The SEO World in 2011 – What to Expect

It’s that time of year again, and as 2010 draws to a close I thought I’d take the opportunity to share with you my thoughts on the world of SEO in 2011. Following are the SEO practices which I think will remain important in 2011, as well as the factors that I think will become more significant over the course of the year.

Practices that will Remain Important

1. Building Links from Different IP Addresses

Building links from a wide range of different IP addresses will almost certainly remain an important SEO practice. Remember: it’s not just the number of links that you build but the amount of IP addresses that you get links from that will determine your PageRank.

2. Building Links from High PR Domains

Building links from domains with a PageRank higher than 3 will remain a key SEO practice because these will continue to provide the best links.

3. Ensuring Google Indexes as Many Links as Possible

Although no SEO can claim that every one of the links that they generate will get indexed, it is still important to rely on a good method to ensure that Google indexes as many of them as possible.

Whether you add an XML sitemap using Google’s webmaster tools, link from a blog post with an RSS feed, link via an authoritative social media profile or use a social bookmarking service, make sure you have a way to increase the amount of links that get indexed.

4. Carrying Out Thorough Keyword Research

No matter what changes we see in the world of SEO, keyword research will still be THE most important part of your SEO. This is one practice that is not going to diminish in importance any time soon.

Factors that will Become More Important

1. Changes to Google Local Results

Local searches are becoming increasingly important to Google’s algorithm, and as such we are likely to see a greater emphasis on optimising for local results. According to Google itself, 20% of searches are now “related to location”, and the annual Local Search Usage Study by TMP Directional Marketing and comScore puts the amount of local search queries this year at 8.3%.

Google is now reflecting this in its results pages, and I think it’s inevitable that Google local listings are going to become even more important over the course of the next year.

I’m expecting a lot of my SEO clients in 2011 to ask for optimisation of their Google local listings above that of their actual websites because their main keyword targets will trigger local results and therefore push organic listings further down and off page one. To see this for yourself, just make a quick search for ‘leeds architects’ on google.co.uk.

2. Greater Integration of Social Media with SE Rankings

There is a lot of debate going on at the moment about how social media is affecting Google rankings. One of the biggest debates centres on the ‘Like This’ button that Facebook introduced during the year.

The Facebook Like Button argument concerns the challenge that Facebook is posing to the search engines by blocking their ability to index sites through limiting how much of the web they can track at any given moment. It is unknown how this will play out, but watch out for more debate over the coming months.

This year I have also noticed that my Twitter pages are growing considerably both in terms of their PageRank and the quality of the links through to my main website. I think it’s now certain that Google will factor tweets, recommendations and other social media mentions into its algorithm more throughout 2011.

3. Continued Growth of Mobile Search

We are almost certain to see continued growth in mobile search throughout 2011, and as such new platforms like the iPad and its Android competitors could well represent the best monetisation opportunities.

Google recently revealed that its mobile search was up 130% in Q3, and Jonathan Rosenberg, SVP at Google, is quoted on mobiThinking describing mobile as “the future of search on the internet”. In addition, an analyst for RBC said back in June that by 2012 mobile search could grow to 20% of all searches as opposed to 9% this year (see TechCrunch for further details).

With mobile search being talked about in such terms, we can certainly expect to see large growth in this area.

Keep Ahead of the Changes

As well as continuing to focus on the SEO practices that will remain relevant in 2011, try to keep up to date with any new trends in the SEO world. By keeping your finger on the pulse, you will ensure that you stay ahead of the game whatever changes we witness in 2011 and get the most from all your campaigns rather than getting left behind.

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