SEO, emails, funnels, all of everything...

It's all dead. 🙄

Every few years, a new shiny object comes along and digital marketers rush to the gold mines. After the space gets crowded and advertising becomes overpriced, they look for what’s next.

You’ll notice that most of the funnels SEO naysayers have a financial interest in paid ads. They’ll tell you that there’s too much content on the internet for yours to rank. They’ll tell you that SEO takes too long to get traction, so why bother?

Bet money I'll still be here doing dead, profitable, scalable, predictable SEO in a few years while you're starting over with the next shiny object.

For years, SEOs have been hearing that our industry is in a coffin. Search engine optimization seems to be dead every 6 weeks. But, far from dead...

SEO is more powerful than ever...

Search engine optimization critics would have you believe that SEO is fading into a paid ads-only model. But search engines stay afloat by serving people the credible information they want–not the ads they never asked for. The better they do it, the more they earn.

Besides that, if paid ads champions tell you that search engines are saturated, they should do a gut check. When the first banner ad ever ran in 1994, it had a 44% click-through rate. Today, Google Ads have an average click-through rate of 3.17%*. We’re inundated by so many ads that we’ve learned to ignore them. Banner blindness is real.

Saturation isn’t the only problem paid ads face.

They are also crippled by privacy concerns. The big Facebook data scandal of 2018 showed just how much Facebook knows about us, and the world pushed back. Facebook gave users more of the privacy that they wanted, but that meant less information to help advertisers target buyers.

Then Apple’s iOS 14 update made it so that app developers had to ask users permission to track their data. People opted out en masse, leaving even less data for advertisers. Google jumped into the fray by announcing that it would be banning third-party cookies on Chrome. With all of these changes, it’s harder than ever to get the laser-like targeting you need for cost effective ad campaigns.

Add to this the massive cash dump required to keep paid ads running, the fact that all gains disappear once you stop paying, the hassle of ad accounts getting canceled out of the blue, and the constant “analytics babysitting” required to maximize ROI. A paid ads-only solution is hardly the sunlit hope of the future.

The bottom line is that organic search still drives 53% of all web traffic, compared to just 15% for paid ads. If you know how to leverage search engine optimization for funnels, you can create a powerful flow of sustainable leads without constantly having to bleed money into ads.

How do you do it? Not the way they did SEO 20 years ago. If you don’t adapt, you too will be saying funnels SEO is dead. The trick is to use strategies that fit today’s search engine landscape.

Think people–not algorithms
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It used to be all about gaming the algorithms. You could stuff your content with keywords that didn’t enhance content. You could resort to all kinds of tricks to get more backlinks: create a fake website and link it back to yours, buy links from “link mills,” post comments in forums and link them to your site, etc.

Today’s Google is older and wiser, and it no longer plays these games. Its algorithms are fine-tuned to reward a positive user experience. The best search engine optimization for ClickFunnels focuses on what makes people want to stick around: easy navigation, quick load speed, high quality content, and backlinks from trustworthy sources. (In Google’s eyes, a couple of quality backlinks is better than 100 junky links.)

Educate–don’t sell

Platforms like Instagram used to be the go-to for discovery, and Google was for making purchases. Not anymore. More than ever, Google is the hub of discovery and learning. If you can create content that answers peoples’ questions, you can position yourself to convert.

Picture someone going to the internet to find out how to reduce face wrinkles. Your blog or video pops up in the search engine results, and it answers all of their questions. You haven’t tried to sell them something. You haven’t popped onto their screen like an unwanted ad interrupting their research. You’ve simply given them the information they wanted–when they wanted it. You now have a lead who: 1) needs your product and 2) wants to buy from you because they trust you.

Focus on buyer intent

We used to think in terms of keyword volume. What are people searching for most? Not only does Google no longer provide this data*, it’s not necessarily helpful. “Skinny ties” may be the leading search term for men’s accessories, but if you only sell regular ties or bowties, it won’t do any good to bring people in search of skinny ties to your site.

Spend your efforts researching the niche buyers who want exactly what you’re selling and choosing the keywords and content that will lead them to your site. In other words, don’t try to appeal to everyone; narrow your focus to attract the most qualified buyers.

✅ SEO isn't a cash-eater

✅ SEO doesn't stop the minute you turn it off, like ads

​✅ ClickFunnels SEO gives you assets that you keep: a well-optimized website, a library of content, brand recognition, and gains in traffic and leads that just keep building on themselves.