2009 is set to be a big year for the Search Engines as they gear up to introduce the next generation of “Intent based searches”. Google has been developing its Universal Search feature for the past two years or so and are planning to roll out personalized search resultd early next year. This feature will scan your search history and how you have interacted with the search engines to produce even more relevant results for you. For example if you frequently visit the Lacoste site when searching for clothes, Google will remember this and rank Lacoste higher for the next time you search for Aftershave. The feature will also prioritise local companies and organization so that it means that many of the searches can be even more targeted and relevant to the search terms.
The new changes will completely change the way that the search engines robots scan and index all of the websites. They are now able to scan soundtracks and videos to pick out the content and use this as a key factor when determining rankings as they want the most engaging and interactive sites to be at the top of the search engines so that the searcher gets the most from their web experience.
So what does this mean for Search Engine Optimisation? According to Google’s own Matt Cutts, SEO’s across the world are going to have to redefine their task and their title to not just optimise sites to get them high up the rankings but to help create holistic online marketing solutions that tailor to the clients needs. The emphasis of any SEO campaign must move away from large amounts of keyword-dense text and move onto finding ways of optimising sites that means that they are both interactive and informative for the visitor. Furthermore as rankings will be more tailored to the searcher it means that the deliverables of an SEO account will focus almost on traffic and conversions and as SEO guru Bruce Clay stated at a major web conference, “ranking is dead”.
One thing is for sure, if you are not ready for these upcoming changes then you will be left behind.
