Mediaboss Marketing

Personalization is here! Wait, it was kind of already here, so now is it totally here?

Its often hard to dissect how far we are into personalization already as we work past the ramblings of many who are angry that Google and Bing might actually know something about them. We also have to look back at where weve been as well, and as SEOs, formulate where we need to go in the future.

Personalization is the logical next step in the progression of the top search engines. In Google alone, we have seen the entry of local results, the birth of universal search, the Caffeine update, Google Instant, and Search Plus Your World. This shows that our content marketing efforts need to be fresh, fast, and most importantly relevant.

Googles Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt reinforced the fact that changes to search are on the horizon.

Google search will continue to become more personalized, getting away from the 10 link approach that we see in search results today," Schmidt said at the Mobile World Congress.

So, why is everyone so mad? In the previous context, Google wants to give us the most relevant results possible even if it is a little creepy. Im willing to accept the creepiness of artificial intelligence knowing everything about me in order to make my life easier via extremely relevant search results.

When GPS systems became a featured component in newer cars did we freak out that a computer knew where we were? Did we pull over and look for our horse and buggy? No, we appreciated the convenience and it probably saved a few headaches getting to our destination. This is simply the same thing that search engine personalization is evolving into.

First off, Google and Bing are becoming smarter at corralling SEOs into todays search model. The days of building out pages with content just to target a certain term, building some links, and walking away are over.

Optimized sites/content are now becoming a vehicle for forward facing web marketing. Content must have likability. It must be shared and be of the quality that will be passed among the masses socially. In the future, the algorithm won't accept that you feature some keyword terms on a page and some randomly associated links.

Gone are the days of waiting for traffic to arrive at your site. Instead of building a website, now youre building a brand. A brand that delivers content through news outlets, a brand that is engaged in social media, a brand that pushes content through email and through other avenues just to name a few.

Read the original:
SEO & Personalization: An Evolving Relationship