> SEO will be replaced by cold hard cash, favors, and backroom deals
Maybe this reflects my biases, but isn't that was SEO has been from the get go? Like, from the moment someone had the idea that they could influence search engine results in their favor and charge money for those services, SEO has been purely negative for internet users simply trying to find the most fitting results for their query.
Well, there's SEO and then there's SEO. Some of it is just common-sense stuff to aid search engines a bit, and that benefits everyone. And then there's SEO which is all the bullshittery you're referring to.
For well over a decade the best SEO trick is to write helpful useful content.
Your small independent blog can become a top Google hit without too much effort. This is kind of neat.
Maybe this reflects my biases, but isn't that was SEO has been from the get go? Like, from the moment someone had the idea that they could influence search engine results in their favor and charge money for those services, SEO has been purely negative for internet users simply trying to find the most fitting results for their query.