Danny Sullivan has a great post talking about one of the most dramatic changes to strike search marketing in a long time. The sudden and kind of quiet launch of personalized search last Friday. Danny does such a great job of explaining it, that it's better to just go see what he's teaching.
I want to discuss how this might effect Corporate Blogging as an SEO Tool, but first here is a key paragraph from Search Engine Land:
I believe that this changes also reinforces that marketers need to be casting an even wider net. Personalization takes the Long Tail to a whole new level. Titles, descriptions and content are critical. SEO is becoming more of a One to One marketing tactic, beyond just ranking high on a few high volume keywords.
SEO strategy has got to focus on having many many pages, all specifically targeting as many scenarios as possible. Content strategies need to go broad...meaning lots of contributors. This is equivalant to the introducion of dynamic content to email marketing. Organize your content in such a way that you are delivering a highly relevant communication to the right person at the right time. If I live in Columbus Ohio and am searching for a digital camera, you better have a page specifically targeting me that's different than the page targeting the person in Kansas City or San Francisco.
Geotargeting is the most obvious place to start for personalization. If Google learns I live in Greenfield Indiana, you can bet when I search for a digital camera it's going to do it's best to deliver one based on my location. What else can they learn? My spending? Favorite retailers? Size of my family?
I'm actually really excited about these developments and am looking forward to seeing how they play out. I honestly think this is going to be great for the searcher. Anyone who's followed me knows that I've basically been somewhat anti-mass-marketing my entire career. I spent many years in catalogs and direct mail, co-founded ExactTarget to get closer to what Peppers & Rodgers called "The One To One Future" and the ideas around Compendium are squarely aimed at data-driven SEO.
As my good friend Joel Book is fond of saying: "Hang on people we are in for a wild ride" :-)
I want to discuss how this might effect Corporate Blogging as an SEO Tool, but first here is a key paragraph from Search Engine Land:
"Does this mean SEO is dead? No. I’ve warned for years that search results would be getting more personalized. Still, for many queries, there will continue to be “normal” results until Google harvests enough information to start personalizing them. SEO remains important to ensure that you’ve got that first shot at being considered. And the best tip in this new world of personalization remains the same. Make a good impression. Titles and descriptions are important, as is having outstanding content."
I believe that this changes also reinforces that marketers need to be casting an even wider net. Personalization takes the Long Tail to a whole new level. Titles, descriptions and content are critical. SEO is becoming more of a One to One marketing tactic, beyond just ranking high on a few high volume keywords.
SEO strategy has got to focus on having many many pages, all specifically targeting as many scenarios as possible. Content strategies need to go broad...meaning lots of contributors. This is equivalant to the introducion of dynamic content to email marketing. Organize your content in such a way that you are delivering a highly relevant communication to the right person at the right time. If I live in Columbus Ohio and am searching for a digital camera, you better have a page specifically targeting me that's different than the page targeting the person in Kansas City or San Francisco.
Geotargeting is the most obvious place to start for personalization. If Google learns I live in Greenfield Indiana, you can bet when I search for a digital camera it's going to do it's best to deliver one based on my location. What else can they learn? My spending? Favorite retailers? Size of my family?
I'm actually really excited about these developments and am looking forward to seeing how they play out. I honestly think this is going to be great for the searcher. Anyone who's followed me knows that I've basically been somewhat anti-mass-marketing my entire career. I spent many years in catalogs and direct mail, co-founded ExactTarget to get closer to what Peppers & Rodgers called "The One To One Future" and the ideas around Compendium are squarely aimed at data-driven SEO.
As my good friend Joel Book is fond of saying: "Hang on people we are in for a wild ride" :-)
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