We seem to have a modestly good grip on effective SEO practices these days, at least a professional does. Search Engine Marketing Strategy, however, should also be focused on where search engines are going rather than just where they currently are, to maintain rankings in the long-term.
Below we explore some of the online trends that we may see emerge in indexing practices and the search engine industry in general (as they have been speculated on search engine marketing blogs.)
Anchor Text and URL’s Will Become Less Important
They’ve been a focal point of SEM for so long, mainly because search engines originally found them so easy to index and a really good indicator of the thematic aspects of the page. Any search engine marketing specialist will still consider them an absolutely vital ranking factor, which they still are.
As with most falls in prominence of ranking factors, it’s the result of a measure taken by search engines to fight unethical SEM.
In the case of URLs, it’s to level to playing ground so that early websites don’t automatically dominate the results because of their URL name.
Speech Recognition Software Impact
A very valid concern for companies that focus on mobile internet, for their search engine marketing. Software on smartphones such as Siri and Google Now, enable users to submit search queries verbally, with very little effort.
This affects SEM, insofar that the way people will verbalise a search query is quite different from the way they would type it. They’re more likely to use longer search terms and be less grammatically aware.
Rise of Google+
It’s interesting, as the Google Plus Social Network had been preemptively considered a failure. This turnaround has been mostly due to the incorporation of a vertical search engine that indexes all the content on the site. Presenting interesting opportunities for search engine marketing.
This, and Google’s plan to incorporate social signals into their algorithm in the future, signifies the Google+ hasn’t come close to its full potential.
Bing Will Gain Market Share
In opposition to the above, Bing has partnered with social network leader Facebook to index their content in the future. Bing’s market share continues to grow each year and their consumer satisfaction rating is coming close to equalling that of Google.
This can be a threat if Google’s ranking algorithm starts to diverge heavily from Bing’s, essentially forcing webmaster to optimise their domain around two search engines.
Decreased Focus on Keywords in Lieu of Content
There are many factors supporting this. The two primary ones: personalised search and Google Panda.
Google continually tries to structure their SERP around individual user habits and preferences. Many think that this spells the end of traditional SEO, but that’s hardly the case. Instead the effectiveness of keyword trends will fall sharply and the focus will shift to user experience.
Professional search engine marketing companies will start to place a lot of emphasis on the quality of content because with every new update on Google’s algorithm Panda, content spam is getting easier to detect. The algorithm is actively focused on being able to spot well written content that offers unique insight.