Yes, I believe there will be an end to SEO, as we know it. However, it won’t happen overnight, let alone within the next couple of years. Here’s why…
There are too many “newbies”
SEO is hot. Really hot. Therefore, there’s a generation of new sites, or existing sites with new SEO awareness coming on board all the time. And with that need, there is plenty of existing SEO professionals and up-and-coming enthusiasts to handle the demand.
The Search Engines are still refining
The search engines, albeit improved, will continue to tweak their search algorithms to make many of the insider tricks of no value. The search engines want quality content, and quality links into that content. And in time, they will succeed.
SEO practices become standard
Due to the efforts of the search engines, and as many of the specialties within SEO are no longer valued, I believe we’ll see the specialty of SEO (for the most part) go away and become part of the website design and management workflow. SEO specialists, or their roles, will increasingly move in-house (yet there will always be the need for some external services).
So what can you do to be prepared? Like design, usability and accessibility, I believe SEO should be a discipline that is valued and practiced as part of the site development process (that means properly budgeted for, planning, development and management phases). Start by learning foundational SEO, then incorporate it as part of your daily activities.
The fact that the specialty of Search Engine Optimization will go away should not be cause for concern. Like much of the Web, it changes and morphs as time marches on. Be like a boy scout: be prepared.
I dont agreee with the thought that seo will go to graves…definitely SEO will have to come with better ideas to cope with changing scenario…but end of SEO i dont think so.
Just want to be clear, I believe the specialty of SEO will fade away. Yes, there will always be a need for a few SEO specialists to handle the tasks that companies do not have the resources for. However, in general, these tasks will eventually be consolidated into the overall website creation/management workflow, just like usability & accessibility.
SEO will be part of DAO in the long run.. (5-10 years), (maybe..) but i’ve been doing SEO since 95… and there is still an abundance of people (CMO, VP Mktg., etc..) with no clue about how SEO works or even if it works. (until you show them of course)
When you walk into a fortune 500 company and ask them about their website metrics and find out they aren’t using any…. it’s still going to be a lonnng time.. before people catch up..
also.. i don’t see SEO Practices becoming standard, there are too many ways to skin a cat.. or.. do SEO..
however.. i do kinda of agree with you, but it’s backwards… we used to optimize a client’s website for free pretty much as long as we designed it and hosted it.. (when I worked for an ISP). circa 1995-2000. So i can see SEO as an extension of website management..
but… when you work for an ad agency and SEO is a product line.. there are charts and graphs and ROI indicators, monthly reports, meetings with the CEO to explain why he isn’t first for the keyword he picked and stressed “business” (trust me, it happened, and after i personally met with him, he got it.. this was 3 years ago.. he is still a client).. so SEO ends up not about “website optimization” it becomes about research, actually calling 200 or so of their clients to ask them what they would type in to find the products or services for the company, among other types of research..
Then you have the “big” people… they need a PR firm and an SEO agency combined to make sure their names (which get 5-10 mentions a week, on a slow week.) show up above all the blogs, news feeds, etc. that contain their name that might not be as favorable..
As long as their are newbies, there will be people that abuse SEO… knowingly or unknowingly… as as long as that is happening we won’t have transparency in SERPs.