The Main Thing You Need to Know about Strategic Communications and SEO Today is That it's a Zoo

Some say SEO is dead.  And, in the traditional sense of what SEO originally entailed, that is true.  But, search engine optimization is still a relevant strategic communication pursuit - just not in terms of the mechanics of days past.  SEO of the past was a game.  Plain and simple.  You paid some outfit to game the system with backlink structuring operation that relied heavily on "static content" directory submissions and similar antics.  Today the game has changed significantly and will never be the same.  In fact it's a zoo.

We use the term zoo to refer to Google's Panda and Penguin algorithms.  Panda refers to Google's algorithm that favors sites that deliver high caliber, original and context-rich content.  The Penguin algorith slays sites that try and "game the system" with fake backlink tricks.  In other words, Google, and even Facebook, have been forced to clean house.  Reputable organizations with marketing clout have demanded that reputable tactics which produce reputable search results be the only game in town.  So what does that mean to the small Dallas business owner?  It means a lot of work.

In today's strategic communications ecosystem, you cannot pay a "firm" for 1,000 backlinks and some crazy directory submission operation and win the SEO game.  In fact, you will be punished and sent to the lion's den as Google, through their indexing and search formulas, will see the antics for what they are...fake.  Today, building a liked, followed, patronized, and engaged brand is all about cross-channel marketing.  It not only means writing great content, but pushing that great content one story, one post, one campaign, one link at a time.  And, in many ways it is like going back to the future.

20 years ago, if you wanted to build a brand, you had a relatively straight-forward path.  You advertised on radio, television and in print.  You may have used direct mail for a more targeted campaign.  And, you hired a public relations firm to pitch your stories to writers, editors and producers.   Although the strategic communications and marketing landscape has forever changed with new marketing channels which have a heavy focus on mobile and social communication, the tactics are basically the same.   Like the old AD man of yesteryear who developed story boards, wrote copy, developed a 1975 Procter and Gamble AD campaign, and then pushed it to every available medium he could, today's business owner or their firms must do the same.  We just have different media (and a complex inter-connectivity) to write and produce for.

The SEO of yesterday is dead on arrival.  Today, backroom backlink trickery is dead.  We are back to the future in this stategic communications zoo.  We actually have to work at marketing communication.  Creativy is alive again.  And, that's a good thing. 

Concierge PA.  We're here if you need us.  After all...it's no fun going to the zoo alone.