Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website

SEO Trendspotting

SEO trends move fast, so it’s OK to jump in where you are! Use this primer to get

clued in to some of the current jargon and trends in SEO.

Personalized Search

Coming soon to a search engine near you:

personalized search

meaning search results that vary based on the searcher’s profile and past behavior. Per-

sonalized search may be applied to organic or PPC results and could be used to target

users who, for example, have made certain previous searches or have made online pur-

chases within the last 48 hours. In organic SEO, personalized search would throw a

wrench in the works by making rank tracking nearly impossible and adding further

complication to already mysterious ranking algorithms. But in PPC, it has excellent

potential as a targeting tool.

Social Search Social search

is any system that uses community-sourced information to

determine search results. Although social search is still only a small percentage of over-

all search traffic, it’s a trend to watch. There have been many attempts in the past to

incorporate the wisdom of the masses into search results, but social search really hit

the big time when Yahoo! bought up several companies that use this type of system

(flickr and del.icio.us are the most well known) in 2005 and 2006.

Mobile Search

Mobile search is like one of those up-and-coming neighborhoods that

never quite ups and comes. Web developers are still working out the kinks of building

websites in formats that can be viewed on mobile phones and handheld devices. Mean-

while, search engines, most notably Google and Yahoo!, are working hard to place

themselves in the middle of this growing search sector, especially by combining local

and mobile search. The SEO community remains on the sidelines, watching and wait-

ing to see if mobile search will ever really take off.

Persona/Scenario

Not a new marketing concept, but one that is making its way into

mainstream SEO. This is simply a more creative and in-depth way of defining a site’s

target user than with simple demographics. So, for example, instead of targeting

“women in their 40s who drive minivans,” you might think instead about a persona,

Barbara, who is 42

, and her scenario:

She has two daughters, both A students in pri-

vate school. Barbara enjoys infrequent but expensive outings with her husband in her

affluent suburban town.

Personas and scenarios can be helpful in determining your tar-

geted keywords or identifying your landing pages.

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