Looking to the future of SEO - great article recommendations

There have been a number of complete gems posted around this week which all look to the future of SEO.

I saw Danny Sullivan do a presentation on the future of Google at SES London in 2005 and it was frightening - but as Matt Cutts points out in one of the following articles, SEO’s are pretty adaptable.

Adapting to some of the points of Danny’s vision have already gone mainstream - local search, personal search, and maps. The point is to keep ahead at best, or at worse, keep playing catch-up.

However, if you really want to take a peek into the SEO crystal balls, these could be invaluable reading:

1. Google’s Matt Cutts on Personalization and the Future of SEO

Gord Hotchkiss brings together interviews with Matt Cutts and Vanessa Fox at Google, laying out how local and personalised search is likely to change and impact the world of SEO in general.

Star quote (from Matt Cutts):

I think that it’s natural that some people would be worried about change, but some of the best SEO’s are the SEO’s that are able to adapt, that are able to look down the road 4 or 5 years and say, “What are the big trends going to be?” and adjust for those trends in advance, so that when a search engine does make a change which you think is inevitable or will eventually happen, they’ll be in a good position.

2. Is Google Moving Beyond Search to “Discovery”?

RC Jordan posts on Threadwatch that the future aim of Google is not search, but “discovery” - pre-empting the user’s query before it’s even made.

It’s an audacious vision, but with the extensive collection of user data flooding into Google’s servers, they are certainly building a data platform to eventually build from.

Star quote (RC Jordan):

Is Search dead? Are we moving into an era where Google is going to try to answer our own, our personalized, inquiries before we have even fully formed them in our own minds? Is this what the bright minds are talking about in the Googleplex as they try to figure out how to move the behemoth forward to the next era on the net? If Google is moving beyond inquiry driven results toward suggestions driven by collaborative filtering and personalized browsing history, what does that mean for SEO?

3. How to Leverage Web 2.0 & Social Media Sites to Market Your Brand & Control Your Message

Social media optimisation is the real winner in terms of pushing positive user data at your site.

It’s also an area I’m waaay behind on and absolutely need to catch up on - presuming my clients will allow myself time outside of existing work schedules. :)

Either way, Jane at SEOmoz lays it out - social media isn’t going away and absolutely needs to be catered for if you want to remain part of the loop in the future internet.

Star quote (Jane Copeland):

Either the term Web 2.0 makes your blood boil, or you’ve taken to throwing it around like a free Google frisbee. If you’re in the camp whose collective feeling is one of seething hatred, you may soon find yourself in the position of the people who didn’t like mobile telephones being referred to as “cells.” It appears that Web 2.0 - the concept and its controversial name - aren’t going away.