Every few months - whenever some change occurs to one of the major search engines (usually Google), a lot of people start blogging that "the end is nigh" for search engine optimization and SEO companies in general.  This has happened over algorithm changes in the past and more recently with personalization, localization and of course Google's new Universal Search.

Here's the reality - there are two ways to be found in a search engine (localized, personalized, universalized, or otherwized) - 1) luck or 2) optimization.  And no matter what anyone tells you, this ain't gonna change.

Lot's of people can be lucky with their web sites; but its not really luck, it's more like "accidental optimization".  More often than not, those sites that are doing well in the search engines without any explicit optimization are there because they did the correct things implicitly.  They were already associated with an authority site or two.  They had good content.  They had a clean design.  Lot's of people linked to them for what they said or who they are. So on and so forth.

But many companies... and I mean many - do not get it right the first time and need professional help (in many ways).   Most of the time - even the basics are wrong - architecture, design, content, etc.  So if it was tough before to get a decent ranking - do you think that these companies will find it easier with any of the new SERP "views" (e.g. Personalization)?

I would argue that Optimization is more important than ever!

All the changes currently under way are simply different ways to "slice and dice" the ever-increasing number of web pages in the various search engine databases to try and improve relevance to the individual searcher.  Who doesn't want that?  If we can help our clients make sure their pages are only being shown to a more qualified searcher, then this is good for them too!

Let's take a look at the various categories that have driven so many people to ring the death knell for SEO:

Localization: The important aspect for localization is to make sure that the search engine understands where your business is located and where your customers are based.  Most companies haven't really considered these aspects at all - yet there is a whole list of activities that can be done to help the search engines place your business in the right location - from specific changes to the content on the page to being listed in the correct local directories and in some cases, the physical location of your site.  This "optimization" will not happen for you - somebody has got to think it, implement it and manage it.

Personalization: This is all about relevance.  Is your site relevant to the person searching?  The search engines will begin to understand the relevance of sites based on previous habits of the searcher and of "like-minded" people.  So in order to make sure that your site is relevant, there are aspects that will need to be considered.  Your content of course, but most importantly to make sure that your site is categorized by the search engines into the correct "community".  This is done by your associations - who is linking to you, who you link to, how important are you within this group or groups, social media networks, etc - the hub and spoke model of relationships with a goal of becoming a micro-authority for your area of expertise.  This will be a BIG roll of the dice for many people if they get this "positioning" wrong.

Universal Search: Google is introducing a new approach to its search engine results pages (SERPS) that will combine different media - web pages, images, video, blogs etc - all on the same page with an eye on further improving relevance.  This means that of the coveted top 10 results on the first page, there could be less positions available for web pages - the rest of the rankings might be videos or photos (this will naturally depend on the keyword and how "media-rich" it is).   Getting a ranking for your keyword will not involve reaching out through other forms of media - a blog, your images, videos perhaps - whatever makes sense and all of it must be optimized and promoted in the right way. 

So my point is this - don't listen to all of the nay-sayers out there.. they just want you to buy some more ad space after all.  Search Engine Optimization is more important for your web site and your business than ever before - its just getting more complicated.