What this means for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and your internet search results

Millions of people use the internet everyday to do research, find products or services to buy, or look for something local.  Approximately 80% of consumers research a product or service online before choosing to make a purchase offline from a local business and 84% of all internet traffic is referred through search engines.  We type the keywords we are looking for into a search engine, like Google, and select websites from the list given.  Why some sites are displayed before others is merely an afterthought to many web users.  For internet marketers, search engine optimization is a service provided to their business customers who want to increase internet presence and turn site traffic into sales.  In 2009, Google will change the way we search by personalizing results for each person based on their location and search history.

Google’s search results are based on continuously changing algorithms that rank sites based on keywords and link building.  The new personalized search results will be different- they will be based on the behavior and the intent of the individual web user.  Each person will end up with different search results based on their prior search history and their physical location.  Google gets your information through cookies left on your computer after visiting a site and from your local IP address.  The information allows Google to make assumptions about your search.

At PubCon 2008, the Webmaster’s World Search and Internet Marketing Conference held in Las Vegas November 11-14, industry experts spoke about the future of Google and search engine optimization (SEO).  Matt Cutts, a software engineer for Google, spoke about the future of search engine optimization and personalization of search results in 2009.  When he was asked if site ranking is dead, Cutts said, “I’m not sure I would say ranking is dead but it’s not as important as it used to be.  The fact is the smart SEOs are not just necessarily looking at the rankings.  They are looking at conversion, they are looking at their server log.  It’s great if you’re ranking for a phrase but unless that leads to sales that doesn’t help you very much.  The challenge is not to pay so much attention to ranking, pay attention to traffic, pay attention to conversions and keep building good content and don’t worry about ‘can I show people that I rank number one for my trophy phrase.’ ”

Ranking may not be dead, but it will be considered less important.  The most important way to measure your site’s success will be focusing on site traffic, conversion, and bounce rates rather than where your site shows up in the rankings for specific keywords.  Search personalization will make site traffic more qualified, and although your overall site traffic may decrease, overall sales will increase.  Rich media content will be vital and websites with compelling content and relevant keywords, images, voice, video, and other interactive functions will succeed. 

So what does this mean for internet marketers, business owners, and individual search experience in general?  For internet marketers, this may mean a change in the way success is measured for customers.  It will require better definitions of the ideal website visitor- based on quality, rich media content, and a specific call-to-action to keep visitors on your site and coming back.  The internet is constantly changing and internet marketers have to be prepared to adapt to the changing technology to stay competitive. 

For business owners, this means more qualified site visitors with an improved ratio between traffic and conversion to sales.  The local impact of search personalization will help drive sales to local businesses that otherwise would not have been able to compete with national companies and spammer sites that dominated the rankings for industry keywords. 

The overall search engine experience will improve because we will no longer need to sift through countless websites until we find what we are actually looking for.  Overall website quality will improve as companies will enhance their websites to include more media content and interactive functions to improve visitor experience. 

Google’s personalization should motivate us all to evaluate our existing web sites and make sure:

• content provides the information that the target customer is looking for and is up-to-date.
• the site offers interactive features and different types of media that customers would find interesting.
• the site is easy to navigate and has a call-to-action to turn visitors into sales. 

Taking these steps now will ensure that you are prepared for the new era of information search.

You already know the answer – of course not. The web is full of small business sites and it’s actually a great way to level the playing field with larger competitors. Large companies can afford to spend thousands of dollars on gaining web presence, but they are unable to change the web’s conventions or the behavior of human beings. You have the same space and the same tools at your disposal to get your business online and capitalize on those millions of eyes out there looking for something… anything at all. If your business has something to sell – you can find customers on the web. That’s it. That’s the whole secret.

With knowledge, planning, and attention, you can develop a site that will perform marketing, sales, informative, documentary, and even entertainment functions. Presumably, your small business is developed from an idea or a passion, or maybe even just some practical experience. Whatever product or service you sell, there is a market for it.

In the future - do you think people will look for services/products in the yellow pages? By driving to the mall and shopping? Well, that’s a simple question; the statistics already prove the efficiency and ubiquity of the increase in web commerce.

So you’re worried about the cost or necessary expertise of setting up a site? Or you already have a site that doesn’t bring you any business? Well the bad news is that it’s not free or super easy - but the good news is that it’s not still 1999. You don’t need cadres of programmers or slick-suited advertising sharks to be able to compete on the web like you did back then. Hosting, video, blogging – all these things can be set up quickly and inexpensively by someone who knows what they are doing. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is nothing more than a few simple concepts, some practical common sense, and care and attention paid to your business. The pace of technology development on the web has slowed a bit – and the famous stories of people getting rich on the web are not prevalent or important (or long-term). They don’t represent the deeper, more democratic nature of the web. There’s no need to give up and think that “it’s all been done before.” Did people stop increasing their business through print media after a few years? No! – it’s a few hundred years later and printing is still going strong.

Look in your hometown for the little guys – they know what it’s like to do more for less and that’s the goal of your site right? I’m not saying to hire “Fred in the shed” – you know, the badly dressed, sulky techie that “does web sites”? There are many small web marketing and web development businesses that know their customers are in the small business market; they are comfortable in it and they rely on service and repeat customers in their cities/towns. The small professional web company isn’t trying to make a killing with each site – they are more interested in developing your business, because if your business doesn’t grow, neither does theirs. Look at sites they’ve done and talk to some of their customers. If you get attitude about a “small” job, you’re talking to the wrong person.

Small business web professionals are out there. Find them.

A “blog,” which is also known as a web log, is basically just an online journal. A blog allows you to tell the world about your business with no out-of-pocket expense, and unlimited amounts of space to talk about it.

So what do you talk about on your blog?

You can write just about anything on your blog. You can showcase your products/services, news releases, capabilities, thoughts, or just about anything that you want to share. Your blog is less formal than your website and is an outlet for your thoughts and ideas to share your passion for your work. Blogs have risen in popularity as society has embraced businesses who allow users to take a look inside of the business and let people know that your business is actually made up of individuals and not just machines.

Ok, So I have somewhere to vent. How is this good for business?

If your goal is to boost business, make sure you include your web address as a link and fill the blog with lots of keywords that relate back to your business. Adding these links and keywords will also help “optimize” your website, also known as Search Engine Optimization. This means that the more links there are to your site and the more relevant keywords used relate back to your website, the higher your ranking is on search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

There are many different blog sites to choose from. Here are a couple good ones that feed information directly to search engines:

Technorati: www.technorati.com
Google: www.blogger.com
Yahoo: 360.yahoo.com

For more information, go to www.daly-communications.com, or send an e-mail to info@daly-communications.com