The end of 2008 is fast approaching and the time has come to provide some insights on the coming year for search, SEO and online marketing.  These are some insights on the search marketing industry and search in 2009.

  1. Google - Time to get personal.
    We have already seen Google adding touches of personalization to our search results when logged in.  Over the coming 2 years we shall see more and more the search results we see differing depending on our location, our browsing history, our interests, our age, gender and every other aspect of our digital lives and our behavior online will impact upon the results we see within search results.  I wonder how long before Google can tap into our bank accounts, know our finances and only display adverts for products and services in our price range?
  2. Google Video & image adverts
    Will we ever see the rumored image or video advert delivered from Google Adwords, on a search results page?  Wasn’t this one of the main reasons we left Yahoo and went to Google? – cleaner, nicer and simpler uncluttered results pages.  Eye tracking around video and images has shown that they drawn the searchers attention.  Any real estate around an image within the search results page garners nearly 95% of eye attention for the first second.  Given, on a normal search page only 0.7 of a second is spent on one single search result scanning and then moving on, capturing 1 second, and being the first point of attention almost regardless of position on the page is a huge advantage.  If Google allow image or video adverts on their search pages, don’t hesitate, snap them up as your click through will increase five-fold.
  3. Google search results page layout
    Expect it, maybe in 2009 or 2010, and it will be something like a 2 column + sponsored listing or a 3 column + sponsored listings layout.  Research shows that eye tracking and focuses on the left side of the page and that click through rate is decreasing for sponsored listings/pay per click.  Maybe the PPC adverts will be mixed in with search results.
  4. Email – Knocking on deaths door
    Social networking sites are going to replace email.  Expect that within the next 2 years most people will be shifting to using their Facebook profile, or trimmed down equivalents for communicating with people.  I imagine that Facebook are planning for something like a dual interface, your work persona and your personal profile.  Most companies would loath to have their employee’s personal profiles on display to their clients so to overcome this there might be the ability to lock away elements during office hours, or provide an ability to block certain people to elements of the profile.
    There was a recent study that showed teenagers rarely use email, as it is considered too formal.  Social networking sites, like Facebook allowed them to interact with friends profiles, find out what they up to and catch up with them virtually.  Conversations would be based around activities and profile updates.
  5. Year of the ROBO & buying online – budget shoppers
    As the tough economic times start to bite over the next 2 years we shall see more and more customers focusing on how they can save money on the products and services that they purchase.
    This will come in 2 forms, firstly, ROBO and secondly, buying online.
    The year of the ROBO (research online, buy offline).  2009 will see more and more the bloom of the robo shopper, researching online, finding products and prices and then buying offline.  Quite often the purchaser is willing to pay a higher price to buy from a bricks an mortar store, but they are more informed in their purchase and knowingly doing this.
    While ROBO will increase it is part of an overall trend, in the increased usage of the Internet for both researching and buying.  I anticipate that buying online will increase at a greater rate than all other buying mechanisms.

Well here is hoping that 2009 and 2010 bring many exciting changes to search and that SEO specialists still have a job!