Hey Reader,

When I was a kid, my dad used to play this game with me called, "What's the worst that could happen?"

We'd be talking about an event --- an upcoming trip to the dentist or a field trip to the zoo, for example --- and my dad would ask,

"What's the worst that could happen?"

Then, Dad would imagine the worst thing he could possibly come up with, and it was my job to talk him out of it.

"We might find out your teeth all need to be replaced with live tadpoles," my dad might say. Or, "Maybe the monkeys will accept you as one of their own, and you'll have to live at the zoo!"

I'd laugh at these hysterical concepts, and then talk Dad down from his ledge. "It's just a checkup!" I might say, or, "They don't even have monkeys at this zoo!"

My dad was doing a few clever parenting tricks at once here. First, he was feeding my imagination --- that's a lifelong gift.

But beyond that, he was helping me voice my anxieties and reel them in. It's a game I still play sometimes, when I feel my brain rushing to the absolute worst-case scenario.

As Google continues to be very publicly messy, there are still lots of very anxious SEOs playing their own versions of "What's the worst that could happen?"

They are convinced that all these changes at Google signify the end of times. (Cue the fire and brimstone. 🔥🪨)

But all their worrying got me wondering, really, what would happen if Google disappeared tomorrow? Would it be "the worst thing that could happen?"

Close your eyes and imagine it. Tomorrow you wake up, and Google is gone.

No more "Googling" as a verb.

No more AI overviews.

No more Gmail.

No more YouTube.

The very first thing that would happen, I reckon, is that an enormous content vacuum would open up.

People's curiosity won't vanish with Google. You are still going to want to search things tomorrow, and get the most valuable, thorough, or succinct answers possible.

But you'll probably be doing it on Bing or Duck Duck Go, or you'll hop onto ChatGPT or Perplexity.

Without Google, you have a bunch of options for where you want your search. (Indeed, you have those options right now!)

But without Google, people could just choose the search platform that best suited their needs in the moment.

Hmm... that sounds kind of nice... Let's keep going.

Every business that relies on Google for organic traffic is now looking for alternative sources of traffic.

They still need to sell products. They still need clients and funds and connection with their audience.

So they are hiring people to help them show up in all of these new search formats.

Suddenly, there is a demand for a Duck Duck Go optimization specialist and a Bing SEO strategist.

And these businesses are looking to optimize other platforms for traffic as well.

Posts on X, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Facebook, and TikTok are blowing up.

More people are publishing on Medium and Substack.

Slack channels become more buzzy with connections and collaborations.

More businesses than ever, with their marketing budget freed up from Google, are exploring these platforms, creating new types of content, and gaining new audiences.

Once again, search specialists are in demand. Now, businesses need people who understand TikTok's mysterious algorithm, or who have a proven record of getting newsletter traction out of LinkedIn or Substack.

And my favorite thing to imagine in this post-Google world?

Without Google, I suspect creativity would blossom.

Without Google's standards and guidelines, we can publish whatever we want. All that will matter is whether people want to read it because it's good.

That weird think piece that was too controversial for your audience? Publish it.

Those poems about life as a freelancer? Publish them.

Your client wants to talk about a super nerdy niche issue that's on their mind? Publish it.

Without Google, we are free to experiment, fail, and see what sticks.

It sounds like it could be lucrative and fun. Imagine that.

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Google isn't going to die tomorrow. It's probably not going to go away anytime soon.

But trust me - it won't be such a bad thing if Google shoots itself in the foot and makes some room on the search stage.

The decline of Google does not spell the decline of SEO. Quite the opposite, I believe.

If you are willing to learn something new, and to experiment, there are opportunities coming down the pipeline.

I'll be exploring these new avenues and opportunities with students in the SEO Bridge Builder's program.

Speaking of which...

Today is the last day to sign up for this round of the SEO Bridge Builders program, which starts tomorrow.

I still have space for 2 - 3 more freelancers who want to land their next high-ticket SEO client in the next few weeks.

​More details here.

If you want in, just reply to this message and let me know.

- Liam

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