SEO: Think more traffic, conversions

We've always believed SEO is a marketing function and less of a technical function and that's how we have approached SEO projects. With the evolution of search engines, particularly Google, into much smarter, all-knowing beasts, it becomes even more imperative for SEO practitioners to think beyond top keywords and achieving top rankings for those. Certainly, trying to obtain higher search rankings for relevant, high-demand keywords will continue to be among the key milestones to be passed for a SEO, but it can't and won't be the be-all and end-all.

More experts are increasingly echoing the same sentiments at various public platforms. In fact, Bruce Clay, President of well-known SEO firm Bruce Clay, Inc. , recently went so far as to say that "rankings are dead". The reasons for that: universal search, personalized search and intent-based search. SEO experts now have to be understand the implications of how search engines use the above three and be prepared with appropriate responses if they have to succeed, he says.

Matt Cutts of Google says something similar in an interview he gave to WebProNews.com. Here's an excerpt from the interview:
"Universal is really useful and I think it will continue to expand and what that means in 2009 you can't just think of yourself as an SEO. SEOs are starting to embrace the fact that they are marketers. It's a broader spectrum. You have to think about how you build buzz, how do you get loyal customers, how do you optimize your ROI. All those different things and that can include how do I make good videos, do I have a book, things like that."