Ever hear anyone say “SEO is dead?”

It’s a popular thing to say in some online spaces. But, it couldn’t be more wrong.

Borrell Associates began tracking SEO spending data back in 2008. The $65 billion total for this year will more than triple their original prediction for 2016!

And guess who’s doing the spending?

It’s mostly small, local businesses like you. Their report says small and local businesses do more than 2/3 of the spending.

Borrell estimates this growth will continue, hitting $72.02 billion in 2018 and $79.27 billion by 2020.

How can they make such precise estimates? Who knows? They’ll probably be wrong. It wouldn’t be surprising to see search marketing spending increase even more than that. After all, they were off by more than 3 times their original projection for 2016.

Why Has SEO Spending Increased, and Why Will It Continue to Increase?

You don’t have to be a genius to figure it out. Increasingly, online is where consumers and business decision makers go to research purchase decisions. So, simple common sense tells you that you must be present online where people are looking.

We can’t say by how much it’ll increase. We also can’t say why or when. But, it’s just simply how people operate these days.

Ask yourself this: why would this trend NOT continue? Why would you personally stop searching online for what you need?

Take a look at another macro trend that practically guarantees SEO spending will continue to rise:

There are more than 80 million Millennials, which are considered to be born from 1980-1999. They have been raised with the internet and smartphones. Currently, they range from 17-36 years old.

Soon, they’re going to hold a lot more decision-making power at work, when they become executives. They’ll also gain a lot of spending and financial power. And since they’re the second largest population cohort, they have sheer numbers on their side.

In addition, Generation Z, which was born in 2000 or later, will soon be coming of age. And, they make up 25% of the population, or about another 80 million people. While some Millennials know a world without the internet, Generation Z does not.

Where do you think they’re going to go to buy and research their purchase decisions?

Unless We Hit Another Dark Age, SEO Will be a Sound Investment

From the years 500 – 1000 A.D., human civilization went into a “Dark Age.” Urban life, for whatever reason, virtually disappeared. There was little scientific innovation or intellectual or economic progress.

Short of anything bizarre like that happening, SEO’s going to remain a smart, high-ROI investment for SMBs for years to come. The real question will be how you decide to take advantage of it.