Google Search Algorithm to Chance Subtantially in 2009

Is your website provider or marketing firm ready for what’s coming?

In recent interviews, Bruce Clay and Matt Cutts from Google gave us insight into the transition from search to personalized search and localized search.

Bruce Clay is saying that "ranking is dead." Behavior based search is expanding, regardless of whether someone is logged into Google or not. He predicts that in the first quarter of 2009, there will be a major shift to localized, personal search that will make the once-simple job of optimizing a website much more difficult. The factors that determine the rankings delivered to the target audience will change and we will see a shift towards other indicators for success.

Matt Cutts says "ranking won’t be as important as it used to be in 2009."

This is a scary proposition for ill-prepared SEO firms. It isn’t just a matter of making websites linkable and large. What will be necessary is for them to be directly relevant to the search terms that they are wanting to rank for. This is a subtle distinction, but in the whole scheme of things, it’s a huge difference from the way websites are optimized today.

Personalization and localization are coming. They’re here, to some extent. If you haven’t seen it already, don’t worry. Your data center will update soon.

Universal search is changing. It is apparently in a constant state of flux. We’ve had a taste of it for a year, now. SEO’s must embrace the fact that they are having to become more like marketers. There is a distinction, and anyone who doesn’t make that distinction and adjust will be lost in 2008.

Other important developments included:

• New methodologies for optimizing video and flash
• Reduced relevance of subdomains

We've always known that a search engine algorithm is ever changing, but transitional changes now and significant changes in first-quarter 2009 will dramatically change SEO protocols.

The good news is that companies that haven't used techniques to trick Google, won't be at risk. Websites with solid content and good search engine rank and important keywords should remain high on the rankings. Companies who've created software for generating back links, and self inclusive linked networks will tumble in the rankings.

Many small businesses have thrown money at SEO firms and had good results, but will be forced to do it again in six months.

After learning about the coming changes firms like ours who use solid ethical techniques to build search engine prominence over time should reap the rewards even further.

If you are concerned about the techniques that your SEO firm has used, feel free to give Tweed Net Marketing a call at 215-541-5382 and schedule a free 30 minute consultation with Jason Tweed.

Is the economy really is bad as they say?

In my opinion the answer is no, and yes.

Let's start with the bad. We do have a crisis in the housing industry. New home construction creates jobs, and because of poor lending practices and financial mismanagement by consumers we are seeing the prices of homes dropping dramatically. California has seen the value of residential real estate drop by a third.

This is a serious problem, and the federal government is attacking it. Foreclosures meaning that houses are less expensive to buy than they are to build. When building slows, we lose jobs.

When building slows, so do automotive sales. Three things have happened in the automotive industry that have ground auto sales to a standstill. First, the population got nervous about the economy so we are no longer willing to pay $25,000-$45,000 for a family car, even one with excellent safety features and a built-in DVD player. Another issue is that when builders are laying off they stop buying work vehicles. Some of the most consistent buyers of vehicles are small businesses in the construction industry. Finally, two factors have led us to demand more economical vehicles. Americans are "going green", at least in intention if not in practice. Second, gas prices have changed their driving habits. These two factors have led us to drive less miles and demand improved mileage from our cars. The SUV, America's best seller for the past decade, has now become the symbol of decadence and environmental abuse. Unfortunately the auto industry is playing catch up, because it takes hundreds of millions of dollars to retool factories from SUV assembly lines to sporty hybrids. Even if they spend the millions, they can't guarantee our tastes won't change.

But now, let's look at the good. Most of what we're seeing is not the result of people losing their jobs. Michigan, which is one of the hardest hit economies still only has an unemployment rate around 7%. While this is higher it's not anywhere close to the double digit unemployment we saw nationally in the 1980s. The government hasn't had to extend unemployment benefits because a majority of those filing for unemployment are able to find other work.

People are losing their homes, but it's not for lack of a full time job. People are losing their homes because they were lent more money than they could afford when they were working a full-time job and earning over time. Their spouses were working part-time jobs that now pay very little because of the cost of transportation. Utilities and food prices have gone up as a result of increased fuel costs.

People aren't starving in America, they're simply being required to be more responsible in their use of credit and realign their style of living to reflect their new personal income.

Not only haven't many people lost their jobs so far, but most are not at risk. Service workers make up 84% of employed American workers. Small companies make up the bulk of total employees. You see General Motors laying off hundreds, yet hundreds of small companies are adding one more person. Well-managed companies are taking advantage of this economy by finding talent who are willing to work.

In some industries people are being laid off, but in many other industries we are seeing more stability in employment because people are less likely to leave the job they dislike during a slow economy.

The cost of food has risen dramatically, by 50% in some communities. Much of this was blamed on increased fuel prices for agricultural and transportation machines. However, if you're prices have tapered off substantially while food prices haven't. This means that the food producers are more profitable. A huge segment of our gross national product is based on domestic and exported food. Prior to the food prices rising we were spending the lowest portion of our incomes on the food in our history. Prior to the Great Depression and the average home spent 25% of their annual income on food. That's dropped as low as 5% of our average annual income.

Food prices affect poor individuals the most, but these individuals are not being affected by the housing crisis. When housing prices drop, so do rent prices which benefits the poor.

Gasoline prices exceeded one dollar in 1974 for the first time, and remained relatively stable for more than two decades. Our total fuel expenditures grew as our cars became less efficient and our willingness to use them grew. Our usage grew rapidly and therefore are gas prices didn't need to grow. When the oil producing companies decided to start inflating prices, this was primarily designed to catch up with inflation not to gouge Americans. Additionally, Americans are no longer the largest users of oil. At one time we were able to purchase gasoline cheaper than anywhere else in the world because of the quantities we purchased. Today we have some competition with the Chinese, and rapid growth is also being seen in India.

The oil producing countries continued to raise prices until our demand for fuel slowed to match supply. The increase in fuel prices is probably more part of our natural cyclical economy than people want to admit.

Yes, our economy has some distinct challenges, but if we're able to meet our crises head-on it's my belief that the economy can stabilize as quickly as it crashed.

We're going to see benefits from this period in our economic history. I hope these benefits won't be depleted once is we are more comfortable economically.

-- I hope our national work ethic improves. Our parents and grandparents worked miserable jobs for poor pay, but that generation has created some of the strongest leaders in our history based on perseverance. This is a lesson that we could do well to learn as a nation.

-- I hope we become more personally accountable for our finances. We went from buying homes on credit, to buying cars on credit, to buying Christmas gifts on credit, to buying groceries on credit. This misuse of credit was irresponsible and is not the fault of the lending industry, although they benefited from it.

-- I hope our government trusts us to make our own decisions, but also recognizes that corporate America will take advantage when given the opportunity. We've grown past the time when our representatives work for corporate America. We need to remind our senators, members of Congress, and all our elected leaders that they work for the people. I believe many of them got the message during the last election, let's hope they continue to listen before sending us choices for the next election.

-- I think the media is starting to recognize the turmoil they create in the economy. I hope that in the future they will trend toward educating people rather than entertaining than, although our history has indicated we shouldn't expect this treatment.

-- I hope that "going green" is not a trend or a fad. I hope that Americans take it seriously because if we began, other countries will follow our lead. We have stamped a heavy footprint on the world with our 300 million people, but compared to other countries that footprint could be minor. We need to demonstrate responsibility here and hope that it's emulated elsewhere.

Our economy certainly isn't perfect. It's broken. I think, however it's not fundamentally unstable, we have simply had several manageable problems stack up at the same time. Now it's up to American business leaders, American consumers, our elected officials and opinion leaders in the media to focus on these issues before they damage the foundation of our economy.

Web 3.0? Web 4.0? What to Expect Next from the Internet

I started blogging in 1999 before the term "blog" was coined. Blogging is relatively old technology, but it quickly became the first glimpse of what we now call Web 2.0, the user generated content version of the Web.

Today when we think of Web 2.0 we think of social networking, media, and sharing websites.

The first generation of the Web focused on distribution of existing content and information. Gradually libraries came online. New content was published both in print and on the Web. The leading experts on a variety of topics relied on the Web gatekeepers to distribute their information. What became important on the web was largely decided by Web developers and search engines.

In the last couple years the second version of the Web, the one that users created, has become incredibly important for social interaction and marketing. User created content coupled with networking and sharing have created minor celebrities on YouTube. It's created new advertising venues such as Facebook and MySpace. Websites such as Digg have shifted influence away for search engines and put it in the hands of users.

What will the next generation of the Web create?

While we don't know how the next revolution and evolution will look, I do have some predictions.

Today the Average Joe/Jane can contribute content to the web almost at will.

Tomorrow the web will be back in the hands of rocket scientists. The difference is, when the Web was created scientists were using it to share results. In the future scientists will be using it to create and collaborate.

The dynamic web that we see today will start to be used increasingly to solve problems great and small.

The Web could be used by the people for the good of all people. Imagine building a transportation network for AIDS drugs in rural Africa as easy as Craigslist can get rid of my old computer equipment or find you a rideshare across country. Imagine toppling a tyrannical dictator without violence simply by organizing the people. Imagining putting the best minds in the world in the same room on a whim to solve a problem. Imagine predicting the weather, earthquakes, and climate change to 99.9% accuracy because of access to tens of thousands of networked computers.

In the future access to streaming data, combined with user intelligence will give us the capabilities to solve problems like never before.

What does this mean for us?

Not only will we be able to market products in entirely new ways, but we will also be able to create products. We will see problems solved and proprietary intelligence created on a massive scale, as well as a microscale. Handfuls of like-minded users will be able to connect and be creative and innovative.

Individuals and small companies will be able to connect through specialized networks to virtually any other area of expertise. Have an idea for an invention? Create it, patent it, prototype it, and manufacture it simply by connecting with other individuals and organizations.

My prediction is that there won't be a new Facebook. We won't see the next Google. YouTube and Digg won't be replaced by something bigger and better. What we will find is that smaller social networks, specialized search protocols, and highly refined information sharing will become the norm.

Today most of us use five or six of the major websites on a regular basis, but we also visit favorite sites daily that are not well known. A small Star Trek fan site, a useful specialized calculator, or a website specific to our niche or industry are probably visited as frequently as Google or Yahoo by any individual user depending on their needs and interests.

The next generation of the Web will be focused on doing things together. It will still be user generated content, but now, highly specialized and refined. We will still share content, information, and bookmarks, but we will do it on a smaller scale, highly focused to solve problems that affect us as individuals rather than universally.

We are already seeing some of this today in science, technology, and business. The next evolution is when collaboration becomes part of our daily lives.

Big Traffic Boost from StumbleUpon

On Tuesday morning I submitted this blog to StumbleUpon.  I've played with it a few times but never really tracked the effect.

In the next 48 hours I get 450 unique visitors and over 900 page views from Stumble.  Unfortunately, it dried up as quickly as it appeared.  So far today we've only seen 18 visitors from Stumble.

Additionally, the extra visitors didn't turn into revenue.  Normally when visitors are ready to leave my site they have a choice of many outgoing links, of course this includes advertisements.  Stumbler's however tend to use the toolbar to bounce to the next website.  Of those 450 unique visitors, only one of them clicked an ad, and I can't even be sure that one came from Stumble.

900 page views... 450 uniques... total revenue for the two days $0.63.

Not worthless, but not the gold mine it might seem.