SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible

different browsers, but also it’s read the best by spider, and mobile devices display it just like it’s

supposed to be displayed. Now I’m starting to see customers that are starting to recognize that this

is an important thing. And other firms that are also starting to code that way.

Jerri: What’s coming for the future of SEO and how can organizations begin to prepare for

those coming changes now?

Kuehn:I think that what’s happening with the Web... if you think of the evolution of search

engines and the search engine algorithms, they have to stay a couple of steps ahead of the search

engine spammers. So we’re starting to see search results or weighting a site more by using a human

editor. For example, there is some indication that Google may begin weighing Digg results into the

authority given to a web site.

We are also going to see more and more content that is built specifically for SEO being removed

from search engine result pages. Social search — Mahalo is a good example — wikis of search results

and other methods of human-filtered content are becoming popular. And it will work especially well

if you can develop a way to use other search tools like Google and Yahoo! and filter out all the use-

less information.

Google is best suited to figure this out. So while there are sites out there like Digg and you’re using

them to vote as to whether a site is good or not, I think that Google could start to figure out how to

weigh human input into their algorithm, then that’s essentially what’s going to happen. The future is

going to be more about “let’s not focus so much on the search engine, let’s focus on what’s valuable

content.”

It’s like the saying, “If you build it they will come.” I think humans as opposed to a machine might

think about your site and how valuable your site is and that’s going to be much more important than

anything else that you can do. So if you can get people to drink the Kool-Aid on that — if you build

it, they will come.

Jerri: How do you see vertical SEO going?

Kuehn:I think we’re a little bit far off from that right now... that being where you want to spend

a lot of time. Of course it depends on how niche your business focus is. Let’s use real estate as an

example. If you’re in real estate, you’re going to want to focus on major search engines because that’s

where your audience is. Your audience isn’t going to be something niche.

It depends. There are sites like Knowledge Storm where you see a lot of tech things and you can pay

to be on there. That can be very effective from the marketing perspective of participating on that,

but right now the money and focus should be on where people are going, and right now they’re still

on the major search engines. I think it’s a ways off before people are going to their own niche area.

If Google can figure out how to (in specific vertical or niche areas) deliver me good results, why

would you try something else? Why would you split your searches up into different areas?

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