Google currently gets 30,000 searches per second. They aim to reduce webspam and constantly update their algorithms. SEO is getting harder, but they still continue to grow. One might predict that this trend will only grow and eventually that their following will increase, however is that really the case? How is the SEO industry going to face the future of Google?
The Future of Search Engines
Other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo are stepping their game up. They are improving the quality of their search engine algorithm, the algorithm that is used to rank websites that takes in factors such as the amount of quality links that link to the website. Competitors are taking their shot at Google, but can it really work?
Bing and Yahoo Merged, now showing the same results. This is an attempt to team up and maximize results to compete against Google. By combining their team working on the algorithm they now have more manpower and brains to implement a more complex efficient ranking system for websites and attempt to show better results than Google does. Is this enough though? Will users flock to other lesser known search engines just because it might provide for slightly better results? Only time will tell, and that is only if the competitors can manage to provide better results with a more user friendly interface.
The future of SEO
Google is changing the game of link building, search engine optimization, and the entire internet marketing industry. They aim to reduce webspam. The future of SEO will focus on the following 5 aspects:
- More focus on natural links and natural link acquisition rate
- Better quality content. Google is going to penalize “spun” content
- Social shares and social reach
- Click through rate, time on site and other and user metrics
- Brand presence. Google will see how many searches your brand gets.
Bing and Advertisments
Bing currently pays advertisers for shout outs. In many popular TV shows the host gets payed a certain amount of money for using the word bing when talking about searching something online. A popular example is Ridiculousness on MTV, they have a whole segment called “Bing it!” where they go to Bing and type in a funny phrase and see what pops up.
This tactic is a way to try to get users to check out their search engine and maybe replace using Google with Bing. Bing has used this strategy with several other hosted TV shows as well. Now that googling has become synonymous with searching online, Bing and other competitors are falling behind even more.
Other Search Engines
Competitor search engines provide more data, faster results, more answers and less ads. Search engines such as Blekko and DuckDuckGo all provide a much friendlier user interface than Google. Not only that but they are less cluttered with paid sponsored listings and other paid advertisements. These other “no name” search engines also provide more results per page and arguably better results on the page. This is Google’s worst nightmare when it comes to losing users however they are able to lean on the fact that people are unsusceptible to change and experiment with other possibilities.
Google’s Struggle
Google is struggling to combat spam. Google search results are starting to get flooded with spam websites and garbage. Depending on how Google handles this situation, it could easily lead to their downfall.
Google remains the number one search engine by a large margin despite all of their, perhaps glaring, flaws. Sponsored ads are taking over the first page listings which may or may not be the quality website that you happen to be searching for. The natural listings of Google and nearly every other search engine still remain more reliable than their paid results. Changing users over from Google to other search engines can be a daunting task but could it be for the better?
Citations:
Thomas Bagley
Chief Staff Supreme Content Writer for an Orlando White Hat SEO Company
