In fact the article is an example of the point it is making – namely, by choosing the keyword “Sarah Palin” it immediately becomes readable and, in the eyes of Google at least, potentially noteworthy.

There’s no doubt Google is responding to pressure from Bing.com, the new improved Microsoft search engine which now has new legs since the deal with Yahoo.

They are also responding to the news that both Twitter and Facebook are coming out with their own search engines.

You can be sure the revamp of Google, the new Bing, and the new engines from Twitter and FB are going to change the role of search engine optimization somewhat.

If you have a website promoting local services (such as a local real estate site) it is difficult to compete with search engine optimization experts who have built sites targeting your most important keywords. These “experts” have no interest in serving your market with useful information. What they want is to gain local ranking so Google will send searchers to click on their pay per click ads.

It’s a free world, so people can do whatever they want with their websites. But it’s too bad Google has to reward website owners who play the game this way.

If you’re a local business person, you probably know how difficult it is to get good ranking for your most important keywords. Even if you focus your site on a local keyword like Leisure World homes for sale or Vancouver Real Estate you’re in for a battle.

That’s because search engine optimization (SEO) experts set up bogus re-direct sites that are in direct competition with yours for rankings. The purpose of these sites is to capture search engine rankings (and therefore search engine traffic) so they can send that traffic to pay per click ads or other money-making websites. The owners of these websites have no interest in actually providing services or original information about the markets they pretend to serve.

The little guy – like a local real estate agent, for example – doesn’t stand much of a chance against these “experts”. They usually own a large nest of sites where they can plant links that boost the rankings of their money-making redirect sites.

As I’ve said many times before, the blame for skewing search traffic like this has to be laid directly at the feet of the search engines themselves – especially Google – who makes tons of money from pay per click advertising that runs on these re-direct sites. They have always talked a good game when it comes to criticizing link farms, purchased links, etc. But have usually turned around and rewarded the practitioners of these techniques with rankings that resulted in healthy advertising returns.

Changes at Google

According to some observers Google is finally doing something about this. For example, see this blog post (and video) that discusses some of some of the changes coming to how Google ranks sites.

The big changes coming in the near future have to do with the importance of targeted traffic, the use of rich content such as video, and the gradual introduction of personalized search results based on user patterns and interests.

I’ve been doing SEO for a few years and concluded about two years ago that chasing after rankings using old-fashioned link building techniques is a mug’s game.

Instead, it gradually became obvious to me that the content of specific web pages should be what determines their position in the search engine pecking order. Not only did I consider it a bit dishonest to try building links the old-fashioned way, but I felt it was inevitable that the major search engines would eventually figure out better ways of ranking sites.

Right from the beginning the original developers of Google certainly agreed that “content is king”. But unfortunately they cashed this idea out in terms of inbound links. They assumed that a page about, say “dog training”, with many inbound dog training references (links) from other web sites is an important “dog training” resource, and deserves to be ranked higher when people search for “dog training”.

But as we all know, links can be manipulated. In the not so distant past an enterprising link building specialist could build a network of sites – especially blogs – and fill them with links to other sites they wanted to give a boost in the rankings.

For the most part it didn’t matter whether anybody ever looked at those sites, or whether actual traffic ever came from them.

Traffic a much better indicator

Of course search engine experts always claimed that the ultimate reason for link building was to generate traffic. But the focus for the last six or seven years has been on manipulating search engine rankings to generate traffic from search engines. Whether traffic came from the actual links on the linking sites was of secondary importance.

Getting traffic from the search engines has always been the rationale for spending time, energy and money on search engine optimization.

Having been involved in this game for a few years I find it interesting how many website owners now just take it for granted that search engines should be their primary source of traffic.

For instance, I occasionally suggest to a client that a better way to generate higher quality targeted traffic is to develop a client and prospect list and do regular emails to the list. The email messages can be used to drive traffic to an article, squeeze page or blog post. But often enough the response I get makes me wonder if I am talking Chinese.

Whether website owners understand it or not, many experts (myself included) think this is the way Google must go in the immediate future. As time goes by Google will be giving more and more credit to sites that already have targeted traffic and use interactive components that demonstrate visitor involvement. Things such as video content and blogs – both of which do a good job of tracking views and reader comments.

Search Engine Optimization is all about building a website or web resource (page, video, article, etc.) that gives the search engines what they are looking for. The better you do this, the better your chances of getting high search ranking for your pages.

The first thing you should understand is that “content is king” with the search engines. Not just any old content, but the content that is focused on the specific topics that people are looking for. A blog allows you to create hundreds of pages that each have a very specific focus.

These pages are self-reinforcing – which means that they all reinforce the main general theme of your blog. So as you are creating many individual pages you are also creating an “authoritative” body of material that the search engines view as a valuable resource. This results in better search engine rankings for the site as a whole.

Second, your chances of scoring well with the search engines are magnified even further because now each of your posts can be optimized for different search terms, and each of them has a chance of coming up high in search engine rankings for its own keywords. For example, your blog’s general theme may be “Memphis real estate”, but the focus of a specific post or series of posts might be “mortgages in Memphis”. Now you have a chance of scoring well for those search terms too.

Third, blogs are updated regularly. The search engines assume that a regularly updated resource has more value to viewers than one that is not updated regularly. So your site is given more priority when they are crawling the web – in other words, they visit your site more often and keep their indexes up to date with the changes and additions you make.

Fourth, the search engines look for interlinking with other authoritative sites that share your theme. For instance, if your site is about “dog training”, then links from other dog training sites and links to other dog training sites will strengthen the association of your site with all the other sites you link to. This will enhance your site’s prominence within the whole “neighborhood” of dog training sites. Obviously a blog gives you unlimited opportunities to create these associations. Each post can (and should) link out to other posts about similar topics. And each post also serves as “link bait” attracting inbound links from other bloggers and webmasters.

And fifth, the search engines look for other evidence that people value your content. Increased traffic to your pages, and interaction with them (comments and questions) are signs to the search engines that your site is a valuable resource within your niche. As traffic and interaction increase, your rankings within searches will go even higher.

So as you can see, having a blog that your add posts to on a regular basis, and one that focuses on a range of interesting topics within your main niche is a great way to build your credibility with the search engines. This can’t help but push your search rankings up for all the topics you discuss within your blog.

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?

Learn how to write page titles that will rank well in Google and make people click through to your site.

This goes through how to use Google keyword tool. it is about 2minutes long and will show you how to pick the most searched for keywords for a page on your site. http://peakstudios.com

Tips on how to do keyword research for search engine optimization to help ensure your site ranks well in search engines like Google.

Google Boys. Andrew Hazen, President of Prime Visibility speaks with Google Boys regarding Search Engine Optimization and Marketing.

PPC SEM SEO Search Engine Optimization Internet Marketing Website Prime Visibility Design Web Analytics Google Yahoo MSN