Is SEO Still Relevant?

Are your skills massively in demand in 2015?
(watch video to see me recording in the freezing outdoors because Amish carpenters were framing my new basement home office)

Recently, LinkedIn released their top 25 job skills of 2014, based on what recruiters are looking for on the LinkedIn platform.
Number one was big data analyst. There were several others in the top 25 specifically related to digital marketing, such as digital marketing campaign specialist, etc. I’ve got to tell you what was not in the top 25 was Amish carpenter. That may not come as a huge surprise. But what did surprise me was that so many of the top 25 jobs such as computer programming, data analysis, and several other highly technical jobs, often tie into marketing, especially with marketing becoming more and more reliant upon technology. In fact, I’d say at least ten of the 25 have some sort of marketing applicability.

Nothing Is Ever Dead, Just Different

But what I found particularly interesting was that the number 5 job skill for LinkedIn in 2014, based on recruiter searches, was SEO and paid search. That’s right, the much-maligned SEO was the number five job.
Many, many, many, many articles are out there about “SEO is Dead.” They say that it’s “all about content now,” and that SEO isn’t needed. Yet, the number FIVE most sought after professional skill by recruiters in 2014 is SEO and paid search. So maybe, just maybe it’s not yet actually dead. And it never will be.
I’m a huge proponent of content marketing and social media. But at the end of the day, you know what companies still really care about? Traffic to their website, and perhaps rightfully so if they can do something with that traffic.
Yes, the tactics used in search engine optimization have changed (again), based on shifts in how search engines rank content. But that doesn’t mean the skill of SEO isn’t needed. In fact, I’d argue that it’s needed more than ever. Because when everyone is creating content, somehow you’re going to need to get that content seen, and search optimization (organic or paid) is perhaps still the best way to do so.
Of course, the line between “content marketing” and “search engine optimization” continues to blur in terms of how those professional services are described, packaged, and sold. But if you take the “who” out of the equation, and just look at the “what,” SEO is still massively relevant. Yes, you need great content (and maybe a SEO firm could do that for you). But you also need that content to be found. We are going to see a massive increase in good content that gets ZERO eyeballs on it. Competition is going up and up and up. It’s about amplification and findability now, not just creating smart content.

Sprout Social Shoutout

Today’s Sprout Social Shoutout is for my friend Arnie Kuenn. Speaking of SEO, Arnie runs an SEO/SEM content marketing agency in Phoenix called Vertical Measures. Great guys. He’s a terrific author. I have been happy to work with him on a couple of books. You should definitely be following Arnie in social media.

About Jay Today

This video is from Jay Today is my near-daily 3-minute video where I talk about social media, content marketing, business and life. JayToday is available on Youtube, iTunes (as a video podcast, and now as an audio podcast too), and at JayToday.tv. The show is sponsored by Sprout Social (which I use for my social media), and Candidio (a great video editing service).

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