Is SEO dead? 

No, it’s not. (I’ll explain below)

Will SEO exist in 10 years? 

Yes, it will. (In some form or fashion)

What’s the future of SEO? 

A marriage between AI, SEO, & Humans. 

Do I have your attention? 

My name is Connor Gillivan. I’m an SEO and Entrepreneur. I’ve built multiple businesses online in the past 10 years to 6, 7, & 8 figures using SEO w/ an exit in 2019. Today, I teach SEO to millions through LinkedIn and my personal website. 

In this article, I’ll break down simple-to-understand answers on the future of SEO so that you (as a marketer, SEO, or entrepreneur) can benefit from SEO instead of being dominated by it. 

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• 5 Predictions About the Future of SEO
  • #1: AI & ChatGPT Will Enhance & Hurt SEO
  • #2: GrE-A-T Content Will Win the SERPs
  • #3: Mobile & Voice SEO Will Continue to Rise in Popularity
  • #4: The Best “System SEOs” Will Outlast the AI Rush
  • #5: Is SEO Dead? Absolutely Not. Will SEO Exist in 5 Years? Yes! Here’s Why
  • Actionable Steps to Tap Into the Future of SEO

5 Bold Predictions About the Future of SEO

In the next 5 to 10 years, SEO will undoubtedly change. 

It’s been that way for the past 20 years since Google was founded and search engines became a staple in all of our digital lives. 

This idea of “seo is dead” isn’t a new one either. 

It’s been said time and time again, but SEO continues to grow and live on. 

Why? 

Because people still have questions that they want answers to. 

That’s the core of SEO. 

Let’s dive into 5 predictions I have about where SEO will head next.  

#1: AI & ChatGPT Will Enhance AND Hurt SEO

I believe in looking at both sides of the argument. 

Some think AI is a godsend for SEO and others argue that it’s the worst thing that could happen to SEO. 

I see both sides and I take the pros and cons into account as I incorporate AI and ChatGPT into my SEO processes and strategy. 

Let’s break it down.

How AI Enhances SEO: 

• Speed up SEO processes that were manual before.
• Help marketers better understand their customer avatar. 
• Open marketers up to new ideas they didn’t have before. 
• New tools to make the research & optimization process better.  

How AI Hurts SEO: 

• Marketers relying solely on ChatGPT and AI writing tools.
• Massive influx of poor quality AI generated blog content.
• Race to the bottom w/ AI generated content. 
• Make marketers think they can do SEO w/out all of the other steps involved.

It ultimately comes down to HOW you USE AI for your SEO. 

If you try to abuse it, it will most likely come back to bite you. 

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If you intelligently build it into your current SEO processes and stay focused on high quality content targeted at the customer’s search intent, you should be in good shape. 

#2: GrE-A-T Content Will Win the SERPs

With that understanding under our belts, let’s talk a bit about what type of content will reign supreme in the next 5 to 10 years. 

It’s GrE-A-T content!

What is GrE-A-T Content? 

Here’s a spectrum to define it for you…

• Bad: Solely AI generated. No editing. No optimization. 
• Poor: Human written. No keyword research. Minimal optimization. 
• Good: Human written. Keyword research. Okay optimization. 

GrE-A-T: Human written. Displaying Experience, Expertise, Authority, & Trustworthiness. 

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust. 

It’s a measure that Google takes into account when rating content published on the Internet. 

When creating SEO content, you want to hit on E-E-A-T as much as possible.

Granted there may be adjustments to it over time, it all comes back to creating the best possible content for people searching on Google. 

That’s what will continue to win, no matter how AI impacts the process. 

#3: Mobile & Voice SEO Will Continue to Rise in Popularity

According to Exploding Topics, 56.8% of searches are performed on mobile. And that figure has doubled since 2015. 

Similarly, 50% of the US population uses voice search features daily (according to Oberlo).

As mobile phones and voice enabled devices become more popular in households worldwide, we’ll see increasing amounts of searches performed with them. 

AI and companies like ChatGPT contribute to mobile and voice search experiences enhancing the ability for new features to increase growth. 

As we approach SEO over the next 5 to 10 years, voice and mobile will rise in importance. 

#4: The Best “System SEOs” Will Outlast the AI Rush 

All content is NOT created equal. 

It’s the System SEOs that go above and beyond to create the highest quality content on the internet. 

What’s a “System SEO”? 

System SEOs = SEOs & marketers that are experts on the end-to-end SEO process and build systems and processes to support high quality at quantity. 

The end-to-end SEO process: 

• Competition research
• Keyword research & clustering
• Content planning & clustering
• Matching intent
• Drafting outlines from 1st page SERPs
• High quality human written content
• Content editing & optimization
• Quarterly upgrades
• Backlink building

AI tools can help SEOs & marketers in the entire pipeline. 

The craze right now is ONLY focused on one of the stages: Writing content. 

As AI tools progress and get stronger, they’ll bleed into all areas of the SEO pipeline. 

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The SEOs, marketers, and entrepreneurs that focus on building a high quality content creation system will be the ones that win in the short and long run. 

#5: Is SEO Dead? Absolutely Not. Will SEO Exist in 5 Years? Yes! Here’s Why

At its roots, SEO is all about your ideal customer avatar. 

Customer avatar = your ideal customer that you want to reach with your business. 

SEO is answering questions for your customers & providing them with answers to questions, pains, problems, and frustrations that they have. 

Yes, Google’s AI generated content will be able to answer questions to a certain extent, but millions of people will still seek deeper answers, content, services, and products. 

People will still see a brand on social media or in an advertisement and want to know more. 

Where will they go? Google and other search engines. 

The same goes for people wanting to learn about specific topics, concepts, ideas, etc. 

I argue this customer trend will continue to thrive in the next 5 to 10 years. 

Actionable Steps to Tap Into the Future of SEO

The future of SEO is exciting! (If you’re an SEO or marketer that believes in SEO).

With the power of AI, creating high quality content will become more and more efficient. 

Here’s 7 SEO tips to take action on today: 

1. Focus on your ideal customer – over everything else!
2. Test out the new AI tools
3. Learn the end-to-end SEO process
4. Optimize an SEO system w/ efficient processes
5. Design with mobile first in mind
6. Focus on 10/10 GrE-A-T content
7. Optimize often w/ intelligence

If you follow these in the next 5 to 10 years, you’ll be in great shape to adjust to the AI changes. 

Just remember: It’s all about the reader and customer. 

Conclusion on the Future of SEO

The future of SEO is upon us. 

In just the past 12 months, we’ve seen a tremendous amount of change to the industry. 

But that doesn’t mean SEO is dead. 

In fact, it may be more alive than ever. 

With ChatGPT and AI tools, SEO content can become even better than it was before. 

It’s a matter of combining SEO + AI + Humans to create the highest quality content on the Internet. 

Join that tribe and let’s make the future of SEO a bright one!

The post The Future of SEO: 5 Bold Predictions Based on 10 Years of SEO Experience appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Want to grow your business faster?…without paying crazy amounts on paid advertising?

Organic marketing is the answer. (Keep reading for my secrets).  

My name is Connor Gillivan. I’ve been an Entrepreneur for 12+ years scaling multiple businesses to 6, 7, and 8 figures w/ an exit in 2019. Today, I run marketing for my portfolio of 4 businesses. 

The majority of my success in business has been through organic marketing. 

In this article, I’ll share my top 7 organic marketing strategies.

1. SEO
2. Partnerships
3. Podcast interviews
4. Social media
5. Content marketing
6. CRO
7. Email marketing

By the end, you’ll have a headful of ideas to execute for growing your business. 

Let’s dive into it! 

My 7 Organic Marketing Strategies

In this section, I’ll define the 7 organic marketing strategies that I mentioned and give examples of each so that you can fully understand how they can help grow your business. 

1. SEO

SEO is the act of creating content on your website (pages & blog articles) that rank for specific keywords your ideal customer is searching for on Google and other search engines. 

For example, let’s say that you run an eCommerce business selling baby clothes. Your baby clothes are organic, custom-made, sourced from the US, and fashionable. 

With SEO, you’d want to rank for keywords like: 

• “Organic baby clothing”
• “Baby clothes made in the US”
• “Fashionable baby clothing” 

By investing in SEO, you can optimize your website, pages, and content with the goal of ranking on the 1st page of search results. 

This will drive traffic to your website where you can convert users into email subscribers and customers. 

2. Partnerships

Partnerships is a marketing strategy where you team up with other companies in your industry where you’re not competing with one another, but you’re targeting the same ideal customer profile (ICP). 

For example, one of my companies is AccountsBalance, a monthly bookkeeping service for agencies, service providers, & SAAS companies. 

We have a Partner Program where we partner with 100s of other digital service providers, softwares, tools, and influencers. 

To start, we add each other to our Partner pages (exchanging backlinks), we feature each other in our newsletters (brand awareness & lead generation), then we find other ways to send leads both ways on a quarterly basis.  

Relationship building turns into brand awareness, visitors to your website, referrals, leads, & customers. 

3. Podcast Interviews

Most people know podcasts for listening to them, but there’s another side to it that is extremely beneficial for organic marketing. 

When I say “podcast interviews”, I’m referring to the marketing practice of getting interviewed on podcasts within your industry where you can share your expertise, establish yourself as a thought leader, and attract new customers to your business. 

For example, my business partner, Nathan Hirsch, has been interviewed on 500+ podcasts in the past 5 years. We have a system where we research top podcasts in our niches where our ideal customers are reading then we reach out and pitch them to interview Nathan. He goes on the podcast & drives leads to our businesses. 

When you do this consistently for months, you create a lot of “buzz” around you and your business. 

That “buzz” turns into new website traffic, leads, and customers. 

4. Social Media

Yes, we all know what social media is, but there’s a specific way to do it for organic marketing that can drive lots of interested customers to your business. 

I encourage you to look at social media as a platform where you can establish yourself as a subject matter expert (SME), build a following, and turn followers into paying customers. 

Here’s an example. I own and run marketing for 4 businesses and I use LinkedIn as a social media channel to establish myself as an SEO expert & entrepreneur, which drives customers to our companies. 

My ideal customer spends time on LinkedIn. I build trust with them through my daily posts & teaching them the SEO & marketing methods that are working best for me. 

It takes time, consistency, a good process, and dedication, but social media is an amazing place to reach your ideal customer.

5. Content Marketing

Content marketing is the organic marketing practice of creating high value content that speaks directly to your ideal customer and pulls them into your email list so that you can continue “talking” to them. 

Here’s some examples of content marketing: 

• Infographics
• Ebooks
• Checklists
• White papers
• Webinars
• Free trainings

Content marketing helps to “pull” your ideal customer into your business so they know you’re an option as they look to solve different problems they have. 

6. CRO

CRO stands for conversion rate optimization.

CRO is the act of optimizing your website and all of its pages for converting as many website visitors as possible into email subscribers or paying customers. 

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Let’s look at an example. You figure out the first 5 organic marketing channels and you start driving 1,000s of visitors to your website every month. Congrats on that first of all! But does it really matter if none of those people convert into email subscribers or customers? 

That’s where CRO comes in. You dive into the design, content, and performance of each page on your website to see how you can convert more visitors into subscribers and customers. 

7. Email Marketing

Last, but certainly not least is email marketing. Email marketing is building an owned email list of people that are interested in your business, you, and the products/services that you offer. Then regularly communicating with those people through a newsletter and automated email campaigns to convert them into paying customers. 

It’s great to get people to sign up for your email list or newsletter, but if you’re not communicating with them, it’s worthless. You need an email marketing strategy where you’re communicating with them, getting to know them better, answering their questions, and building trust with them. 

For example, one of my companies, Outsource School, is focused on teaching business owners how to hire and scale their business with virtual assistants and freelancers from the Philippines. We run a weekly newsletter that provides free advice and strategies on outsourcing to 5,000+ potential customers. We build additional trust with them each week and over time many of them become members. 

How to Get Started (w/ Each) 

Now that you know the 7 organic marketing strategies that you can use to grow your business faster, let’s talk about some simple, actionable steps you can take to get them started. 

1. SEO

Ideas to get started: 

• Build a Blog page on your website. 
• Commit to writing & publishing 1 new blog each week. 
• Target 1 keyword with each blog. 
• Make your keywords what your ideal customer would search to find you. 
• Make all of your content high quality & value for your customer. 

2. Partnerships

Ideas to get started: 

• Open a new Google Sheet or Trello board.
• Make a Partner 100. Your top 100 ideal partners. 
• Find contact information for all 100. (Or have a VA do it) 
• Reach out to them on social media & email. 
• Work to build a relationship with them.
• Run content exchanges together. 

3. Podcast Interviews

Ideas to get started: 

• Similar to the Partner 100, make a Podcast 100. 
• Research 100 top podcasts where your ideal customer is listening. 
• List out your areas of expertise & value you could add to the podcast. 
• Reach out and pitch hosts to interview you. 
• Record the interview with the host. 
• Improve your interviewing skills as you practice. 

4. Social Media

Ideas to get started: 

• Choose 1 channel to start with. 
• If looking for B2B customers, use Twitter or LinkedIn. 
• If for B2C customers, Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook. 
• Post 1x per day
• Reply to comments that people leave. 
• Build a personal brand around your expertise. 

5. Content Marketing

Ideas to get started: 

• Brainstorm a list of 5 lead magnets your ideal customer would like. 
• Over 6-12 months, make the 5 lead magnets.
• Feature them on your site. 
• Post about them on your social media. 
• Ask your partners to share them.

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6. CRO

Ideas to get started: 

• Once you have website traffic, set up tracking with Google Analytics. 
• Measure how many visitors you’re converting to email subscribers. 
• Once you have a baseline, make a list of improvements you could make. 
• Implement them and repeat this every quarter. 

7. Email Marketing

Ideas to get started: 

• Choose an email marketing software to use: Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Constant Contact, etc. 
• Start a weekly newsletter that you send out. Same day, same time each week. 
• Build a content calendar and get ahead of the schedule. 
• Schedule newsletters and get feedback from your subscribers. 

Take Action

Organic marketing is a valid and proven way to drive potential customers to your website that you can then work to convert into paying customers. 

I’ve been using organic marketing strategies for scaling my businesses for the past 10 years and I continue to be a huge proponent of them today. 

You don’t need huge marketing budgets to grow your business. All you need is proven processes, consistency, and the drive to keep at it for months on end. 

TL;DR:

1. SEO

2. Partnerships

3. Podcast Interviews

4. Social Media

5. Content Marketing

6. CRO

7. Email Marketing

Sit down and plan out how you’ll get these started for your business.

Take 1 at a time, perfect a process for it, delegate, and then move onto adding another. 

By the end of 1-2 years, you’ll have a fully running organic marketing machine that is driving 1,000s of leads to your business every single month. 
Have question? Follow me on LinkedIn and DM me with questions!

The post 7 Organic Marketing Strategies to Scale Faster in 2023 appeared first on DigitalMarketer.