Can You Tell Our Audience Something About Yourself?
Yeah sure. So Hey everyone! I’m Gagan Luthra. I’m an SEO enthusiast and I also hold a keen interest in Paid Advertising.
I’m the founder of AdsConsultant.net. A full-time Digital Marketing Agency. Here we provide services related to Facebook Ads, Google Ads, SEO, PPC, etc.
I and my team have been constantly working to help small businesses for 5+ years with their advertising and SEO needs.
So being an SEO expert, Gagan Luthra. Do you think SEO is dying or is dead?
Well, as long as people are searching stuff online, SEO will always be alive. SEO being dead come despite around every year or two. But I think it is just those people and companies who get nothing out of this gold mine of the potential audience.
And being honest here, I have been on that side too. When we do everything right and SEO doesn’t work for us we blame it.
But as time goes by and SEO starts to show results. The bigger picture then starts getting clearer.
Today more than 50% of traffic on websites is from organic results followed by the paid and social media channels.
Many of the big companies are investing in SEO and trust me it is for that reason. These guys know the market. Because on average a total of 5+ billion searches are made per day. To meet this number you have to be present on search engines. How will you do it? By SEO!
And as Google is holding the highest share. There have been many advancements that make SEO necessary. Talk about Google Discover, Google Maps, Google Images, or even Google Assistant. Search results have been made easy because it has a long-term future.
And without a doubt, SEO rankings are getting low because of it. But if you see. Over time everything is getting low. You see Instagram Engagements or clicks on banner ads.
They show a decrease. But it doesn’t mean it’s dead.
People are looking for Google search results as a discovery of new knowledge and not as a commerce platform.
If you educate people and then subtly sell them your product or service. You won’t ever blame SEO for being dead.
So getting back to answering your question. According to my views, SEO is not dead and is far from dying ever. Your SEO investment is going nowhere. All you will see is results but for that you need patience.
What do you think about SEO for small and local businesses?
I think SEO is a great digital marketing channel for small and local businesses. The visibility it gives is tremendous.
If you’re a doctor and you want to get more customers. You can use SEO to share your knowledge. And as I have mentioned earlier. You can educate them about their problem and sell them your service by a call to action.
People use search engines to find answers and your products and services are the answers. All you have to do is provide your visitors with value.
Also, with Google My Business you can boost your rankings. Hence, SEO for locals is more beneficial than social media. As people search on Google first then on Facebook or Instagram.
What about the relation between Voice Search and SEO? What are your thoughts about that Gagan Luthra?
We are talking about SEO and it being dead. But with the rise of voice search. SEO is becoming more important than ever.
Everyone is optimizing for voice search engines. So nowhere SEO can be said to be dead.
I think SEO is becoming more alive.
With the help of Voice Search, SEO is getting a boost in spite of getting slow.
So, Gagan Luthra What is your advice for SEO for newbies?
Weel, for older companies, like, Quora, Hubspot, Shopify. I think SEO is still killing. But for newer ones, I won’t say it is dead but it is difficult to see results for it quickly.
So does that mean you should ignore it? No, but you should start as soon as possible.
SEO has an amazing ROI which you won’t get from any other channel. And as you want to start now but getting results too quickly ain’t possible.
So what you can do is. If you have resources you can go out and buy websites that are under-monetized and you can take advantage of their SEO. Or you can start somewhere where the organic reach is strong and later on, buy underpriced sites.
Ok Gagan, Let’s do quick small questions and you have to answer them in brief
Sure! I’m excited about answering.
What has changed in link building?
Link building is still an important metric to rank. But what has changed is that now the number of backlinks doesn’t matter that much.
It is more of the quality and relevance of your backlinks with your website. You have to work with some authority websites closely related to your niche to build high-quality links.
Do you think long-form contents work?
Today everyone is looking for quick answers. Nobody wants to read a 1000 word article explaining “How to tie a tie?” just for the sake of search engine rankings.
Your focus should be on providing value to your users. Once you provide value to your users. User data will automatically reflect in your rankings.
What about focusing on users rather than search engines?
As iI said, focusing on users is the new strategy that can boost your SEO. You have to make content that is suitable for both users and search engines.
You have to find that balance. Google wants its users to have the maximum value. Hence, if your website does that. You will be ranked.
But you must prioritize your users and visitors. A responsive design that loads faster. Which is easy to read and is not stuffed with keywords just to rank.
What Will Be Your Final Thoughts, Gagan Luthra?
SEO is not dead or is not even dying. I would rather put it as SEO is evolving.
Many of the SEO practices become outdated with the new updates and algorithms by Google.
All we have to adapt to these evolving needs to make a place in SERPs.Make sure you are dynamic. If you won’t it will cost you your losing traffic and your business as well.
So stop believing in myths and start providing quality content that will help your users. Which will lead to you getting more business and qualified leadṣ.
