Someone who graduated from marketing in 2001 probably aspired to work for a massive company in a trendy downtown office. Today, marketing grads aspire to work from home in their pyjamas.
And the funny part is, most companies today would rather hire the pyjama guy to do their SEO. We have seen a major shift away from the traditional agencies and more towards specialized consultants.
Ironically enough, Google has been a driving force behind this. The mega-company that so many people assume is a business-killing behemoth has actually changed their search algorithm so that a small business can rank with a huge competitor, and a single consultant can provide better results than a 30-person agency.
The ‘Content Factory’ Model No Longer Works
A few years ago, SEO was far more straightforward and it was easier to buy SEO results. A company could conceivably rank on the front page by hiring a big agency to simply write 100 blog articles about anything, stuff in as many keywords as possible, and link to a bunch of low-quality sites.
“SEO is no longer an arcade game. You can no longer just keep dumping money into it until you win,” said Paul Teitelman, owner of Paul Teitelman SEO Consulting in Toronto.
“You can’t fool Google anymore. And trying to do so will likely get you in a lot of trouble.”
SEO campaigns now require individual attention and specialized talents to create unique content and earn quality links.
The Big Brain Drain
Big agencies are now having trouble recruiting top talent, while having even more trouble retaining it.
Older Baby Boomer and Generation X employees may have been drawn to bigger agencies by the promise of more money and more prestige. However, both the Millennial generation and Generation Y have put a much higher value on:
⦁ Safety
⦁ Belonging
⦁ Mattering
If you read the unhappy Glassdoor reviews from big agencies, the odds are very good that the write-ups point to a lack of any of those 3 things. The younger generation now sees a greater potential to feel connected to their work and make a big difference working for a smaller boutique agency.
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