Posts Tagged ‘Google’s Personalized Search’

Bold Predictions in Online Marketing for 2010

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Okay, so I’ll admit I was wrong about a few of the predictions I made last year. Yes, Google is still the King and Mobile Search has still not yet hit the big time. Still, I enter 2010 with a renewed passion for what we do and where our Industry is going. Many of the changes that were made last year and many that are coming only strengthened the case for building better websites. In 2010 the best sites that best meet the needs of their target markets are those that survive while spammy sites go by the way of the dinosaur.  So, that said, below are my bold predictions in Online Marketing for 2010:

Link Builders Go Bye Bye – As a major algorithm cleanup, Google and other engines will drop or purge sites that artificially bought their way to top organic SEO rankings via buying links. Link building companies will start to become obsolete as link building for SEO becomes ineffective. The financial impact is felt as far away as India and the Philippines, where many of these link building companies were stationed.

Shady SEO Companies Go Bye Bye – The search engines will move away from “seo tactics” and instead rank sites based on their “quality.”  Sites that best hit their target markets, judged by low bounce rate and audience engagement will be the sites that rank well across all platforms.  Shady SEO companies that built their success based on “fooling the search engines” will be exposed and will eventually vanish from site. Good SEO companies that focus on all facets of a web site (web design, web development, web marketing) will become the new “go to” companies. The financial impact is also felt as far away as India and the Philippines, where many of the shady optimization companies were stationed.

Google Increases Market Share to 80% – In 2010, I predict Google will increase it’s market share from currently about 72% to 80% of the market. Their continued growth comes at the expense of both Yahoo! and Bing, where audience share will decline because Google (as a result of algorithm changes) will be providing it’s audience better search results.

Mobile Search – I know I’ve been saying it for years but this is finally the year when Mobile Search hits the big time. Already with staggering growth, it is shocking that mobile search is still not a major part of most people’s marketing mix. In 2010, I predict that mobile gets into the mainstream of all marketers alike, both global and locally-based.

Conversion Optimization Gets Its Due- Finally, conversion optimization will not be just for serious marketers but instead will be a tactic and a topic of discussion amongst everyone who markets online. Brought on by last year’s recession, the business of “improving your bottom line” just by tweaking your landing pages, your messages, etc. will get a serious look. Budgets for conversion optimization in 2010 will be allocated accordingly.

Change is Coming – Something, somewhere, someone is lurking around the corner waiting to capture the hearts and minds of Internet users much like Twitter and Facebook did in 2009. Whether it be a new social media site, a change in technology, or the way that we market ourselves online, one prediction we can count on each and every year is that there likely will be a major change to look forward to in the coming year.

Will any or all of these bold prediction turn out? Only time with tell. One thing for sure is that everyone, from peers to customers, are looking forward to a better year and more prosperous 2010.

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How Google Personalization Will Change SEO

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

Below is a list of ways that Google personalization is changing search engine optimization today:

• Everybody now sees different Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) based on their searching patterns making measuring a consistent ranking no longer possible.
• Content development simply for increased page count and link building no longer has as much influence on your site’s rank.
• People who visit their own sites are getting the wrong impression that their sites are ranking well in the SERPs and are stopping SEO services.

Other ways that Google personalization are changing optimization are listed below:

• People who visit their competitor’s sites are getting the wrong impression that their sites AREN’T ranking well in the SERPs and are blaming their SEO company.
• Search spam is starting to get filtered out as people, by and large, do not revisit spammy pages.
• Fresh content is becoming essential for rankings, as new pages stand out in someone’s personalized SERPs and are getting searchers to come back to your site. Social media content is now critical and is being done at increased levels.

Pay Per Click is also changing as a result of Google Personalization:

• PPC is becoming more popular as people find natural rankings too difficult to achieve and are abandoning it.

To be clear, Google personalization is a “game-changer” but it does not impact the most important aspect of Search Engine Optimization i.e. having a good website. Keep in mind that SEO never has nor ever will be just about your SERP ranking. Optimization is about improving your site so that it can perform better. Think about good usability, professional web design, and targeted on-point messaging, and you’ll see where Google is heading. With personalization everybody wins. Searchers get better, more relevant results and website owners that engage in search engine optimization will get better performing websites and thus better returns on their marketing investments.

To read more about Google personalization, please visit Google @ http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=54068

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Personalized Search and SEO

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Google’s personalized search has been around since 2005 but two weeks ago it was released to ALL Google searchers, whether they are logged into a Google account or not. This is a real game-changer and means that a searcher’s results will now vary from other searcher’s results (even if searching for the same terms). Your results will be dependent on your searching history, preferences, geo-location, IP address, and other factors. The goal for Google, of course, is increased relevancy for its users and with personalization they hit the mark. People that search for “jaguar the car”, for example, will be shown “jaguar the car” results instead of “jaguar the animal” results. Increased relevancy equates to better results; and better results equates to happier Google users.

Happier Google users, however, does not necessarily equate to happy search engine optimizers. In fact, personalization  now drastically changes how we now must go about optimizing your website.  Since there will no longer be a uniform way of tracking results (since ranking results will vary depending on the user), optimization tactics must now rely on building better websites instead of the handful of tricks like link buying that were used for the sole purposes of manipulating the search engines. While the practice of SEO is not dead, many of the practices of the trade like link buying will soon be rendered ineffective. Website optimization will belong to web marketers, web designers, and web developers not the hundreds of so-called SEO experts that cracked the Google algorithm and learned that the only way to the top was via buying links. I imagine a shake-up of sorts to come as former SEO people get out of the game and the Industry is given to professionals who understand the dynamics of building a good website and serving up an experience that meets the needs of your target market/audience.

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