What is #SEO really?
We need to be clear: Great people are doing extraordinary work in the field of search engine optimization. When you think about it, it’s amazing that #Google’s search product has become so important to business.
The majority of an $80 billion industry is built around trying to decipher how to optimize businesses to comply with #Google’s complex, sophisticated algorithm.
But we should recognize that most businesses attempting to decipher #Google are not in the elite category. In fact, only 36% of small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) even have an #SEO strategy.
So, what should we do about #SEO?
Future of search engines: The big picture
Before we can nudge search in the right direction, we need to get a good look at where we think #Google thinks it is headed.
We aren’t talking about things like voice search and mobile optimization – we need to think bigger than that.
Where does #Google think OUR search is really headed in the long term? Here’s what we know: Google is focusing more on search journeys, less on queries.
#Google doesn’t just want to be the place you go for a quick answer. It knows searches have evolved beyond that. (In fact, only 8% of Google searches are questions
Sure, people still will turn to #Google to find out a celebrity’s age or how many ounces are in a cup. But #Google wants to guide them to the next step and the next so they return to #Google again and again for guidance in their day-to-day life. (#Google has been transparent about this.)
So instead of just helping a searcher find out how old Harrison Ford is, #Google wants to be there waiting with answers to inevitable follow-up questions such as what year Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom came out. When a searcher asks about ounces in a cup, #Google will have the best chocolate chip cookie recipes ready to go.
#Google reorganized search results, particularly in mobile, to advance this goal. This isn’t exactly new either. Google has offered related searches for years, but it is improving (and will continue to improve) the way it presents this information.


#Google also said it is moving away from query-based searches in favor of personalized feeds.

Again, there are nefarious implications. These cards are often eerily relevant because Google is using your personal data and search history to compile them. That may give you the heebie-jeebies, but hey, it makes for a good search experience.
Beyond this, #Google’s new tactics, theoretically, take ranking to another level of difficulty. As our friend Arnie Kuenn once said, “The best place to hide a dead body is on page two of a #Google search.” The fight to be a top spot just got way more difficult with personalized pages.
Why? My search results for “headphones” are going to be different than yours because I’m on an iPhone in California logged in to my #Google account and just looked for new microphones. It becomes overwhelming to think about how to strategize for so many variables.
But we shouldn’t just be talking about #Google.
Every day, #Google’s share of the search pie is encroached upon by other search engines that also are becoming more sophisticated (and in some ways, more diabolical). For example, when it comes to product searches, more users (46.7%) turn to Amazon before they get to Google (36.4%). And as privacy becomes a more important issue, Apple maps may give #Google a run for its money in the search for where we’re going.
Remember: #SEO stands for search engine optimization – not Google optimization. If you work on #SEO and only think about what #Google wants, you’re bound to be left in the dust.
The future of search drivers: That’s us
In 2020, content sometimes moves faster than search. In March 2020, 57% of millennials surveyed said they got their news from social media sites more than any other source.
Think carefully about what that means. It does not mean that more than half of millennials are cruising Facebook every morning, clicking on links to CNN and The

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