Search Engine Optimisation Web Log (BLOG)
Editor: Matt Paines

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Natural SEO is dead, again?

It never ceases to amaze me how many times someone in a forum or blog raises this one. This debate rears it's ugly head on a very regular basis, there are many points of view, I wouldn't say I agree with all of them but the doom mongers would appear to be more prominent.

So in a recent conversation with a marketing guru, the discussion of SEO (search engine optimisation- natural search) and SEM (search engine marketing- paid search) came into the conversation. Whilst SEM is more accountable, and the return on investment is more precisely measurable. The fact remains that as more potential advertisers realise they cannot get to the top of natural search, paying for their clicks is a real alternative. However as a result the bid prices are set to continue to rise. Does this not mean that if the paid prices continue to rise then the need to reduce the paid search costs will increase making natural SEO even more important.

The debate became even more surreal with this realisation, taken to the nth degree, if more money is plowed into paid search, more will be plod into natural search (in an attempt to reduce long term costs). However this then means that the costs of getting results from search engines could be on a parallel to these of TV advertising. This then takes the whole media into a completely different ball park, because this makes it a rich mans game.

So what's the answer, we didn't get that far to be honest - ran out of beer. If anyone wants to continue the debate why not catch up with me at Search Engine Strategies (SES) London in early February, where I'll be speaking. Don't forget the beer though.

M.P