The latest article on http://searchengineland.com/seo-industry-worth-65-billion-will-ever-stop-growing-248559 surely paints a positive picture and an assured growth path for the SEO Industry and I surely cannot agree more about its optimistic future.

Call it by any name inbound marketing or by any other name organic search presence is here to stay as long as there are quality search engines on the world wide web. The main reason being that organic search presence results are considered to be more trust worthy than the paid results by the user.

As the image below indicates that most of the targeted traffic usually comes from the search engines.

The 4 factors mentioned against the growth of the SEO industry in the above mentioned article are also a blessing or a boon in disguise.

As I am a die hard optimist, especially when it comes to the growth of the search industry, I list my views regarding these 4 factors as follows:

Jayson Demers writes:

Factors against unlimited growth
And now, some of the reasons why SEO may face an eventual halt or decline:

• Competition and prohibitive costs. SEO spend rising means that more businesses are getting involved in SEO. That means more competition to deal with. For a while, this will be fine, but eventually the cost of entry will become prohibitive, and there will be a “tipping point” where the rise in spending tapers off.

My View:

The competition will surely increase and there can be an initial turbulence but, as SEO is an art and science that cannot be mastered in a day or for that matter by attending any training sessions alone, the experienced SEOs will surely be preferred. The experienced lot or the SEO companies who have seen the rise of this industry will surely demand their price contributing to the reputation of the SEO industry. There will be a stark demarcation of experienced SEOs who may charge a higher fee and the new entrants who may charge comparatively very low. But, sooner or later the website owners will see through this and the willingness to pay a higher amount will also increase. Search presence is a valuable digital asset for any company and the new entrants may not have the expertise of experienced SEOs and the price you pay by getting your site penalised by search engines is surely something no website owner will be willing to pay.

Jayson Demers writes:

• The Knowledge Graph and visibility decline. Thanks to the Knowledge Graph (and similar future technological developments), users are being given more immediate forms of answers, reducing their reliance on individual site visitations to find what they’re looking for. This could eventually start compromising the ROI of SEO, pushing people out of the game.

My View:

Instead of pushing people out of the game, the Knowledge Graph and other forms in search results is making SEOs focus more on quality metrics like search queries, landing pages location, time on site, new sessions, pages per session, bounce rate, etc. rather than only rankings as an ROI. As knowledge graph is earned as a result of quality web presence and popularity, SEO will be considered as a true platform for earned media and this will carve a niche for SEO services where website owners will ultimately develop the mindset of earning the search presence patiently over a period of time rather that ask for quick results. And believe me we are heading towards it.

Jayson Demers writes:

• Alternative search modes. Search is starting to evolve in some weird forms, including personal digital assistants, which marry online and device-specific search. These alternative modes of search are harder to predict and harder to “rank” for, since oftentimes they forgo a “ranking” process entirely.

My View :

As mentioned , it is still evolving and at a very initial stage. Moreover, this will take some time to emerge on the global scene.

Jayson Demers writes:

• RankBrain and decreasing rank predictability. Machine learning is already huge, and it’s only getting bigger. Technologies like RankBrain are starting to upgrade search systems in real time, with processes only AI programs can incorporate. That’s going to make it harder and harder to accurately assess ranking factors and respond accordingly.

My View:

The semantic web will be the future if RankBrain gets implemented extensively. This will not only increase the quality of the search results but also reduce the focus on the keyword rich content. This will shift the focus to more meaningful and correlated content related to the topic. Moreover, SEOs will have to work on adding content using schemas which presents content in form of a dataset rather than only text using simple HTML tags.This adds value to the SEO work, making the SEO work more technical. When you add value to your work, you can demand the price too.The current manipulation of meta tags and other on-page factors resulting to spam will surely show a decline. Hence, this will be a plus point for genuine SEOs rather than the other way round.

RankBrain the machine-learning artificial intelligence system is a software which is integrated into the algorithm to mathematically connect words and phrases. As Semantics add extra information to help the search engine with the meaning of the information, websites using Schemas will be able to get more correlated to the contextual content.

I am sure SEOs who have seen the industry grow since 2000 will agree to what Gabby Williams has to say :

"We make it look easy on the court... because we practice until we cannot get it wrong anymore." 

The phrase “growth hacker” was coined by Sean Ellis in 2010.  According to him, A growth hacker is not a replacement for a marketer. A growth hacker is not better than marketer. A growth hacker is just different than a marketer.

A growth hacker’s main goal is growth. With digital transformation being considered by businesses as a means to future proof their online presence, working on the ideal online strategy to sustain and grow the online presence is the main marketing activity for any business.

A hacker is a person who is more concerned with achieving an objective than following a prescribed process or methodology. In other words, hackers focus more on what needs to  be achieved rather  than how it should  be acheived.  Hackers have to be innovative and need to take risks by trying out what seems to be right.

Growth hackers utilize analytical thinking, product engineering and creativity to significantly increase their company’s core metric(s). As Sean Ellis said, A growth hacker is just a different marketer, the difference is not in the goal (which is more business and branding) but the difference is in the tools and the tackles and the media the growth hacker uses to achieve this goal. Moreover, it is more about the mindset rather than the tools. Furthermore, growth hacking is not a new practice, just a new term. Every SEO has always worked on improving the search presence and improve the overall web presence by applying knowledge and creativity . Every SEO has also been using analytics to work on every next strategy to forge ahead.

Hence, every SEO is a growth hacker but growth hacking is not only SEO. Growth hacking is not only about optimizing the search presence but optimizing every online presence to achieve the goal of increasing no. of users and making content viral.

According to @andrewchen :

Growth hackers are a hybrid of marketer and coder, one who looks at the traditional question of “How do I get customers for my product?” and answers with A/B tests, landing pages, viral factor, email deliverability, and Open Graph. On top of this, they layer the discipline of direct marketing, with its emphasis on quantitative measurement, scenario modeling via spreadsheets, and a lot of database queries. If a startup is pre-product/market fit, growth hackers can make sure virality is embedded at the core of a product.

(Image Source: http://www.donckers.co/startup-marketing-a-guide-to-growth-hacking)

Jim Young, co-founder of Hot or Not and founder of Perceptual Networks, says,

“Growth hackers view the whole business, from the top to the bottom, as an experiment. They need to be able to tinker with everything.” From outbound messaging to user experience, a top to street-level understanding of the business is critical for a growth hacker to be successful.

The main goal of marketing has always been more customers and how to find them and reach out to them.

Growth hacking is all about creating a good online presence and understanding the user behaviour and then try to reach out to the maximum no. of users via various platforms available online or offline. There is no formula or a prescribed path to achieve the goal. Every business needs to work out an individual strategy and chalk out the path for the growth hacking journey differently. It is not a onetime activity but an ongoing process.

Every growth hack strategy creates earned and  owned digital assets, in the form of websites, social media accounts, blogs, email lists, online authority, thought leadership in the form of discussions and comments made via a valid company id, etc. Hence, money spent on growth hacking is more of an investment  rather than an expenditure.

Largely, the following steps are a guideline for the whole growth hacking process:

• Generate ideas and work on a strategy.
• Organize and prioritize
• Test
• Analyse
• Optimize
• Rinse & repeat

Hence, a growth hacker needs to be creative, curious and also know how to work on data. It is not a completely marketing profile but a person who has a flair for marketing and also can manage technical stuff in the form of understating how websites work and how the internet works.  Jesse Farmer says, “Good growth hackers have a deep understanding and curiosity of the how internet works. A good growth hacker will read Nudge and Predictably Irrationality and see possible growth hacks.” Jim Young, co-founder of Hot or Not and founder of Perceptual Networks says, Growth hackers are just “geeks who are human”.

Technology has always had a great impact on business and society. But, in recent years the speed at which technological evolution is taking place and accelerating needs a transformation of the mindset. The impact  is not only evident at the industry level but also the way the users and customers are interacting with businesses.

Creating the conditions to be ready for rapid evolutions and ideally pro-adapt and take the lead, changing the status quo, is part of business transformation.

Any change causes disruption and disruption may initially cause a hype or some kind of danger. This may lead to mistakes, blunders or losses initially but the lessons learnt at the end are surely going to future proof the business. Adapting to technology and going digital is the way to the future.No one can deny that.

If buyers want to buy online and want the product to be delivered at their place, then every business owner needs to have an online presence. Either the online presence is on an already existing online marketplace like Amazon, Flipkart, etc.  Or it is on the company website depends on the initial investment the business owner wants to make.

Digital Transformation refers to changes that take place in an organization when digital technology is embraced by the business. According to MIT Center for Digital Business and Capgemini Consulting - Digital transformation (DT) is the use of technology to radically improve performance or reach of enterprises .

Major digital transformation initiatives are centered on re-envisioning customer experience, operational processes and business models. Companies are changing how functions work, redefining how functions interact, and even evolving the boundaries of the firm.  Successful DT does not happen bottom up. It must be driven from the top.

Digital affects and can reshape every aspect of a modern enterprise.

 As it is very clear in the image above, digital has an overall impact on  decision Making, Connectivity, Automation and Innovation.

DT is not only about changes in the functions and procedures of business but a transformation of a mindset and culture of the organization. Hence undoubtedly, digital transformation requires strong leadership to drive change.  To bring about any change a strategy is needed and priorities have to be set. If a step by step approach is not taken then the disruption caused can topple the existing setup and create a turbulence leading to chaos.

­­How To Rethink and Realign For DT:       

 Step by Step Approach to DT:

• DT has to take place at the thought level first by designing new experiences and business functions
• Ensuring that the digital culture seeps in the DNA of the existing culture
• Use data to take vital decisions and move from gut to data.
• Check the digital maturity by co-creating and co-innovating with new partners.
• The leader needs to educate, plan, assess and support the team to attain digital transformation and digital maturity.
• Don’t be in a hurry to calculate the ROI.

Digital Transformation is not a onetime update. DT will constantly call for change as the technology keeps on getting updated and the user needs to keep pace with it.

Break through the inevitable barriers, increasing your company’s odds of achieving a successful digital transformation by finding your digital sweet spot.