Every so often search marketing observers will forecast the end of search engine optimisation. The latest theory for search optimization fading is the changing nature in which people are using internet services. As more people use mobile devices, there is a leaning towards individual applications such as Facebook and Twitter instead of going to the open web. If that tendency continues, it could be suggested that there is no longer any need to try to enhance the natural search engine positioning of your business’s website.
Gateway applications are nothing new. CompuServe, the predecessor to AOL, was a dedicated interface that had to open out to use open web to the point where it was no longer needed in that form. The current generation of applications are no different: the application meets a specific need, but for anything else the user has to go outside. The social services such as Facebook have become very important to many people, but the trivial comments that swamp the social services can impede real information. Even the internal search platforms are limited, and do not look beyond the application’s own limits. A search request inside a social channel for an enterprise may find an unofficial fan page but no external connection to that an enterprise if it has chosen not to be connected with that social channel.
Many so-called applications on mobile devices are nothing more than a bookmark to a traditional website. They are the equivalent of shortcuts to specific applications visible on the desktop of a PC. Some applications such as newspapers continue to have an association with a search facility such as Google, so it is still possible to make an external search request where a traditional natural search engine positioning is still relevant. To make the best of that connection still requires the use of search optimization plans.
Open web accessed directly from a bookmark or a traditional search facility offers greater flexibility to an enterprise, and is easier to handle. Any search engine optimisation applied to the website to enhance the natural search engine positioning of its pages will have an effect across all of the search platforms without being specifically aimed at any one or being affected by matters such as the Bing Yahoo agreement. Any marketing through social services has to be duplicated or else be very selective. Facebook may currently be the biggest channel but is it the most suitable? Some search optimization expert’s blog entry credits contain lists of social outlet accreditations that are nearly as long as the article itself.
As more people use mobile devices then perhaps a tendency towards greater use of individual applications is likely, but one of those applications could just as easily be a traditional search facility. Many people still use Google as the starting point for any internet activity, even to enter a social channel. Early service providers were also individual applications that eventually gave way to direct web use. It is very likely that direct web use will continue to last alongside individual applications, and there will still be a use for search engine optimisation.
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