--- title: "SEO services: dead or alive?" url: "https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/seo-services-dead-or-alive/" canonical_url: "https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/seo-services-dead-or-alive/" markdown_url: "https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/seo-services-dead-or-alive/index.md" language: "en-AU" last_updated: "2026-09-08" type: "article" summary: "Promising a first-page ranking for a chosen keyword is dead. SEO as a professional service is very much alive. The difference matters when you hire someone." --- # SEO services: dead or alive? Source: https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/seo-services-dead-or-alive/ **SEO · 22 February 2016 · 1 min read** ## SEO services: dead or alive? ![A turquoise typewriter on a white desk](https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/img/typewriter-writing-seo-content-1000.webp) **In short** Promising a first-page ranking for a chosen keyword is dead, and anyone still selling it should be avoided. SEO as a service is alive: a technically sound site, content that answers real questions and links from places that matter still decide who ranks. Hire for the work, not for the promise. The way the web works keeps changing. At the agency where I used to work, which sold SEO services and still does, clients regularly asked to rank for a specific keyword. Fair enough. Delivering it organically is close to impossible, as Ryan Stewart explains in [Why I stopped selling SEO services](https://moz.com/blog/why-i-stopped-selling-seo-services-and-you-should-too) on the Moz blog. Ryan suggests giving up on paid SEO services altogether. I beg to differ, slightly. SEO is a professional service and will remain one for as long as search engines exist. A website has to be technically sound to stand any chance of ranking, and that work does not do itself. What is dead is the old definition: optimising a site for a handful of keyword targets so it appears on the first page of Google. Nobody honest can promise that. What lives on is the work that earns rankings as a by-product: a fast, well-structured site, content that answers real questions, and links from places that matter. I go through [the three factors that decide most rankings](https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/decisive-factors-search-engine-optimization/) in a separate post. [Talk to me](https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/contact/) about getting that working for you. ## Questions people ask ### Can anyone guarantee a first-page Google ranking? No. Rankings are decided by Google’s algorithm, not by the person you hire, and anyone guaranteeing a position is either guessing or planning to cut corners that will cost you later. ## Sources 1. [Why I stopped selling SEO services and you should, too](https://moz.com/blog/why-i-stopped-selling-seo-services-and-you-should-too), Moz ![Philipp Enders, digital producer](https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/img/philipp-enders-digital-producer-manly-303.webp) **Philipp Enders**, Digital producer. Google Ads and Google Analytics qualified, certified Google Partner. Digital Freelancer since 2011 in Manly, founder of Tiki-Taka Media in Hamburg (2020) and of pmax, a Google Ads agency in Mallorca. Fifteen years of running search campaigns for small businesses on three coasts. Published 22 February 2016, updated 8 September 2026. [About me](https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/about/) · [Contact](https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/contact/) **Need a hand with this?** I do this for a living, for small businesses on the Northern Beaches and beyond. The first conversation is free. [Talk to me](https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/contact/) ## Related reading 8 September 2026 ## [Is AI recommending your business? How to check and fix it](https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/is-ai-recommending-your-business/) How to check whether ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI answers recommend your business, by hand or with a tracking tool, and what to fix when they do not. 14 June 2022 ## [Digital marketing consulting, now from Hamburg too](https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/digital-marketing-consulting/) In 2020 I founded Tiki-Taka Media, a performance marketing agency in Hamburg. What that means for Digital Freelancer and clients on either side of the world. 12 July 2016 ## [The decisive factors of search engine optimisation](https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/decisive-factors-search-engine-optimization/) There are hundreds of SEO tips out there. Which ones actually move a website up the results? Content quality, on-page structure and links, in that order. ## Let’s talk about your next digital project No obligation, no jargon, and it costs nothing. Tell me what you need or what is not working and I will tell you what I would do. Philipp Enders · [philipp@digitalfreelancer.net.au](mailto:philipp@digitalfreelancer.net.au) · [+49 40 2286 3441](tel:+494022863441) · [WhatsApp](https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=494022863441) [Request a free quote](https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/contact/) [Explore projects](https://digitalfreelancer.net.au/projects/)