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The Future of SEM

posted on March 29, 2007


It seems like every tradeshow, expo and seminar has to have at least one session on the future of its industry. Generally, the predictions are . . . general. The industry will grow beyond our wildest imaginations, something completely different will come along, things we have no control over will change everything, etc.

But what if we made more concrete predictions for the future of our industry? That’s what Manoj Jasra of Web Analytics World has done. In his post, “Future of SEM: What WILL and WILL NOT Matter,” he outlines five things that will no longer matter and five things that will matter in the future.

His list of things that won’t matter in the future starts off pretty predictably: meta tags, page size, javascripting, location of content. But #5 is a bit unexpected:

  • Search Engine Ranking: With the introduction of personalized search are the days of ranking software numbered?….It’s very possible. I have always felt that this metric is useless without traffic and conversion numbers attached to it.

I agree (in fact, I’ve been saying that for a long time).

Some of his list of things that will matter in the future plays pretty predictably as well, but it’s worth a read (especially for the unpredictable ones).

What factors do you think will matter in the future? (Feel free to share here, but be sure to comment on Manoj’s post.)


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  • http://www.BrianChappell.com Brian Chappell

    amnt. of people who have bookmarked your site. Thus showing the engines its a worthwile site.

    Great topic btw :)

  • http://software.allaboutthese.org Jonix

    I agree with brian, bookmarked sites, will be of very importance in the future. Search engines will see that and give more importance to that. I think also, interactivity of a site will be one key feature of the future. The social “thing” is here to stay and no one can now say that’s not important.

  • http://www.naymz.com Tom Drugan

    I think rankings will still come into play, but once personalized search results are the nore, getting these metrics will be much more difficult. I could see companies like comScore or Nielsen NetRatings using their instillation base by offering aggregate views of ranking for clients. For example, if I’m the SEO manager for Toyota, I would be able to find my average ranking for the search query “hybrid cars” across millions of users (each having their own unique set of results).

  • http://www.themadhat.com TheMadHat

    I agree with Tom, rankings will certainly still come into play. “Ranking software” as mentioned in the piece will probably will fade away. Building that functionality into Google Analytics or the Webmaster Console would be a nice move for Google.

  • http://manojjasra.blogspot.com Manoj

    Brian, Jonix, I think you’re absolutely right about Social Media, in fact it could play the biggest role in SEM in the upcoming future.

    Thanks for the Plug Jordan.

  • Jordan McCollum

    You’re welcome; I’ve been reading for quite a while and I’m glad to link to you.

    (Incidentally, even before I wrote this, Andy included this post in Pilgrim’s Picks.)

  • http://software.allaboutthese.org Jonix

    Manoj, no doubt, it’ll be one of the most important things in the future

  • http://software.allaboutthese.org Jonix

    Stuart, may i know, why most of my comments where deleted??? Don’t you like my comments, or do you think tha my comments are not for this blog?
    Thank you.

Filed Under: General, Search Marketing