SEO Trend Spotting

SEO trends move fast, so it’s OK to jump in where you are! Use this primer to get clued in to some of the current jargon and trends in SEO. Universal or blended search Remember when the search engines used to deliver three lines of text and a link for every listing? If you wanted vertical search results like video, image, shopping, and maps, you had to click on a tab or perform a special search. Now the major search engines have blended all types of listings together in the standard search results. This may create additional exposure opportunities for your site if it has well-optimized video or image listings. On the flipside, it leaves fewer spots for the standard text listings. Search engine transparency Don’t expect search engines to open the black box and shine a light on their secret algorithms, but all of the major search engines now offer some form of two-way communication between official representatives and the developer crowd. Tips and news are delivered—and questions are answered!—in blogs and forums, and webmaster tools take the guesswork out of some indexing and listing issues. Those of us who practiced SEO in the Stone Age get a big kick out of seeing the enmity that once existed between the search engines and webmasters begin to dissolve

away.