My SEO Trends for 2009

Filed in SEO by Matt McGee on January 26, 2009

I think it was last April, when I first met Anita Campbell at the Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference in Houston, that I promised her a guest post on Small Biz Trends about SEO. Under the better late than never program, that guest post was published this morning:

SEO Trends for 2009

I share six “Industry/Big Picture” trends, six “Strategy and Tactics” trends, and then include thoughts on SEO trends that I collected last week via Twitter.

This is actually the first of two guest articles for Small Biz Trends. I emailed Anita a couple weeks ago with a different idea. She liked what I suggested, but invited me to also do this SEO trends piece. 🙂

Comments (6)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Don Campbell says:

    I just read it this morning – excellent article Matt.

    I agree – lots more interest in SEO services, video is going to get even bigger, and uncertainty about how personalized search results will be accepted.
    -Don

  2. Ocha says:

    The thing I have learned about SEO is that it changes. Just as your article on FoxNews indicates Google made 400 changes. Wow! So I still try to write for the humans with a dash of SEO. Sure I structure my posts around a particular topic and build around the key phrase. Just keep it real and be yourself.

  3. Ben says:

    Matt,

    What are you thoughts on the increasing popularity of “directory” sites dominating various categories in the organic search listings?

    Although some are useful, it is starting to remind me of the paid ads of the past – those that simply brought you to another list of (paid) ads.

    Keep up the great work!

    Ben

  4. Matt McGee says:

    Thanks for the comments, gang. Ben – can you be more specific?

  5. Sean Hecking says:

    Nice list Matt. I’m already starting to see more client inquiries for local search, so this will be big for sure. I can see why many companies would consider in-house SEO from a cost standpoint. Having worked for both in-house and agency side SEO, I have to lean toward agency SEO when it comes to results. In-house SEOs are pulled in too many directions at times. Agency SEOs benefit from having many other skilled peers to share experience. I have a feeling that many directories will begin to lose their value over the next year or so. Since social media is becoming more important in online marketing, firms will need to pair an SEO strategy with Social Media strategy in order to stay competitive.

  6. Daniel says:

    Matt – what do you think about the notion of PR as a way to get increased SEO performance? I’ve heard of more people trying to get articles placed in larger publications, since those links live online and it’s a twofer: publicity + SEO rankings. I was thinking of doing some PR too (but with a place like Publicity Guaranteed that charges only on placement) since I need PR, but I think it could influence my SEO too. What do you think?