Online Marketing Predictions for 2011 – SEO Predictions

There are four key areas that will underpin all major developments in 2011:

1. Message – Content is king, copy writing skills will become more important than ever in 2011 with greater empathizes on the quality of  the content in searches

2. Complicity – Digital marketing is becoming more fragmented; so to design, manage, measure, forecast and re-evaluate a winning campaign will require an ever more knowledgeable marketing team

3. Planning – With new localized search and empathize on cross platform resources, carefully planned integrated campaigns will be the most successful in 2011.

4. Cross Platform – The need for cross platform support and measurement is
crucial for 2011. HTML5 will allow for a more strategic view to function over
multiple platforms.

All of which will be underpinned with a massive local bias in the next 12 months.

SEO Predictions for 2011

1. As a result of the local fragmentation of Google, and the growth of local search entities, SEO will become more complex in its management and delivery.
2. Content will define SEO in 2011, with copy-writing skills becoming more important than ever.
3. The blurred lines between SEO and social media will be emphasized even more this year, particularly with new local additions being added to search engines.
4. Sales generated through SEO based channels will grow by more than 50%.
5. Google will remain the dominant search engine, although Bing and Yahoo will claw back up to 2% of the market share through the course of the year.
6. Facebook will launch its own search listings in 2011, with a local bias that will see Facebook gain a reputation as the “local search engine”
7. The increasing adoption of HTML5 towards the end of the year will provide better cross-browser platform support.
8. Google will introduce a “brand halo effect”, allowing larger brands to become more prominent in their industries, and target keyword phrases that they had previously had little exposure on.
9. Yahoo is set to remove its site explorer tool this year.
10. Bing will add more functionality into its Webmaster Tools, which will allow for greater reporting on links and site-wide reporting.
11. Bing’s Facebook results will become much more prominent in the UK in the first quarter of 2011, which could lead to some interesting celebrity mishaps, promoting the awareness of managing your reputation online from the general public.
12. Google is set to move Google Local and Google Shopping to a paid medium by the end of 2011, and will cause further uproar by displaying more of its own content, i;e: links to business listings within search listings
13. Bing will look to make its Facebook investment work in 2011. Facebook listings will start to appear in more “interesting” places, while impressions and “like” data will be put to good use in its keyword ranking mechanism.
14. Google’s current share price of $600 is one of the dominating elements in its 2011 strategy; expect to see a 10% growth of these shares throughout the year.
15. Yahoo’s partnership with Gannett will expand its local-based advertising, as well as provide additional content opportunities.
16. Yahoo’s Margin increased to 11% in 2010, mostly aided by the Sale of HotJobs, its investment into Alibaba and shedding of 4% of its workforce.  Its Search Agreement with Microsoft to obtain full traction in 2012, and CEO Carol Bartz believes Yahoo will be a more attractive proposition to purchase in 2011, with Apple or Facebook expected to be the potential suitors.