Stumbled across this great article talking about some facts and trends about search usage, online marketing and social media behavior in 2009 for individuals in the U.S. Some of the more interesting facts:

“The U.S. core search market grew 16 percent in 2009, driven by a 6-percent gain in unique searchers and a 10-percent gain in search queries per searcher. Google and Bing led among the core search engines in terms of increases in market share.”

The 10% gain in search queries per searcher is interesting: are people not finding what they want and need to refine their search or are they just using search engines more?

“Social networking continued to gain momentum in 2009 with nearly 4 out of 5 Internet users visiting a social networking site on a monthly basis and Facebook and Twitter propelling much of the growth in the category.”

This comes as no surprise, especially specifically highlighting Facebook and Twitter as the two major social networking traffic drivers.

I’m thinking we’ll only see these trends continue in 2010.

Presented at SEMpdx’s November 2009 SEO Fundamentals event, this presentation covers SEO tips for “universal search”. In other words, how to do SEO for “alternate” (non-text) content, which can improve your placement in search engines and/or help you gain more visibility with your content across the Web. Focuses primarily on image & video but touches on flash, audio (podcasts) and more.

(note – the presentation isn’t visible in the feed if you’re reading via email/rss/facebook – you have to click through to see it)

A summary of the “Optimizing Alternate Content” tips in the presentation:

• Filenames should match the content

• Optimize the HTML to provide contextual clues

• Make sure it’s crawlable

• Use proper formatting

• Leverage ‘attributes’

• Leverage syndication/distribution channels to get your content “out there” and found

Share your tips below or contact Amplify Interactive regarding our search engine optimization (SEO) services

Part of what makes search engine marketing such a unique and interesting industry is that it’s constantly evolving. That being said, 2010 will be no different.

Here is what the team from Amplify Interactive thinks will happen with SEM in 2010:

Ben

It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon here and just say the words “social media” – everyone is in a frenzy about this, and I think it’s valuable and a must-do – but replacing search? You’re crazy. The current state of social media marketing reminds me of when search started to gain widespread acceptance – marketers are just frazzled with trying to figure out what they should be doing.  That being said:

1. Definitely more convergence of search & social. Search engines will continue to work on ways to incorporate signals from social media. And this is badly needed – harnessing real time data from twitter & facebook status updates is a pretty great way to catch ‘breaking’ news. However – I think it’s ludicrous to assume that social can or will handle the same functions that search can. Yes – you can find a brand and interact with them. Hell, you can even ask your friends/followers for recommendations or help with a problem – is this the same as search? No.
2. Continued emergence of Bing and hopefully some improvements to their algorithm. Assuming this Yahoo/Bing deal goes through, the search engine space will get a lot more interesting.
3. More emergence of vertical search. Whether Google starts to incorporate tabs for travel, restaurants, etc, or whether Google “killer-ettes” (Danny Sullivan’s term) continue to emerge and serve a specific market much better than Google does (like urbanspoon) – I think we’ll all be better off…. please don’t let Google acquire you.
4. On my wishlist?: Bing, Yahoo & Facebook need to step up their game for making their advertiser interface better and easier to use. Also – more editor tools for Mac users please.
5. Another wish list item: Better education and understanding and acceptance of content as a driver for search and social.
6. Another wish list item: Better understanding of Web analytics and what measurements matter to you… and how to act on the right KPIs. If I hear “our hits are down” one more time…

Blu

In 2010 I do not see a whole lot changing as far as search engines adjusting their algorithms however I do foresee a continued push for companies and individuals to own more of a share of their targeted results through interactive media, social media and content syndication. These days search is so much more than simply optimizing a website or managing bids, it is migrating so that search marketers need to effectively be able to setup and manage multiple third party platforms to achieve their goals.

Christian

I think there will be even more of a convergence between social media and SEO. After all, the goal of having an optimized website is getting found by your ideal customer… this will be the same objective for social media as well (without being too pushy). While it definitely is now, it’ll be more of a focal point for search engine marketers in 2010.

I also believe more and more websites will be “doing the right thing” (i.e. be optimized for their specific target audience) which will only make it even more important to continue creating optimized content to have a dynamic and organic website. More competition is fine if you’re on top of optimized content creation.

And lastly, online reputation monitoring will be even more needed in 2010, as social review websites, Twitter, Facebook and more continue to harvest conversations about you and your brand. If you pretend that the conversations aren’t happening and do not address them head-on, then you’ll be missing out on making relationships with the main “influencers” for your brand and identity.

Spencer

Considering SEO and SEM are dead, Team Amplify must be zombies because we are still around. This makes trends 1,2, and 3….BRAINS!

Seriously though, while staying away from mobile and local search (which are increasingly becoming one in the same), and staring deep into my crystal ball these are my predictions for SEM 2010:

1.) Rise of interactive advertising for streaming web-based content: Perhaps this is more of 2011-12 prediction, but the recent deal struck between Comcast and NBC Universal’s parent company General Electric shows that high quality entertainment is continuing its migration to web. Contrary to what disgruntled Comcast customers may think, Comcast is not stupid. Comcast sees a vast arena to market products through interactive advertising via the web content, whether they are saying it or not.

Just imagine you are watching a live streaming game (using Comcast’s high speed service) on ESPN360, and during the scheduled commercial break, a Nike ad appears. An ad serving system, or Nike’s media buyer, recognizes that you would probably be more receptive to this ad since you are already watching a sporting event. Sounds like TV right? Wait though, at the end of the ad, you as an engaged audience member are given the option to buy it from, say, Zappos, Foot Locker or Nike themselves without having to leave your seat. The best part is, for Nike or its retail partner it is measurable, highly targeted, efficient and featured along side high quality entertainment that has helped sell products for years. This is a very basic example, as product placements, and promotional tie-ins make possibilities endless. Combine these benefits with localized advertising results for big-ticket items such as cars or dishwashers this could be a match made in e-commerce heaven.

Comcast is already the only major cable television and high speed internet provider in many large markets. It has the customer base and infrastructure through these channels to deliver content, now their own, with targeted spots on a customer to customer basis.  They can now charge for the content, and possibly charge on a CPC or CPA basis for its advertisers to get interactive. Get ready for it.

2.) Social Media aggregation: I highlighted this in a recent interview I did for my friends at Idea Mensch, and I stole it from the very bright Jeremiah Owyang. The jist of it is for even web savvy people it is difficult to maintain more than 3 three social media profiles, and for businesses it is even more difficult. What aggregation gives users and businesses (especially) is a one-stop shop to manage all of their social media profiles, no matter how niche the segment is. Scaling social media is difficult, and aggregation is the first of many steps in solving this scaling dilemma.

3.) Amplify Interactive kicking ass and taking names: Because that’s what we do around here.

Check with me around this time next year, and tell me how foolish I was, but rest assured number 3 is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Care to share what you think how SEM will evolve in 2010? Feel free to leave us a comment!

Do you know about Google’s personalized results feature? Basically, if you’re logged into your Google account and have the personalized results feature turned on, when performing a search on Google, the results will be “personalized” based on your previous searching behavior.

Previously, this feature was an “opt-in” feature where you had to manually go and set this feature up. Now, Google is turning it into an “opt-out” feature.

Why this is something to take note of?

1. It influences your perception of search engine rankings. When this feature is on, actual search engine rankings become distorted due to your search history and previous search behavior.
2. This being “opt-out” means, more than likely, more individuals will be using this feature (whether knowing about it or not). With Google serving personalized results, it’ll be even more important for your website to show up from the onset so that a user’s personalized results doesn’t shut your website out of their results just because they’ve clicked on your competitor’s websites.

It’ll be important to know whether this feature is turned on in your Google account settings so you can accurately depict unbiased search engine result pages.

I was recently watching a rerun episode of HBO’s “HardKnocks” featuring the Cincinnati Bengals, and Terry “Tank” Johnson asked a great online reputation management question during a team session with what must have been a PR person. Anyway – she was talking about the idea of “anything you do can get posted online and live forever”. It was at this point that Tank Johnson raised his hand and asked if there was any way to get rid of the bad stuff that shows up when you Google his name. The PR rep said “no”, which is true – but it isn’t the complete answer. A little effort and some savvy could probably do wonders for improving the Google results when I look up Tank Johnson.

It’s probably best to back up here and give a little background. If you don’t follow football or know who Terry “Tank” Johnson is – you may not know that he started his NFL career as a defensive lineman with the Chicago Bears after an outstanding couple of years playing for University of Washington, where he got the nickname Tank. While with Chicago, Tank Johnson got into a little (lot of) hot water with a few gun related arrests, which ultimately led to him putting a little time in behind bars, getting suspended by the NFL, and being kicked off of the Chicago Bears in the process. Now, depending on the search you use, it isn’t hard to find less than flattering results in Google for his name. You’ll find mug shots and news stories about his “Chicago troubles”, arrests, and testifying in a murder trial.

So what could Tank Johnson do to “fix” the Google results for his name? Here’s some

Online Reputation Management Tips for Terry “Tank” Johnson

Have a Good Reputation Offline

The first rule of Online Reputation Management is that you have to have a good reputation offline. You can employ all the smartest tactics and make short term fixes, but if you’re a disaster of a person in real life – there’s no way that they’ll stick because the next negative news item or comment or review will lay all your hard work to waste. So, the first thing that Tank Johnson needs to do is stay out of trouble and start doing positive things with his life that he can publicize online.

Highlight the Positive Online

Now that you’re keeping your nose clean, improving your performance on the field, and maybe even doing some charity work – you’ve got to let people know about it. This might manifest itself online in the following ways: positive news coverage, player profiles, press releases from the team or from your own publicity, multimedia (photos & videos). So the question becomes – how to get those things to show up in Google for your name instead of the “bad” items? The key lies in building links to the positive items, and encouraging other people to link to them as well. Link to them from your blog, from your Twitter account, from press releases, from your Facebook page, from your team site, etc.

Do Some Blocking & Tackling Online

You’ll notice in the item above that I recommended building links to the positive items. In order to really make that work – you need to generate some authority online. One – you’ve got to have a Web presence or two or three that you own. A popular place is Twitter and/or Facebook, but these work best if you’ve got a site or blog to act as a central location for your online presence. From here – you can use Twitter and Facebook as extensions of your primary site. After all – Twitter or Facebook may go the way of MySpace or Friendster someday. Once you link Twitter and Facebook to your blog – and “optimize” them for your name, all of a sudden you’ve got three Web properties that can show up on page 1 in Google for your name. When that happens, you may find that some of those negative items get “pushed” to page two – effectively making them “disappear”. Use these tools to create links to the positive items that you’d rather see show up in search results for your name. You can take this strategy even further by creating profiles on other sites like Flickr, LinkedIn, Google Profiles, YouTube, etc.

Continue to Generate Positive Publicity

While there may be some more sensational publicity stunts you can do to generate a lot of buzz and coverage in a short amount of time – simple things like taking advantage of photo opps, granting interviews, and donating your time and money to worthy causes will pay off in the long run. The key is to be savvy about promoting those items online.

These are just a few tips that any person or company could employ to improve their online reputation.  Google even gives some advice for managing your reputation through search results. Amplify Interactive offers online reputation management services as well. Feel free to share any online reputation management tips you may have for Terry “Tank” Johnson below.