- good companies will integrate SEO into their operations; they may have an internal person "quarterbacking" the SEO effort;- external consultants can NEVER understand the makeup, politics, inner workings, etc as well as an internal person;Therefore, good companies will get further by internalizing SEO.Will SEO consultants truly disappear? No. There will always be companies that feel in terms of time and focus that they have to outsource the function. BUT, I bet stand alone consultants will no longer exist.How many SEO consultants now do Social Media Marketing? I would guess most to.It is also not surprising for an SEO consultant to think I am completely full of crap, after all, I am questioning your livelihood.
I just had a RFQ from an in-house SEO. And working as a hybrid consultant/inhouse guy this summer, I sent out a few RFQs myself. Expertise is often greater amongst consultants/agency folks because you have more non-search responsibilities in house and are thus limited in terms of ongoing learning. One in-house guy I interviewed for a job opening this summer said he only gets in 2 hours reading a week (SEL/SEOmoz) to catch up...
Micah, it’s not surprising to question your assertation simply because people have been saying SEO itself would be dead like back in 1999. And that all the SEO companies would go away -- years ago. They’re still here.I don’t disagree that in house will continue to grow. But I think you radically underestimate the fact that companies still turn to outside companies for lots of things.But no need to argue. Just come back in three years. If a ton of SEO companies have disappeared, you win :)
everything I can see tells me that the SEO industry is growing rapidly while other sectors are shrinking.