Well, another year has passed, and it is getting much harder to get a new site ranked quickly. And more and more, there are complicated issues like "trust rank" that we can't even measure. Google is now starting to eclipse Yahoo in terms of traffic. Microsoft has launched Vista. How do you see SEO work will change in 2007?

SEO will continue to go where it has been the last few years. It will move further away from being about chasing algorithms and more toward an approach similar to traditional marketing.

I'm expecting social media optimization to play an even larger role than it does now. I also think we'll see more local and niche search engines though I'm not sure if the general public will begin adopting them yet.

in my point of view, seo will not change and will stay as usal. I think it will be harder to get indexed and ranked in search engines in the up coming years, so we better act now

Originally Posted by dvduval

Well, another year has passed, and it is getting much harder to get a new site ranked quickly.

Partly due to a concept that isn't unique to SEO - competition. Another year has passed so there are another X pages in circulation.

Pick the right search phrases and it's not that hard to rank.

In 2007 the trickmeisters might have to revise their methods, but I don't think the fundamentals of SEO will change.

Well, I don't have much predictions or anything. But I think RSS won't make it to the mainstream this year. For some reason, I don't think it is a really good innovation.

I personally think it wont change much if it at all. Serps like google, yahoo etc do the same thing virtually we are doing just ona larger scale. They wont kill themselves....

Maybe SEO will change their SEO elements in ranking a site. Because many of the site now ranking in major search engine but not displaying a relevant content.

Now this time to change our strategy according to search engines and keep update.

i think it will be the same. i mean same procedures in seo. the difference is this time we need to work extra harder since there are many new sites that is being optimize.

and SE's might change their algorithms in ranking and indexing our sites.

I think by the end of 2007 we'll see more focus on what "visitors" think about a site as apposed to what "bots" think.

If we start measuring the amount of time a user stays on a page, and what they do from that page we'll get a much better idea on how useful the content is which in turn will tell us if its relevant.

Just my opinoin.

I think that site owners that realize the direct connection between good design and SEO will succeed while those who try silly band-aids like link exchanges and doorway pages will fail.

I think that the people that don't understand this will ***** and moan because their sites don't rank and they don't get traffic.

I think that sites that design using 1998 coding standards and ideas will fall further behind.

I think that porn will be searched for a whole bunch.

In other words, I don't think anything will really change. I just think it will evolve.

I was going to reply to this thread yesterday with a reply that was basically "SEO will always be the same". But i read an article yesterday (ill post it later if i can find it) that says eventually SEO will be turned on its head when search becomes personal.

What it meant by "personal search" is that the SERPS wont be ordered based on a static algorithm. Different people could search the same thing and recieve completely different results based on thier location, Thier sex, previous searches, OS or even things like time of year.

This will be great for users (if it works), But will be a nightmare for webmasters and SEOs who obsess about optimizing every aspect of thier website.

It amazes me all the people who think nothing will change. The one thing should be obvious is that search engines are constantly changing things. The changes aren't always big ones, but they are changing nonetheless.

Agreed, that said I wish there was someone who would just tell us what kinda changes will be made. When bill gates & MSN get as big as they claim they will be, MSN will no longer be easy to rank in, compared to Yahoo and Google.

Your thoughts?

The year 2007 will for sure be a great year and will definitely bring to fore a number of new innovative technologies. With regards to the SEO world, there are certain imminent changes. The SEO domain is also going to witness changes and those will be mainly about the way people search for products and services on the web.

Importance of algorithm based search will decrease
Early 2007, Wikipedia is going to launch its very own search engine based on software named ‘wikiasari’. Officially dubbed as the people powered search engine; the search results it will produce will not be algorithm based but it will be based on human editorial judgments. That will imply that if this search engine really catches on, that will ensure that the entire black hat SEO society shut shop or at least forget about having rankings on the new search engine. Moreover, the new search engine will work on open source software.

Diminishing value for Link exchange
The other important change that will come about with human editorial process as in wikiasari will be the diminishing importance links will be accorded. This impending approach will completely upturn the present situation as today the number of links pointing to your website is the determining factor for search engine rankings. In the days to come, your rankings might entirely depend on the judgment of a human editor.

Local search will gain ground
All the search engines will impart enhanced importance to local search, as that’s one area which has massive potential. That’s why your search engine positioning strategies will have to incorporate all the important localization factors.

Emergence of vertical search engines
Vertical search engine means a search engine which will focus exclusively on a certain given domain. For example, there could be a search engine which will focus on electronics; some other will focus on automobiles. Vertical search engines are certainly upon us, but whether they will succeed is one development every SEO will follow.

Decreasing credibility of Pay per Click advertisement
The increasing incidences of click fraud is definitely denting the credibility of the PPC model of online advertising and that’s why the future will be more about the sale / lead sale acquisition model of online advertising. The near future will undoubtedly witness the emergence of such advertising platforms.

The importance of LSI will grow
Although many SEO companies have written off latent semantic indexing in the search engines as a non-starter, but the indications are that its far from over. LSI as a technology is intended to make the search results as relevant as possible and will also incorporate user behavioral studies. With Google having been started out on this path, completely writing off LSI will be surely an exercise undertaken for ones own peril.

Moving ahead on the, by now well established path, the search engines are trying to optimize themselves as much as possible for the comfort of the end user. The big fight now is simply not only about getting visitors but has in fact moved a step ahead and its now about giving as relevant results as possible.

In other words the search engines are trying to think like us humans and all the changes they are incorporating are small but important steps in that direction.

I think maybe, something called Trust Rank will emerge !!

Trust Rank has been discussed over the past 2 years at many "Roundtable" discussions, and you may be right -- we'll see if it develops anytime soon.

it's more difficult for a newbie into seo industry than before.