Expert Roundup on The Future of Search in 2010 and How it Will Affect Your Business

Search industry experts weigh in with search predictions for 2010 to attain higher ranking and greater visibility for your business

One of the top questions facing marketers, entrepreneurs and web masters today is what specific strategies to watch out for to increase website traffic, conversions and relevancy when people search for their products or services online.

Here we’ve put together a list of leading industry experts offering their predictions on which areas of search you should be concentrating on in 2010 and why. Whether you’re a small business owner or managing the account of a Fortune 500 company, being aware of search predictions for the year will help you stay ahead of the curve, capitalize on major developing trends and tweak your business model accordingly for optimal results.

Introduction – the Current State of the Search Industry

Although the search industry has been around since 1993 when the world’s first web search engine was launched, it has exploded in growth only in the last decade or so.

Some facts to showcase important developing trends in the search industry:

• According to Pew Internet searching for information online is the second most popular online activity for the past 10 years; second only to email



• comScore says that over 25 billion search queries are generated monthly in North America alone with the bulk of the North American searches (63.0%) being handled by Google.
• Google remains the number one search engine of choice across the world.
• YouTube is now the second largest search engine in the US, usurping Yahoo’s place.
• Facebook services over one billion queries each month for its 400 million users worldwide.
• Over 50% of online users research a product or service online before deciding to buy it offline.
• Social networking accounts for 11% of time spent online by US users, making it one of the most engaging activities on the net.
• According to Nielsen, almost 50 million US mobile subscribers use their mobile phone to access the web each month.
• Some new categories that have been added to web search in recent times are real time search, mobile search and local search.
• The hunt for the best location-specific search is heating up, with the main contenders being Foursquare, Yelp, Facebook (in conjunction with EventBrite), Gowalla, Twitter and Booyah.
• On-page SEO factors like site speed will be incorporated into Google’s search strategy.
• Forrester Research estimates that 60% of American marketers will increase their online budgets by pulling money from traditional marketing expenses.
• Econsultancy and ExactTarget say that 24% of all marketing will be digital with 28% of firms shifting (not adding) budgets from traditional to online channels; of these 64% will increase SEO budgets, 51% will increase SEM budgets, and 70% will increase social media marketing budgets.
• E-Marketer, a digital marketing research firm, predicts that the search industry will grow exponentially in the areas of digital marketing and social media marketing in 2010 and beyond.

The Experts

Rand Fishkin – SEO Moz, CEO & Founder

Rand Fishkin is the CEO & Co-Founder of SEOmoz, a leader in the field of search engine optimization tools, resources & community.

Matt Cutts – Google, Head of Webspam

Matt Cutts is Google’s go-to guy for the public. He joined Google in January 2000 and is currently heading the Google Webspam team which handles search quality.

Aaron Wall – SEO Book

Aaron Wall is the CEO of SEOBook, a site that ranks #1 for the term “SEO training”. He is an expert search marketer offering tips, tools and strategies via his blog and training program.

Jill Whalen – High Rankings, CEO and Founder

Jill Whalen started her career in search in 1990 and founded High Rankings, a SEO firm, in 1995.

Danny Sullivan – Search Engine Land, Founder

Danny Sulivan is the editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land, a respected online website giving some of the best and most in-depth coverage of the search engine industry.

Steve Ballmer – Microsoft, CEO

Steve Ballmer has been Microsoft’s CEO since 2000. In 2009, he made his first ever CES (Consumer Electronics Show) keynote address since the departure of Microsoft’s founder Bill Gates.

Eric Schmidt – Google, CEO

Eric Schmidt joined Google as its CEO in 2001. Recruited by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Eric has helped turn Google into a global company.

Marissa Mayer – Google, VP of Search and User Experience

Marissa Mayer is currently the Vice President of Search Product and User Experience at Google. She often speaks on behalf of the company, appearing in video interviews for the press.

Jeff Walters – Strategy Outfitters

Jeff Walters is a consultant at Strategy Outfitters and co-founder of two marketing firms, Clicksquared and Targetbase. His specialty is internet marketing and he advises businesses in brand building and marketing techniques.

Shashi Seth – Yahoo, Search Products

Shashi Seth has worked for several companies, working at AOL, eBay and Google before being appointed Sr. VP, Search Products at Yahoo.

Posted by Start Local Team

Category Online Marketing

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