ISEdb.COM

Another New Years has come and gone and over the past few weeks
search industry professionals have been releasing their search market
predictions for 2007. I have steered clear of reading them because it
is time for me to write down our predictions and the last thing
I want to worry about is duplication. Without further adieu, here are
the predictions my staff and I put together for 2007.

Section 1: The Movers and Shakers

• Windows Live:
  will continue the uphill battle of branding their relatively new search
  platform; the confusion over whether Windows Live is a replacement for
  MSN contributed to their forbidding decline in market share in 2006. My
  staff and I firmly agree, however, that MSN/Windows Live will rebound
  and increase its market share slightly over pre-2006 statistics.

• Yahoo!:
  We expect Yahoo to improve in 2007 due to the fresh perspectives of new
  staff (from the 2006 executive restructuring) and the incredible
  potential of this massive search network. Unfortunately, I read that
  Yahoo is comfortable with its current market share and has no illusions
  about ever being a market leader; hardly the kind of intentional goal
  setting that leads to results. Their unfortunate vision statement
  aside, I anticipate Yahoo will increase its global market share from
  the current 19% to 24%. Frankly, I am still dumbfounded that Yahoo has
  anything less than a 30% stake. I realize Google is the clear victor in
  the search engine wars but Yahoo definitely has the necessary weight to
  grab a better than 19% share.

• Ask: 2006 was a good year for Ask
  because they stuck to their guns and focused on what they were good at;
  answering questions. Ask has gained quite a loyal following over the
  past couple of years and I expect it will continue to do so as long as
  it maintains its focus; Ask’s push into local and mobile answers search
  was particularly well timed. I expect Ask will not lose any market
  share over 2007; in fact I would be surprised if they didn’t take a few
  more percentage points over the year.

• Google:
  Google’s insatiable appetite for growth will have it pushing for more
  market share in Asia and Europe where new Google outposts have recently
  opened. In addition, I expect that its algorithms will be improved
  sometime in the 3 rd quarter to further devalue the benefit of
  reciprocal links (see more in Section 2 under ” Link Building “).
  Google will continue to improve its mobile services which will
  culminate in more aggressive promotion of searching “on the go”
  wherever you are in the world.

• Baidu:
  I don’t consider this engine to be one of the major 4 search engines
  (yet) but it has grown so much over the past 2 years that it just felt
  right to add it. Who is Baidu?
  Baidu.com is China ‘s leading search engine and since its conception in
  2000 by two young entrepreneurs, this company has experienced massive
  growth (i.e. their IPO in 2005 started at $27/share and is now sitting
  at $122/share); sound reminiscent of Google? In my opinion Baidu is not
  going to be another Google but it has potential to grab a noteworthy
  piece of the search market when it finally premieres in North America ;
  still no word yet when this premiere might happen but I expect the
  first steps to begin late this year. Part of Baidu’s success stems from
  its simple and effective methods of searching for multimedia such as
  mp3′s and videos online in addition to standard searchable content.
  

Section 2: Search Engine Marketing Strategies

For added reading on this topic please see Scott Van Achte’s insightful article written in November 2006 titled ” Future Evolution of Search “.

• Link Building: The
  industry of link building will take quite a hit this year as Google
  (among other SE’s) continues the process of weeding out unscrupulous
  linking techniques such as haphazard reciprocal link building and
  advanced link building directories (previously missed in other
  weedings). By no means will Google get a handle on all of the less
  desirable links but an onward push to cleansing rigged results based on
  false popularity will be noticed throughout the industry.
  
  
  
  The future of link building will be more difficult but definitely more
  effective because one-way links (someone linking to you without need
  for reciprocation), be it through carefully researched paid links or
  from premiere link building companies, will finally be known as the
  only way to provide a lasting ranking advantage. For more information
  visit the home of the guru of link building, Eric Ward or read ” Thinking (a lot) About Link Building ” by Jim Hedger.

• Search Engine Optimization:
  As the most complex search engine Google tends to set the bar for best
  optimization practices so focusing on attaining results on Google
  usually nets favourable results on the other major engines. With that
  information in mind I do not see any reason that ethical optimization
  tactics will be revised to any significant level in 2007. If you would
  like a refresher on what it takes to optimize a web page see The Ten Minute Optimization REDUX white paper.

• SPAMMERS Beware:
  This year Google will begin a more focused campaign of eradication for
  websites using keyword stuffing to attain search engine results. It
  amazes me to this day that I still find top ranking sites with
  keyword-stuffed footer navigations designed to fortify competitive
  rankings and attain dozens of long-tail results. At any rate, it has
  been a long time since I have seen a significant cleansing of Google’s
  SERPS and I would be blown away if we don’t see at least one
  significant cleanse this year. For more information on what is
  considered SPAM please see ” 15 Shades of SEO SPAM “.

• PPC:
  This year Google will crank up the volume and remove 99% of the
  Adsense-driven leader pages that repeatedly clog the top ten rankings
  under many queries. Unfortunately, Google’s “don’t be evil” catchphrase
  may clash with their interest in the bottom line since these SPAM sites
  effectively add to Google’s pocketbook.

• Mobile Search:
  I cannot stress enough the importance of this emerging industry and I
  expect that the increase in R&D from Google and some effort from
  Yahoo and Microsoft in this area will produce an undeniable need for
  separate, mobile-friendly websites (i.e. .mobi sites designed entirely
  for mobile use). This market place will see significant growth this
  year as Internet marketing companies jump into the fray and begin
  offering mobile site creation, promotion and optimization. For more
  information on the emerging mobile market place see ” Stake Your Claim on the Mobile Web “.

Section 3: The Path to Success Will Require More Planning and Technical Expertise

As
top search engine rankings become more entrenched the average website
owner will need to be more calculating when planning their pending web
presence in order to join the ranks of the top 10. As a result, I see
the following areas of intentional research and planning becoming
critical requirements for online success:

• Web Site Analytics:
  Understanding and managing the behaviour of web site visitors is
  crucial to repeated online success and I expect this fact will finally
  become common knowledge throughout 2007. Consequently, enterprising new
  technologies like ClickTale will emerge and ClickTracks (an analytics leader) will see record sales beyond their expectations. For some introductory information on analytics see ” Did You Know You Had Stats? ”

• Competitor Analysis:
  In an effort to shorten the path to online success, it is important to
  start any online marketing with a clear understanding of what it takes
  to attain rankings and deconstructing the tactics that led to a
  competitor’s success is an important first step. StepForth has been
  performing advanced competitor analysis services for over 3 years now
  and every year we see the demand for such intelligence mounting. I
  expect the need to grow significantly over 2007 and it will become an
  accepted first step for all online campaigns within the next 2 years.
  For more information see our SEO Research page.

• Search Engine Friendly Web Design:
  The importance of search engine visibility to online success is now
  common knowledge and this year more and more informed design clients
  will be demanding their web designers create search engine friendly web
  sites vs. websites that pose significant, if not fundamental barriers
  to rankings. Is your website search engine friendly?

• Professional Copy Writing:
  Does your content sell your site? In other words, are you converting
  your visitors? Professional copy writing is a must because it allows
  you, the site owner, to make more money from the traffic that you
  attain. Consequently, a higher conversion ratio means you have more
  money to reinvest in your online success and it is entirely reasonable
  to expect you may be making more money in the #10 position in rankings
  than a website in the #1 position that has poorly written sales copy.
  There is absolutely no question in my mind that professional copy
  writing services is going to be a growth market in 2007. If you haven’t
  had your sales copy professionally written then drop me a note because I know of an excellent copywriting company that may radically increase your bottom line.