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SEO: Is Ranking Dead?

ebootcampebootcamp subscriber Posts: 3
edited November 2008 in Marketing
I just came back from a great Internet marketing conference called PubCon. Every major search engine was represented and the future of search was discussed in great detail. One speaker in particular caught the attention of the entire convention with his outlook on the future of search. Bruce Clay of Bruce Clay, Inc. basically made the statement that ranking is dead because as each of the search engines move closer towards personalized search, every result will therefore be personalized for that user. This is best explained in his example:
 
Let`s say you and I both searched the word "Java." My results might come back with web programming results and yours might come back with different coffee suppliers depending on our previous search experience or how we both navigate the web. Similar to how Amazon uses cookies to personalize your bookstore, the search engines can do the same with your search results. They can also personalize your search based on geographical location - so if I search pizza place here in Michigan, I`ll get different results than your same search in Alabama.
 
The bottom line is that we as marketers need to recognize that we may need to tweak or clients expectations when it comes to measuring the success of their internet marketing campaign. No one will be able to make the claim that they are #1 for a particular search because that same search could be different for every user. So we will need to focus more on Website traffic and conversion as our measurements for success.
 
If you want to see an interview with Bruce about this topic, click here: http://videos.webpronews.com/2008/11/17 ... g-is-dead/

 

I look forward to your thoughts and perspectives on this shift in search.
 
All the best,

Corey Perlman




www.eBootCampBook.com





eBoot Camp:

Proven Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business is due online and in major retailers this January!

Comments

  • MarcSmithMarcSmith subscriber Posts: 1
    Very interesting.  Thanks for posting!
  • RetiredMember5RetiredMember5 subscriber Posts: 0
    Thanks for the great information from the conference.  The internet world of web 2.0 is ever changing.  Just when we thought that we may have started to figure out some of the SEO ranking information.   Great intel.
  • vwebworldvwebworld subscriber Posts: 40
    Yes, for a while rank has not been very important... for good search results the focus is on content.
     
    Google`s PR was just a general indicator of a website`s relative "popularity", but it was never a real time measurement.
     
    ~Roland
  • ebootcampebootcamp subscriber Posts: 3
    Thanks for the comments everyone!
     
    And I agree Roland, content has been a major factor for rankings for a long time. The major shift, though, is not with how the engines rank, but how people measure the success of their Website on the search engines. Go out on the street and ask anyone what success is on Google and most will reply with "I want to be #1!" We need to help people understand that being #1 is becoming less and less important and driving traffic/conversion are the new keys to success.
     
    Thanks again  for the good feedback - i look forward to more conversation.
     
    All the best,

    Corey Perlman




    www.eBootCampBook.com





    eBoot Camp:

    Proven Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business is online and in major retailers this January!

    Pre-order at
    http://tinyurl.com/ebootcamp1
    (Barnes & Noble) and recieve my 20 favorite free resources to publish content online. Just send your receipt to
    <a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:corey@ebootcampbook.com">


    and I`ll email you back the report.  
  • DCCSCSDCCSCS subscriber Posts: 6
    So, is the question I need to answer is "How can I get more people to my site?"
    I thought that was always the goal.  I run a health care office, and have found that people search locally and very specific for me (at least the ones I talk to).  I would hope that I would still be relevant on the searches and would show up near the top.  Is that too simplistic?
  • ebootcampebootcamp subscriber Posts: 3
    Brandon,
     
    That is indeed the right goal to have. Google and other search engines actually have the same goal and thus, that is why they are working so hard to personalize the searchers experience. As an example, if I type "Chiropractor" here in Royal Oak, Michigan, Google wants me to see only offices in Royal Oak. And so do I for that matter. And I`m guessing you wouldn`t want to come up on that search either since I`m not travelling to Pittsburgh for an adjustment (no offense ) So everyone is happy...except for the local Royal Oak Chiros that didn`t come up on my search. If I were advising those folks, I`d first tell them to make sure they have registered themselves with Google.com/local/add and that the title tage and subsequent homepage content has the local area keywords sprinkled thoughout.
     
    Hope that helps!
     

    All the best,

    Corey Perlman




    www.eBootCampBook.com





    eBoot Camp:

    Proven Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business is online and in major retailers this January!

    Pre-order at
    http://tinyurl.com/ebootcamp1
    (Barnes & Noble) and recieve my 20 favorite free resources to publish content online. Just send your receipt to
    <a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:corey@ebootcampbook.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">




    and I`ll email you back the report.  

  • DCCSCSDCCSCS subscriber Posts: 6
    Thank you for the information and replies.  It`s good to hear we are on the right track.  We also registered (or something like that) with Cuil, but it took quite a long time to actually show up.
    DCCSCS11/26/2008 11:15 AM
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