netimperative: VOICE: RIP SEO

I started writing some commentary on this opinion piece yesterday, but stopped because I felt that the article was too stupid to publish. However, Rick just asked me to have a look at it, and on second viewing I've changed my mind - Idiocy needs to be highlighted and ridiculed.

The general premise of this article, writing by Dr David L O Smith, operations director of Internet marketing agency Receptional.com, is that search engine optimisation is dead. When an interactive agency makes such a statement, as many have done before, it generally means that they either don't understand it, or more likely, they have decided to shift their focus towards PPC and/or paid inclusion search marketing. The only exception to those scenarios is when someone does so in order to get a rise out of the SEO community, which is always good entertainment, assuming that you life involves little more than watching paint dry.

So in short, stating that SEO is dead and that SEM rules, is almost as pointless as stating that the Internet can only be used for direct marketing, and that it can't be used for branding. Yes SEM is more important that it was, but there is no question that SEO remains a very important part of the mix, especially given how expensive SEM is becoming.