Is Traditional SEO Dead Since Google Lost Their Antitrust Lawsuit?

In the last month, Google has been both making large moves and has been put on the chopping block (like losing a lawsuit to the US Justice Department). Let’s talk about what this means for you and your business.

With the rise of AI guided search results and Google working hard to keep “not helpful” content off the first pages of Google, people have been reporting that their organic search numbers have been in a steady decline. Now, SEO gurus all over are having debates over “is SEO dead?” all while creating content to help business owners ensure that they do not lose their rankings. 

Google also has been accused of being an illegal monopoly and has been sued by the US Justice Department. Last month, a judge found Google to be guilty of being such. Google will most likely take this case all the way to the supreme court, but time will most likely show us that Google is no longer the only search engine that people need to focus on pleasing to show up.

So what should a business do regarding these two developments?

I have my opinions on Traditional SEO tactics for getting found online, and for a small business, most of my opinions haven’t changed, but what is now abundantly clear is that what most people deemed “their audience” is actually not their audience – it’s Google audience that then gets redirected.

When you operate on someone else’s playground, they get to make the rules. They have the power to change the rules, change the game, and change the structure. This is true whether we’re talking about Google and social media channels – it’s their platform and they make the rules.

However, when you have your own playground, you get to make the rules.

How can you make your own playground? Simple! Email marketing!

When you have an email list, you have a direct line to your audience – to those who want to hear from you. You get to talk with them, sell to them, update them, etc., whenever and however you want because it’s your playground, not someone else’s (now, there are rules to email but more on that later).

As a website owner, you do need to play inside of other people’s playgrounds. You do need to do build a website that is able to be found on search engines. You do want to have a Google Business Profile and a Bing Business Profile to connect with people who need your services. You do need to be on TripAdvisor, Yelp, AirBnb, etc., if you want people to discover your listings. You need to do all the right things, but ultimately, you need to not rely on other companies to send you traffic, you need to create your own playground and make your own rules.

I listened to an amazing podcast with David C Baker & Blair Enns yesterday about this very topic and how your email list may be your most valuable asset as a business leader. You can listen to this episode on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttFnjUh9GNM. 

Watch It Here:

If your business does NOT have an email list or a way of collecting email address, my team and I are ready to get you started! As a part of my recently announced Growth Plans, I am not only offering to help your business set up an email marketing software but also run your company’s email marketing!

What Are Growth Plans?

Growth Plans go beyond traditional SEO. Growth Plans are designed to help you create content for your website but also create a funnel to drive traffic back to your website. Like traditional SEO, parts of growth plans include:

• SEO optimization and cleanups
• Blog posts
• Location based service pages
• Creation of lead magnets
• Email list curation and growth
• Google Business Profile optimization
• Marketing emails to your email list

If you’re ready to own your audience and stop relying on Google to bring you leads (but be thankful when leads do come via Google!), fill out the contact form below to get in touch with me: