Is Search Engine Optimisation Fading Because Of Single Application Use

Every so often search advertising observers will forecast the end of search engine optimisation. The latest theory for search optimization being under threat is the changing way in which people are accessing internet services. As more people use mobile devices, there is a trend towards individual applications such as Facebook and Twitter instead of going to the open web. If that tendency continues, it could be suggested that there is no longer any need to try to develop the organic search engine positioning of your enterprise’s website.

Gateway applications are nothing new. CompuServe, the predecessor to AOL, was a dedicated interface that had to open out to use open web to the point where it was no longer needed in that form. The current generation of applications are no different: the application meets a individual purpose, but for anything else the user has to go outside. The social networks such as Facebook have become very popular to many people, but the trivial comments that dominate the social networks can get in the way of real information. Even the internal search engines are limited, and do not look beyond the application’s own boundaries. A search request inside a social channel for an organization may find an unofficial fan page but no external reference to that an organization if it has chosen not to be connected with that social channel.

Many so-called applications on mobile devices are only a shortcut to a traditional website. They are the equivalent of shortcuts to individual programs visible on the desktop of a PC. Some applications such as newspapers continue to have a relationship with a search platform such as Google, so it is still possible to perform an external search request where a traditional organic search engine positioning is still significant. To make the most of that connection still requires the use of search optimization skills.

Open web accessed directly from a bookmark or a traditional search platform offers greater flexibility to an organization, and is simpler to organise. Any search engine optimisation implemented on the website to develop the organic search engine positioning of its pages will have an effect across all of the search engines without being specifically targeted at any one or being affected by matters such as the Bing Yahoo agreement. Any marketing through social networks has to be duplicated or else be very selective. Facebook may currently be the biggest channel but is it the best? Some search optimization observer’s blog entry credits contain lists of social network accreditations that are almost as long as the feature itself.

As more people use mobile devices then perhaps a tendency towards greater use of individual applications is likely, but one of those applications could just as easily be a traditional search platform. Many people currently use Google as the starting point for any internet activity, even to enter a social channel. Early service providers were also individual applications that eventually gave way to direct web use. It is most likely that direct web use will continue to survive alongside individual applications, and there will still be a use for search engine optimisation.