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I always find it funny how I have so much to write about, day in and day out, on the topic of SEO and search marketing. I mean, fundamentally SEO hasn’t really changed much over the years, but maybe the details have…
Chris Green posted a thread on Bluesky on this topic and it being the end of the year, I thought it was a good topic to cover here.
He wrote:
“SEO is always changing” – but is it, really?
Every time I look at my SEO basics slides over the last 10ish years, I wonder how much needs to be changed/updated. Besides updating screenshots for GSC or GA4 + new/different SEO tools, a lot of the core material always seems pretty stable.
But one of the cliches in the industry (or from those outside looking in) is “SEO always changes, I can’t keep up”.
This has some truth to it; certain tactics or techniques have a shelf life, but most of the core messages, lessons, and even basic tech requirements have remained the same.
Step outside the core and into specialist areas—JavaScript, Performance, Structured data, for example—or fly closer to the sun with black hat techniques, and things WILL change quicker.
This is the nature of changing technology OR the spam/black hat arms race with Google’s web spam team.
Why does it matter? If people think SEO is always changing, does that mean they will make more effort to learn or value the expertise of an SEO professional? Maybe.
OR, does it give people a reason to disengage/ignore SEO best practice, as “it’ll probably change in 6 months anyway”?
No, this matters because SEO best practice is also very often best practice in other areas, too.
SEO best practices and core learning are often simple and easy to implement, and they have benefits far beyond SEO itself.
For most large(r) brands to succeed in search, input from more than just the SEO team is vital. To succeed, the entry barrier must be lowered, and we need to help people take responsibility rather than chase them off by making them think it’s overly complicated or going to change tomorrow.
It is a good thread.
Google’s John Mueller replied to it saying, “I like this take. The parts I mostly see changing are structure data type, but fundamentally they’re just different values in the same package.”
Ammon Johns replied, “While core principles change very little, the tech of search, the tools we have, and the web itself, are constantly expanding and evolving. In that light, there is constant change in the *way* that we reach the unchanging objectives.”
I like how Ammon put it…
It is a good thread…
Forum discussion at Bluesky.
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