I read with interest Andrew Goodman’s synopsis of SES Toronto and Lisa Barone’s comments over on the Bruce Clay Blog.  If you refer to core SEO for what it is and always has been, a good quality site with great content, well indexed with good organic links which have not been bought, stolen or borrowed then yes Core SEO is more important than ever.  With more and more non web pages showing up in the results due to universal search good SEO will help you stay afloat amongst the noise.  If you are talking about the many types of ’so called SEO” we have touted as an industry then no its not valid now nor has it ever been except for a quick fix or short term gain. 

The good SEO’s who have never deviated from that core SEO as described above are now in a position of strength.  They know how to rank sites and web pages and keep them ranked.  That core strength can now be applied to the world of Web 2.0 and social media.  They can use their skill to optimize videos, podcasts, photos, articles, create RSS feeds and the list goes on.  The one thing that has never changed in this ever changing industry is that great content is king.  Good optimization specialists can apply their skills to the many types of content and apply their skills to positioning content in multiple channels.  Our own company recently underwent a re-branding to become a digital marketing agency.

We have found that the term search engine optimization is what is out of date.  With the multiple channels the web now offers and numerous opportunities to optimize content for these channels digital asset optimization is a more appropriate term for what we do until we think of something better or this one sticks.  Let’s face it as my friend Mike Grehan says (I think he is still my friend haven’t seen him for a while, and I am not on his buddy bloggerlist ) when did anybody ever optimize a search engine. 

While I was gone one of the most alarming plans to hit the industry in a long time was announced.  Yahoo annnonced that it will basically become a relseller of Google ads.  I like Google, I think they are a great search engine but its beginning to look like a one man shop again and its almost impossible to imagine Yahoo ever bridging the gap now.  Yahoo obviously realise it and have given up trying so they join Google instead.  This is very bad news for consumer choice. 

Kevin Ryan wrote a great commentary on the subject over at Search Engine Watch and since he put it so well and so eloquently you can read the full article here.

I just got back from a blissful two week vaction in the west of Ireland near Belmullet .  We had a much needed rest and I am now trying to catch up on the news while I was gone.  I had to travel 15 miles to an interent connection and after the first few days of fresh sea air I forgot to do that.  It was very strange to be so ‘disconnected’ so to speak.  My children looked shell shocked for the first few days and the Grandma had no cable either so my youngest daughter played football with the dog and my oldest discovered reading again. 

We all had a wonderful time and sadly US Airways runined our trip back with delayed flights and lost baggage.  I really will never fly with US airways again unless there is no other option.  Lost the bags on the way over also.  At least they are consistent.  We flew with Aer Lingus on the transatlantic legs and its refreshing to still fly with an airline that provides genuine good quality customer service.  The 6.5 hour flights flew (pardon the pun) by with wonderful friendly staff, good food and non stop entertainment on the indivudual entertainment system they provide to each traveller.  What has happened to US air travel and why has the travelling public put up with letting it get this bad.