SEO Blog

As always the world of search has moved forward in huge leaps over the past 12 months. We have welcomed new sites – such as Bing – and have prepared to say goodbye to a few famous old names, not least Yahoo.

So what have the changes in 2009 meant for SEO in 2010? Well, the emphasis that has been emerging over the last year has very much been on the quality of websites. Google, along with Microsoft and Yahoo, have been cracking down on those disguising bad sites with good SEO; which has resulted in huge changes in rankings.

Google’s Vince update was one of the most significant algorithm changes. It caused numerous changes to how rankings were developed, with a greater emphasis given to brands and the original source of products and services. It also saw UK results littered with foreign sites, which is still improving with more developments likely in the future.

Bing took over from Micrsoft’s waning Live Search engine, with immediate results. Whilst the initial furore has died down a little now and their position as the third most popular search site now secure, few would argue that it offers a better search experience. Microsoft have touted it as the first ‘answer engine’, which has resulted in vast changes to the presentation and collation of results. Google remain dominant, but with Bing set to take over Yahoo too in early 2010, a more concerted and very real challenge to their superiority may be in the offing.

Real-time search also went from a fanciful concept to reality, with all major search engines signing deals with Twitter and Facebook to start syndicating public posts within their search results. This is something that has very much been a developing story throughout the latter half of 2009 and was only finally realised by Google last week; so don’t expect this to be the last time that you hear that mentioned.

Caffeine is also something to watch out for in 2010. No, not the stimulant drug, but the Google algorithm update. This could change the way we optimise websites, although not drastically enough that we have to drop everything and start again. With things like site load time likely to become a ranking factor in the quality and speed based Google update, it’s time to start looking at how well sites perform for visitors – not that it wasn’t already of course.

Search is looking to become more social in 2010. Although the search engine’s grip doesn’t look to be slipping, if anything it is getting stronger, sites like Facebook and Twitter have dedicated a good deal of resources to aggregating their boards to create a public real-time search facility. This isn’t SEO territory though, so it’s not something to bother most, but could well be something to consider.

So the big news in 2009 is likely to be reflected in 2010, the merger of yahoo and Bing, the second and third most popular search engines respectively. Whilst SEO still marches to the beat of Google’s drum to a certain extent; this conjoining of naturalised enemies could well open the door to a more competitive alternative moving forward.

Exciting times all around and there will no doubt be plenty of twists and turns to keep us all very busy in the future too.