Why is Search Engine Optimization not going strategic?

Search Engine Optimization professionals are facing a conundrum today.  While most practioners consider this field as a purely tactical, the search engines, notably Google and Bing,  are attempting to shift the focus.

The problem arises because the practice of search engine optimization or SEO, is trying to serve two masters at the same time – 

1. The search engines, and 
2. The website visitors. 

 

Unfortunately, and probably due to the historic reasons, we end up serving the two in that order!

Now search engines are striving to flip the priority.

But the nomenclature does not help. The name itself suggests that webmasters should make their website optimal for search engines.  The deck should be cleared for the bots to crawl and other artifacts (like links) added to boost the search ranking.

In short executing a set of tasks targeted toward meeting search engine requirements.  

Note that the phrase does not mention the searcher! 

Matt Cutts (+MattCutts) , Head of Google’s Webspam team, has been advising website owners to focus more on creating better user experience for their primary audience i.e. human visitors. He has been cautioning them not to stray into the gray practice of gaming the algorithm.  Search Giant’s consistent message has been – you focus on creating superior value for your users, we will take care of rankings.

But it also gives the following advice to webmasters that is at the nuts and bolts level.

Bing is not behind in belaboring this point. In a recent blog post Serve the searcher, not the engine their senior Product Manager implores that we should focus on the users.

Given such repeated advice by Search Engines for creating higher user experience, you wonder why they have not taken major steps in shifting the focus away from tactical matters. They can begin by changing the nomenclature that is not focused on users in order to turn the spotlight on to the users. 

Superior User Experience

Rechristening also makes sense in taking the practice to a more  strategic level. 

The current execution is mostly tactical. It is centered on tasks like “keyword density”, “link building”,  “indexing” and “crawling.”  Such preoccupation leads to cutting corners to stuff keywords or bait links however you can or to create different experiences for humans and robots. Wider consequences and fallout are rarely on the radar.

Businesses, both small and large, give in to the temptation of gaming the system. In the last two months we have seen some instances where Rap Genius, resurrected a practice banned more than five years ago to boost search ranking.  Just last month, Expedia saw its organic traffic plummet when Google handed it a penalty.  The SEO community believes that low quality paid guest blogging was the culprit.

It is time to go strategic and to focus more on what maters to your users. Technology is sufficiently advanced to take care of locating the content so you do not have to bother about robots. Algorithms are getting smarter in catching the correct signals (Big data) and separating the noise.  Once the focus is on users who drive the business, this practice will move out of the cubicle and climb up in the value chain.

But in order for that to happen, the focus of the practice needs to change first. Search Engines may take a lead in shedding the term SEO and replace it with something more representative, like Superior User Experience or SUE.

Sharing is…a Good Business

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A nascent form of sharing economy is taking shape. Airbnb, when it began was an experiment in renting out that extra bedroom or a less often used guest room, to a needy traveller looking for a short stay. The room is offered sans any frills of a hotel room or services, but is inexpensive and with much less hassles.  The experiment caught fire, and, in a very short order Airbnb expanded to over 34,000 major cities across the globe.

Sharing a ride was the next natural target. Startups like Lyft, Sidecar and UberX  explored the possibility of car owners to give passenger a ride for a fee has become immensely successful. 

Renting your car or vehicle was the obvious extension. Seeing the writing on the wall Avis decided to merge with ZipCar, a car sharing service, last year to break away from the traditional car rental model.

These experiments did not stop at renting a room or sharing a car, but extended to bike sharing or dog walking and to potentially several other fields.

Picking up the slack

Putting underutilized assets (or capital) to work makes good economic sense. There is demand, and if supply has the capacity and can come in at an affordable price, there should be no stopping. Sharing economy is cracking the door open to the pent up demand and bringing in the  suppliers aka the people.

This growth in “informal renting of assets” has caused established businesses to start worrying. They claim that the playing field is tilted against them. While they (the businesses) are bound by regulations, the agents of the shared economy are not constrained in any manner. Cities are worried that they will loose out on the tax revenue.

So the pressure is being felt!.

Barter Kings...The Next Step?

The “barter system" of exchanging goods and services with no payment involved appears to be ripe for a makeover.  This age-old practice has literally died long time ago. With the advent of internet and a dramatic rise in connectivity, the task of finding, matching and mediation in a bartering process has become much easier.

While businesses have been trying their hands with “Barter Exchanges”, like Barter Business Unlimited, it is the individual side of exchanging goods and services that could experience the next wave of change. 

When services like u-exchange are linked with the power and reach of social media, this bartering economy will have the potential to grow by leaps and bound. It will be interesting to see the economic impact of people flocking in numbers to clean out their closet (or fill up their  downtime) for getting something they have been looking for in return.

Regulation trying to catch up?

Of courses, taxes and regulations will take time to catch up to the new emerging reality. Regulations strive to bring order into chaos and taxes protect the equity. Laws, typically, have more inertia, and rightly so since these needs to see a better part of the iceberg before charting the right course. 

However, displaying amazing speed,  California Public Utilities Commission created a new class – Transportation Network Companies to provide legal cover for car sharing model in September 2013.

Challenge and be relevant! 

Some of these changes can appear like flash-in-a-pan and may disappear. eBay tried to entice its users to auction out their unused stuff.  But the “thrill of winning an auction” overtook the “need.” 

However these changes are indicators of the transformative power of connectivity and mobility.  Some of these changes may not pan out, but not before challenging us to rethink the established traditional business models built on old premises.

It was just seven years ago when Netflix was laughed out of Blockbuster’s HQ about its offer of partnership on video streaming business. It was even fewer years ago when Border realized too late that the readers would prefer to buy books online and that too electronically.