SEO: Will 2010 Bring you Fortune or Failure?
Search is always changing. Search engines are always altering their algorithms. User behavior is difficult to manage. 2010 is the year of “No More Excuses”. Adaptability and working the SERP rankings with only the best tools and practices will mean handsome rewards to diligent and hard-working SEO advertisements. Stay ahead of the curve and do your homework now with these tips below:
1. Bing-hoo?
With the companies working to get through the regulatory red tape and paperwork, 2010 will finally yield some interesting impacts on SEO as Bing and Yahoo! merge. Will there only be two search engines? Which features will leave and which will stay? Only time can tell, of course, but word on the street (thanks to SEOmoz) is that Yahoo! stands to lose the popular Site Explorer. If one search engine giant is losing a major feature, it begs the question: What’s it to gain? The take home message here is to watch for big announcements in 2010 and make sure your SEO strategy is covered.
2. Relevancy hits the Spotlight
Search engines are offering more than just search results to some of user queries by offering information without a user ever having to actually visit a website. For instance, you can easily track packages or search for airline travel deals right on the SERP. Looking for updates to the latest breaking news? Want to know the score of your team’s latest football or basketball game? Simply type your query into the search engine and you’ll see the results displayed without having to click to visit a site. As a business, be hip to this appreciation for relevancy. Post new products and industry news on blogs and appropriate website pages frequently, tighten control of your website content. Be relevant and the search engines may just show you a little extra favor.
3. SEO by the Numbers
Online advertising spend is predicted to increase marginally this year, with double digit number forecasts just for search engine optimization. When businesses are forking over big dollars for marketing, you can believe that they’re going to want to know the figures. Specifically this year the big factors are going to be all about conversion, and the costs that come with it. Efforts will be placed on a variety of SEO goodies: rankings, keyword optimization and now conversion. Tools and tips to decrease these costs and boost quality leads will be lighting up blogs in 2010.
4. The Rules
Okay, so the rules for SEO won’t be changing any time soon. Best practices will always win out over black hat tactics, rewards for real links earned will triumph over paid-for links, and keyword-targeting will still reign supreme. We just want to iterate that with a new year and new changes developing in search engine optimization, the potential to sneak over to “the dark side” and implement some time-saving so-called solutions to your SEO campaign may be stronger than ever. Resist temptation and practice patience while your success strategy is in place; those sneaky search engine ranking tricks will still carry hefty penalties like being barred from the search engines.
Be sure to check in with our blog throughout the year as we watch developments and trends take shape. Weigh in our opinions and see how right we were!