To the chagrin of many SEOs, Google Instant was released two weeks ago resulting in one of the most blatant attacks on SEO to date.

This monumental change makes search results meaningless, rank not matter, the longtail disappear and flips the industry on its head.

In short, SEO is dead.

Or is it?

If you’ve been active in SEO for any period of time, you’ve heard death calls like these before. If not, this post might put your fretful mind at ease. After all, it’s not first time (or last time) the death of SEO has been predicted.

So here’s an abridged history of the life and many deaths of search-engine optimization.

1997

Event: The phrase “search-engine optimization” is born. Long live this exciting new form of marketing!

November 2003

Event: Google’s Florida Update: One of the most significant algo changes to date that resulted in sweeping adjustments to keyword rankings and “deindexation” of web pages. If there ever was an appropriate time to proclaim the death of SEO, this would have been it.

2004 – 2006

Event: No major algo changes listed here. But chatter of SEO’s eventual demise is a hot topic among popular marketing blogs and webmaster forums during this time period. Here are just a few examples: Is Organic SEO Dead?, SEO is Dead!, SEO is dead, and finally Dave Pasternack SEO Predications in 2005.

2007

Event: Webmasters’ notice Google has begun devaluing certain links. SEOBuzzBox.com says that while SEO is not a full-on corpse yet, search-engine optimization is definitely dieing fast.

November 2008

Event: In anticipation of the upcoming release of Universal Search—where images and video are integrated within natural search results–SEO pioneer Bruce Clay claims “Ranking is Dead.”

January 2010

Event: Google Caffeine Update is released. This enhancement changes Google’s indexation of the web and stresses the importance of site speed for the webmasters. During this period author of the New York Time’s Best Seller Crush It, Gary Vaynerchuck, says SEO is dead and a waste of time.

May 2010:

Event: Google’s MayDay update is released. Webmaster’s report a drop in long-tail traffic. The event marks the death of SEO and the longtail as we know it.

September 2010:

Event: The user-experience update Google Instant is released. SEO oracle Dave Naylor Tweets “google instant : death of the short tail query” and digital though-leader Steve Rubel blogs “(Google Instant) what they really did was kill SEO.”

I hope this post puts a few minds at ease with regard to Google Instant.

As you continue your journey in online marketing you’ll hear more prophesies telling of the end of SEO or internet marketing. Many will do it just for attention or link bait.

Don’t be fearful of these messages. As long as people continue to use search engines, SEO will remain relevant.

And as long as there are people spending money, you can bet there will be good money to be made figuring out how to market them.

Philip Nikolayev is a brilliant man.

He’s a Harvard grad. Published four books. Oh yeah, he owns a search-marketing firm Search Benefit SEO Consultancy as well.

In this QA Nikolayev shares his thoughts on the best way to build a search-marketing business, how he built a client list, and why you shouldn’t sweat the small stuff when it comes to managing SEO campaigns.

Hi Philip. Tell us a little about your background and how someone with a PHD from Harvard got interested in SEO.

Hi, Brett. I have two degrees from Harvard, but my PhD is actually from Boston University. I was in a PhD program at Harvard and completed my qualifying exams, but then decided, for complicated situational reasons, to switch careers.

The short version is that my wife and I had a child and I needed money urgently and took a job in high tech, first as a software engineer in a software company that developed complex applications for the Web. That’s where I first found SEO (as it was 10 years ago, you know). Many things have changed a great deal since then, including SEO itself.

I did get a PhD at BU in the meantime, which, by the way, is in scholarly editing and has little to do with anything tech or Web related, except that it contributes without a doubt to my qualifications as a content expert. Believe it or not, I have a whole other life that is completely unrelated to SEO, in which I have published many literary works, including four books. Go figure!

Tell us about your business: Search Benefit.

Search Benefit is brand new. I was VP of marketing in another high tech firm, doing chiefly SEO and SEM and other “e-marketing” stuff, but went solo earlier this year and launched this startup just half a year ago. At first it was a struggle to set things up, but we quickly reached a certain critical mass, and now we are profitable and growing fast. This keeps us insanely busy. Most of our clients are currently in the US, although we are also eminently equipped to take on clients in the UK as well.

Many SEO entrepreneurs struggle to find a client list in the early stages of their business. In your own business, what strategy seems to work best for you to drum up more business? (ie PPC marketing, referrals, cold calling, etc.)

I was lucky to to get a couple of great clients right away, and they tided us over. Word of mouth and online reputation seem to be the chief sources of our leads. I also have a sales person who works on commission. We now have the proper infrastructure to grow, so I will soon be running AdWords to get more leads. What is constantly on my mind though is designing ways of scaling up while maintaining uncompromised quality. SEO is all about individual attention, it should not turn into a cookie-cutter.

How do you determine how much to charge an SEO client?

In depends on your niche(s), you have to know your market segment(s) and build services of various levels according to budget variations. And experiment vigorously with pricing. Marketing and sales are all about data collection and analysis. Then we factor in how much I want this or that job.

Do you think having a PHD gives you additional credibility when meeting with potential clients?

I have not yet split-tested my PhD.

What’s the one piece of advice you would give an SEO that’s considering starting their own business?

Put all the production components in place and run it as a side business first, keep your day job until you make this side business profitable up to a level that is comparable to your income from employment. (This is not how I did it, but this is the right way.)

Be patient, make sure all the components work well together and there’s a replicable way of doing things.

First and foremost, have a well-tested model for link development, otherwise don’t start the business.

Links, the ability to get them and to get them to work, are truly what sets an SEO apart. Cheap SEOs are those that provide low level links that not work, and you are only as good as your link marketing powers.

What SEO strategy do you recommend?

Don’t waste your time on trivial SEO measures. Don’t sit around for days tweaking your italics and putting keywords in your h2 tags, focus on impactful SEO methods.

Identify information deficits, fill them with top-notch link bait, and get your title tags right, structure your content and pursue various anchor text according to a well-researched keyword strategy.

Doubt you can build your own business empire?

Felix Dennis, infamous in the United Kingdom, but best known as founder of the iconic men’s magazine Maxim knows you can.

But you won’t stand a chance if you’re unwilling to put in the sweat equity to make it happen, adapt to change, or listen to the alarm of fear that sound out against you.

I came across this video the other day and thought that–aside from being extremely entertaining–it revealed some honest lessons about staying motivated, kicking your personal fears to the curb and getting things done when it comes to building your own business.

In the video Dennis explains how you can become very wealthy indeed if you possess the following attributes and stick with it:

- Absolute Believe in Yourself
- Padlock Fear of Failure
- Clear Understanding of What You’re Trying To Do, Goals
- Be Prepared to Change if Something Isn’t Working

I encourage you to sit back and focus (distraction free) on the lessons in this video. Enjoy.

In the wacky world of search-engine optimization there’s no shortage of free tools: Each one competing for your time, attention, and ideally a recommendation that will help expand its audience.

While most of the SEO tools are nothing more than a rehash of an existing gadget–every once and awhile I’m pleasantly surprised.

The following are the 6 free SEO tools that have stood the test of time for me. You probably already use a couple of these. But if not, I strongly recommend adding them to your arsenal.

So here we go.

6 Free SEO Tools You Should Be Using

The Tool: Xenu Link Sleuth

Where to Get It: http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html

Why You Need This: As long as you don’t mind a little Scientology bashing–You’ll see what I mean when you install the tool–Xenu Link Sleuth is pretty awesome.

Xenu became popular as a really easy way to find broken links on your website. But I also use it as a way to scan the title tags of a large website all at once. This helps me identify whether or not the website is taking advantage of their title tags and discover quickly if there’s a duplicate title problem.

The Tool: SEOQuake

Where to Get It: http://www.seoquake.com/

Why You Need This: I bet most of you use this plugin already. If not, download it now and you’ll get to know why I use it so much.

SEOQuake makes it super easy to identify a ton of SEO ranking factors all at once: PageRank, Inbound Links, External Links, Keyword Density, Robots.txt, Number of Indexed pages, and an aggregate of other fun info.

Just listen to my robotic sounding friend Tyler in the video below to get a run down of all the benefits.

The Tool: SEOMoz Crawl Test

Where to Get It: http://www.seomoz.org/tools

Why You Need This: The SEOMoz Crawl Test is free to use once a day if you don’t have a Pro membership. I use this tool all the time to get a very fast idea of how many pages of a website are indexed by both major search engines (Google, Yahoo/Bing) and what the on-page SEO elements look like.

The only downfall of this product is that there is no downloadable Excel spreadsheet option which would be very helpful reporting to generate for clients. I hope this functionality will be added in future tool updates.

The Tool: Quix – “Bookmarklets on Steroids”

Where to Get It: http://quixapp.com/

Why You Need This: Here’s a tool I suspect a few of you haven’t heard of yet. It’s called Quix and it’s a tool that has a lot of flexibility to provide helpfulness outside the realm of search-engine optimization.

The nice thing about Quix is that its not really a plugin at all. All you’ve got to do is drag the Quix app up to your bookmark’s toolbar and viola, you’re harnessing the power of bookmarklets.

If you’re weird like me and prefer typing instructions into a command line DOS style, Quix is the way to go. As soon as you get the app uploaded, try typing “seothis” into the command box. I think you’ll be surprised/happy with all the data that instantly pops up.

For a more comprehensive list of Quix commands and uses, go here.

The Tool: XML Sitemaps Generator

Where to Get It: http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/

Why You Need This: Adding an XML sitemap to a website is one of those standard, best-practice things that every SEO service delivers. This tool will create a free XML (or HTML) sitemap for up to 500 pages with just a few clicks. If you’re working on a larger site, there’s an unlimited sitemap generator available for $19.99.

The Tool Belt Site: Swiss Army Knife of SEO Tool Websites

Where to Get It: http://www.webconfs.com/, http://network-tools.com/, http://www.seobench.com/

Why You Need This: I call these websites the Swiss Army Knife of SEO tool sites because they try to be everything to everyone. You can find some hidden gems in sites like these and they really do have some useful stuff, but for me, they’re not organized for simple use.

Still, it’s a good idea to be aware of the type of tools these free sites deliver since I’ve seen a number of subscription model websites that ask you to pay for a program that can be found here for free here.

That’s all I’ve got for ya. Hopefully you’ve found at least one tool that’s both new and helpful. But what I’d really like to know is, what free SEO tools do you recommend? Leave suggestions in the comments.