The buzz from PubCon Vegas 2008, held a few days ago, is that big changes are coming from Google in the way they calculate and display search results.

First, traffic is going to be taken much more seriously when calculating rankings. This will change SEM (Search Engine Marketing) a lot, because it will no longer just be a matter of optimizing on page text and building inbound links.

Google has been threatening this for a long time, but it seems in early 2009 they will begin implementing a system that ranks sites on the basis of traffic, bounce rates (how long visitors stay on your site), conversions, and other measures of visitor behaviour. The sites that offer engaging content based on an analysis of visitor behaviour will be the winners.

With the cooperation of web owners, the big G has been gradually building the system to gather this kind of information. It’s called Google Analytics which web owners install on their web pages or blogs. Analytics allows Google to track total traffic, quality of traffic, where visitors come from, how long visitors stay on your site, and much more. So it certainly seems that if G starts using this data you will have a definite advantage if you install Google Analytics - a convenient coincidence for Google, and one which promises to strengthen their hold on the search market even more.

Personalized Search Results

The other thing that is about to happen (according to Bruce Clay, a speaker at PubCon) is that search results will vary from person to person. Searching for something like “web marketing” may turn up one set of results for you and another set of results for me.  Your results will be based, at least partly, on your past search history - what type of sites you have visited, and what type of searches you have done.

This will also make it difficult to track the results of SEO programs, and will force SEM specialists to refocus their efforts. They will have to get much more serious about meaningful traffic building, and the implementation of effective systems to keep visitors on client sites and convert them into subscribers or customers.

Resources:
Will Personal Search Turn SEO On Its Ear?