Is Organic SEO Really Organic : The Unconventional Guide to Search Engine Optimization

First things first, Wikipedia defines organic search as “search results through unpaid search engine listings, rather than through paid advertisements”, the key word here being “unpaid”. In a much broader sense, organic refers to “something which is naturally grown under normal conditions and circumstances without being aided by any external agents or stimuli”.

But how many of the organic search results we see on any given search engine are actually organic?

Having read a lot of articles about search engine optimization vs search engine marketing (aka. paid listings) and people stating that free search engine optimization is better than paid search engine marketing, it buzzed me if search engine optimization really is free. I tried thinking about the last organization I knew which did not have a huge amount set aside for search engine optimization in their marketing budget, to organically list them on the first page of search engines (for some, even the first page was not enough, they have to be the first listing). I thought hard and researched even harder, but failed to find an organization which was actually dependent on the real organic optimization. They all were too dependent on some cheats, on the page and off the page, to get their listing as high as possible.

With the emergence of a gazillion marketing agencies which claim to get you amongst the top rankings in search engines through various hacks, we have forgotten what the visitor on the website really wants. When a visitor searches for anything, they have a set objective in mind, whether it is to gain information about a particular topic, buy a particular item, or anything else. Businesses out there want to tap into this want of the visitor to generate revenue. And anyone can attest that the number of visitors on your website is not a direct measure of revenue, but the number of satisfied visitors is. Then isn’t relevant content the biggest search engine optimization technique you can have.

In the age of search engines changing algorithms with every update, and you having to feed agencies to please the search engine, doesn’t it make sense to please the search engine itself and save money and time in the process? The so called “organic” search engine optimization would take a few weeks/months to get you listed on the top and then a continuous investment to keep you there. Why not just buy the relevant keyword and be positive of a listing on the first page and amongst the top listings, that too in an instant and at the fraction of the cost? You can always spend the savings on actually making the content relevant to the visitor, thus increasing conversions (and I am sure you would still save in the process).

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Ethical Marketing : With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

I received a text message today that read;

“Enjoy FULL BODY MASSAGE By High Class Hot Pretty Girls @ Rs-999/- at Newly Opened AY****YA SPA, SEC-18, NOIDA, for Appointment Call-0120-45***16/981****011/611”

Yes, you read that correct. I starred out the name and contact numbers intentionally to not provide publicity to the establishment.

Objectification of women and unethical marketing are phenomenon we all are aware of, but this steps even that line and goes into the pure shameless and unacceptable territory. Is this what we have come down to? Does this look like an advertisement for a spa to anyone?

Marketing needs to remain positive and optimistic. If you need to target basic human tendencies of fear, greed or lust to advertise and sell rather than the product/service and its virtues, you are not doing a very good job. Yes, these cheats tend to work every now and then, but the negative image you create for your brand is going to stick for long. And this may ultimately be harmful in the long run.

Marketing industry has evolved a lot in the past few years and today we accept what may have been unacceptable some time ago. This is because the society as a whole has opened up, and it’s a good thing. But where does this end?

Objectification of women has been happening since long and has significantly gained traction since the 1980’s. Scantily clad, suggestively portrayed women sell every different type of product on television, in magazines, and on personal computer screens in increasing numbers. This has increased exponentially since the advent of bulk e-mails/messages and social media. Depression, appearance anxiety, body shame, sexual dysfunction, and eating disorders are only a few among the growing list of repercussions of this.

Our role as marketers is to promote our product/service in a way that is ethical and highlights the positives of the product. We have a moral responsibility to the general public, who as receivers are tend to be influenced by what we share. Marketers today have great influencing power in the form of tools and media at their disposal, and as Benjamin Parker from Spiderman once said “With great power comes great responsibility.”

The journey from Windows Mobile to Windows Mobile

Let’s have a very honest beginning. I have been an ardent supporter/fan of Windows Mobile Standard/Professional/Phone/10 Mobile/whatever they used to or will it call next. It all started when I bought my first smartphone, the HP iPAQ Voice Messenger and followed it with an Asus P527. Running on Windows Mobile 6 (and 6.1 later), these were not mere phones, they were the true definition of Smartphones, or PDA’s as people called them those days. People all around were using feature phones and using the plastic stylus on the resistive touch screen on my P527 made me feel elite.

Along came the IPhone and Android and ruined it for me. It was getting ever so difficult to stick to Windows Mobile, people were now using fingers to use their phone (they could use a touch screen phone with just one hand, that was so freaking amazing) and the charm of Windows Mobile was diminishing be the day. I, like many out there, prayed day and night that Microsoft updates its offering and comes out with something at least on par, if not above the said rivals. But alas, some dreams take too much time to materialise, and when they do, the moment has gone.

I too jumped ship (too much honesty, eh) and got a HTC Wildfire (primarily because affording an IPhone was too difficult for a college student). I had always admired the attention to details, beautiful designs and superb build qualities that HTC was (and is, look at HTC’s One M8 and M9 guys) famous for, and had always wanted to own one. I was impressed with android, but more so with HTC Sense. But in the back of my head still hoped that Microsoft one day comes up with something that can finally compete.

Well, better late than never, and Microsoft launched Windows Phone. The dream had been realised and I got a Nokia Lumia 510 as soon as I could. Now, we here in India have always had this affinity towards Nokia, their phones were as strong as bricks, had battery life of days, and could actually be used as an alternate to Kevlar (I’m not joking, there’s news where Nokias have saved lives by stopping bullets). The Lumia 510 was all of that, and had the new Windows Phone operating system. As soon as Microsoft started rolling out Windows Phone 8, I knew I had to upgrade and got a Nokia Lumia 520. By the time I finished college, I was using a Nokia Lumia 630 with Windows Phone 8.1 (my honesty kicks in again, I was also using various Android smartphones during the same time as secondary, and sometimes primary devices).

Yes the market share was low, yes some applications were and are not available on the platform (I will hardly ever use Snapchat anyway, even WhatsApp is an overkill for me), and yes Microsoft had scrapped the old and started from scratch not once but twice, but the platform always fascinated me, and it still does. Having used various Android devices ranging from offerings by HTC, Samsung, LG and Motorola, I can safely say that none of them feel the same after a few months of use and tend to slow down to a level where they are practically unusable (Motorola’s Moto G series was the best at resisting this as per me). No Windows Phone/Mobile has ever given me that headache. Again, I have no comments on IPhone because I still cannot afford one, sorry!

Having used so many low to mid end devices, I really wanted a flagship now, and that was to be the absolutely gorgeous Nokia Lumia 1520. Though the phablet may look like a tad bit too large to some, I’m a bit of a considerable size myself and it felt made for me. I ordered one online (thank you Flipkart) as soon as I joined a job and could afford one (It was still retailing at 40K after a year of launch). It came loaded with Windows Phone 8.1 and felt very familiar, although stunning and fast in every way. The beautiful screen and the amazing camera on the phone are still the envy of my friends, and yes, they use IPhones too.

I have also been a Windows Insider since the program started, and had loaded the PC Builds on the spare Lenovo laptop my college provided. I tried the Windows Mobile Insider Builds on my old Lumia 630 until I found one to finally flash my daily driver with. That was to be the Build 10581 and subsequently 10586.11 (which many consider to be the RTM Build). The experience of using Windows 10 Mobile on the Nokia Lumia 1520 is an absolute delight, and hence kept aside for a separate post soon (hopefully after flashing the next, and maybe final, build).

Windows 10 Mobile’s final (or first of many) build seems to be just around the corner and I am super exited. When I learned about the Microsoft Lumia 950XL, I felt like I had finally found a successor worthy of an upgrade from my Lumia 1520, especially considering the fact that Windows Hello and Continuum would not be available on the Lumia 1520 as they require new hardware. As I was making the decision to purchase it, I stumbled across rumours of a Surface Phone. That’s when I decided to not go in for a purchase right now and wait till next year. The rumoured Surface Phone has amazing specifications (rumoured again), but if true, it would most definitely be my next phone. Keeping fingers crossed.

Clash of the Tablet Titans : Microsoft Surface Pro 3 vs Apple iPad Pro

A cartoon supposedly from 2012 caught my fancy while surfing the internet. Though not very appropriate, it shows a side of the technology industry we all know and choose to ignore. Having said that, it's time to get down and dirty now.

One is a full-fledged work machine while the other is a fully blown candy crush machine. One is a laptop wearing a tablet’s cloths, while the other is a tablet that want’s to evolve and be something more. Do I sound biased? Please let me elaborate.

Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 is essentially a laptop replacement machine, packing high end processors, RAM and storage enabling it to run legacy x86 software, all complemented by a full blown Windows 10 pro operating system to cater to all your productivity and entertainment needs. On the other hand, the iPad Pro packs an ARM based processor designed to run mobile applications. It comes loaded with iOS 9, the latest “mobile” operating system from Apple. No matter how beautiful mobile applications are, they are no match for a full featured desktop application, and that is the biggest differentiator between the Surface Pro 3 and the iPad Pro. For a device aimed at the enterprise market, that’s a huge let down.

Side by side comparison of specifications;

	Microsoft Surface Pro 3	Apple iPad Pro
Screen Size	12”	12.9”
Display Resolution	2160 x 1440	2732 x 2048
Dimensions	11.5” x 7.93” x 0.36”	12” x 8.68” x 0.27”
Weight	800 grams	713 grams (WiFi Only) 723 grams (WiFi + Cellular)
Battery Life	Upto 9 hours	Upto 10 hours (WiFi Only) Upto 9 hours (WiFi + Cellular)
Storage	64 GB/128 GB/256 GB/512 GB	32 GB/128 GB
RAM	4 GB/8 GB	4 GB (rumoured)
Processor	Intel Core i3/i5/i7	A9X with M9 Motion Processor
WiFi	802.11a/b/g/n/ac	802.11a/b/g/n/ac with MIMO
Bluetooth	4.0 with Low Energy technology	4.2
Location	Digital Compass	Assisted GPS with GLONASS Digital Compass
Ports	Full-size USB 3.0 microSD card reader Headset jack Mini DisplayPort Cover port Charging port	Lightning Connector Smart Connector Headphone Jack
Operating System	Windows 10 pro	iOS 9
Camera	5 MP/5 MP	8 MP/1.2 MP
Microphones and Speakers	Stereo Microphones Stereo Speakers	Dual Microphones Stereo Speakers
Sensors	Ambient light sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer	Touch ID Three-axis gyro Accelerometer Barometer Ambient light sensor
Kickstand Positions	Multiple (built in)	Single (with keyboard accessory)
Accessories	Surface Pen (bundled) Surface Keyboard ($130)	Apple Pencil ($99) Apple Keyboard ($169)
Price	$799 - $1799	$799 - $1079

Yes, the iPad Pro offers a better camera, better resolution, cellular data, more sensors, etc. But we are talking about and comparing two products, one that was announced in May 2014 and launched the next month, whereas the other which was announced 2 days ago and is still not on shelves. The reported (leaked) specifications of the Surface Pro 4, the next iteration in series speculated to launch in the next 2-3 months, has an upper hand in all the areas mentioned above (sans cellular data, yes).

What caught me napping was that Apple actually brought a Microsoft employee, Kirk Koenigsbauer, to the launch event to show off Microsoft Office productivity suite running on the iPad Pro, while the event itself was being streamed live on Edge, the new browser in Windows 10. This is the first time in Apple’s history that something has happened where a non-Apple product/OS had access to live stream, but that’s a discussion for another day.

We do not even need a close look at the iPad Pro to see that it heavily “borrowed” features from the Surface Pro 3. Heck, it even borrowed the “Pro”! So, the new iPad has a bigger screen (all Apple devices seem to be growing up these days), a stylus (Apple Pencil for you, which clearly is not just any other stick to write on your screen with, but the best stick ever, because it’s Apple) and a magnetic keyboard, which doubles as a kickstand. Somewhere up in heaven, Steve is looking down upon us all and crying. It’s a pretty well-known fact that he repeatedly criticised styluses and keyboards, always stating that small screens with beautiful touch is what Apple stands for. Tim first launched the new, huge iPhone Plus series phablets 6+ and 6S+ (which undoubtedly was a successful business decision, albeit one Steve would have never taken) and now has launched the iPad Pro, which may as well be the final nail in Steve’s coffin.

I may sound one sided in my opinions right now, but I’m a person who has followed both the companies since a while now and was always eager for new product launches. Apple actually used to pioneer revolutionary pieces of technology that was ahead of their time. What I do not understand is, why turn into someone who always plays catch-up now? You did that with the iPhone 6+ (Phablet), again with the Apple Watch (Smartwatch) and you are doing it yet again with the iPad Pro (2-in-1). The key difference is that while the iPhone 6+, being a phablet, survived having an ARM architecture and a mobile OS, what remains to be seen is will Apple be able to replicate the success with iPad Pro? We all remember what happened to Surface RT, don’t we? But Microsoft and Apple are two very different companies and I really want iPad Pro to succeed (Surface Pro series needs competition in the elite tablet segment), bit can Apple really pull this one off needs to be seen.

Will the iPad Pro find takers? That’s a question we all know the answer to. “Why?” seems like the bigger question, but even that is pretty self-explanatory.