Is SEO Dead?
Over the past week I’ve heard some rumors that Google “slapped” article directories like EzineArticles.com.
What that means is that if you had an article on a site like that and it was bringing you traffic, then bad news, it’s probably disappeared from the rankings and you’ve lost visitors.
One of my friends emailed me to say:
“I had a couple ezinearticles that for years had been ranking really high for great keywords, and then boom, the articles disappeared overnight.
“If Google can ‘slap’ sites like EzineArticles, then there’s no reason they won’t SEO slap entire other categories of sites that we know they don’t like, such as sales letters, squeeze pages, Video Sales Letters, etc.
“This is a sign that SEO is on thin ice just like adwords was 2 years ago.”
So is SEO, a great source of free traffic, on it’s deathbed?
I asked my best source, Rick Porter, and here’s what he said:
“This is bad news for people that use articles as their primary traffic source. All the Hubpages and Ezines that I had worked to get on page 1 through linking are now gone.
“The problem with this update is that Google gave all these sites flat manual penalties to keep their articles off page 1, regardless if they were excellent content or original. It really shows their power.
“But article directories should still be a great place to get anchor text backlinks to help drive your rankings up. You just won’t get any direct traffic from article submissions.
“I wrote more about this on a post about a week ago:
=> SEO and Google Algorithm Update
“My SEO strategy is “extreme diversity” – meaning, I get links from anywhere and everywhere because you never know what Google is going to target next.
“On the positive side, I expect Google to start using social networking as a signal for rankings.
“I think the ‘Like’ button is what they could use as an indicator to put into rankings.
“But then again, some internet marketers will find a way to ‘game’ this as there are already services to get thousands of ‘fake’ Facebook likes on a post.
“I suggest you keep working in social networking like Facebook and Twitter because they will factor it in more and more as they figure out how to use it, and as those networks become huge on mobile phones it will be possible for them to use it as a big indicator for quick changes and temporary boosts.
“But as for right now, I still greatly favor blog post backlinks over any other link building strategy.”
Rick Porter
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Thanks Rick.
As Rick says on his site, having high SEO rankings is NOT our right. Google, is a business and they can run their site however they want. (Maybe I shouldn’t even use their name…I’ll just call it the “Big G” from now on.)
Bottom Line: Never rely on just one source of traffic, or even one source of links to boost your website rankings.
And consider this a warning for doing business on the Internet in general…things can – and will – change fast.
So stay plugged-in to sources of the latest info, like InternetIndependence.com, of course.
Tomorrow: An awesome way to get traffic and sales that even the “Big G” can’t stop.
Take action and build your business,
Craig Ballantyne
“Behavior pre-determines opportunity and income.” – Dan Kennedy