SEO isn’t a checklist game. What once moved mountains now barely moves the needle. Critical thinking, storytelling, and cross-discipline skills win. Templates don’t.
One thing I've begun noticing, however, is the difference in Local SEO and "general" SEO.
General SEO appears to be completely within the realm your describing (but I do think you're missing discussing the importance of authority, beyond just marketing for solutions).
Local SEO appears to be stuck in 2015. Slam your keywords into a variety of pages with different city names, and you'll start to come up for people doing local searches (especially if you've got some local business/organization schema).
This could just be the e-commerce realm I'm in, but I think there's a very big difference in the sophistication of SEO between the two types.
We keep seeing the death of SEO, however you can't kill a philosophy of optimization to make a business message reach the right target.
That's also marketing in a nutshell.
I'm a full-stack SEO or a marketing specialist who knows how to optimize in different ways.
Iv had some moments over the years with blackhat keywords stuffing taking clients away for a quicker hack. Google monetization and monopoly has been a constant and welcome change, it thins the hacks and crowds just like panda and penguin. I nearly went out of businesses because blackhat keyword stuffing seemed quicker than marketing to some clients, they soon came back after the rabies penguin hit them.
This latest change to search will break most SEOs and agency's. I do SEO consultation for agency's and I'm shocked they were selling SEO services but didn't have a clue. Most were just trying to sell websites or PPC. Part of why when you talk to a possible client they say SEO didn't work for me, i think in my head I wounder which of the top calgary agency's I know caused that impression.
The point I'd like to add is how hard it is explaining to business owners, especially when they have understood old SEO concepts. This is compounded by their circle of influence confirmed wrong SEO misconception. Even GPT the people pleasing old SEO concept regurgitate middle of the road answers from..... yep old SEO.
After a presentation they seem stuck on keywords from old SEO, how to fluff and stuff mass-produced blogs and what's the best deal on backlinks.
I spend more time bridging the mindset gap that things have changed.
I just hope those like me enjoy the SEO industry, the continuous learning and success strategies don't gettoo stained from the fallout.
I think this is a completely fair point, well said! Local SEO is its own beast, and you are right, the levers behind local haven't changed much. Google still rewards spam... but hey, at least they are doing better at not letting folks use PO boxes anymore :)
Great post!
One thing I've begun noticing, however, is the difference in Local SEO and "general" SEO.
General SEO appears to be completely within the realm your describing (but I do think you're missing discussing the importance of authority, beyond just marketing for solutions).
Local SEO appears to be stuck in 2015. Slam your keywords into a variety of pages with different city names, and you'll start to come up for people doing local searches (especially if you've got some local business/organization schema).
This could just be the e-commerce realm I'm in, but I think there's a very big difference in the sophistication of SEO between the two types.
100% Nick
SEO always evolves with platforms.
We keep seeing the death of SEO, however you can't kill a philosophy of optimization to make a business message reach the right target.
That's also marketing in a nutshell.
I'm a full-stack SEO or a marketing specialist who knows how to optimize in different ways.
Iv had some moments over the years with blackhat keywords stuffing taking clients away for a quicker hack. Google monetization and monopoly has been a constant and welcome change, it thins the hacks and crowds just like panda and penguin. I nearly went out of businesses because blackhat keyword stuffing seemed quicker than marketing to some clients, they soon came back after the rabies penguin hit them.
This latest change to search will break most SEOs and agency's. I do SEO consultation for agency's and I'm shocked they were selling SEO services but didn't have a clue. Most were just trying to sell websites or PPC. Part of why when you talk to a possible client they say SEO didn't work for me, i think in my head I wounder which of the top calgary agency's I know caused that impression.
The point I'd like to add is how hard it is explaining to business owners, especially when they have understood old SEO concepts. This is compounded by their circle of influence confirmed wrong SEO misconception. Even GPT the people pleasing old SEO concept regurgitate middle of the road answers from..... yep old SEO.
After a presentation they seem stuck on keywords from old SEO, how to fluff and stuff mass-produced blogs and what's the best deal on backlinks.
I spend more time bridging the mindset gap that things have changed.
I just hope those like me enjoy the SEO industry, the continuous learning and success strategies don't gettoo stained from the fallout.
I think this is a completely fair point, well said! Local SEO is its own beast, and you are right, the levers behind local haven't changed much. Google still rewards spam... but hey, at least they are doing better at not letting folks use PO boxes anymore :)