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Is it too early to write a blog post about the predictions of what\u2019s going to change in the digital marketing landscape in 2013. Probably not; the writing has been on the wall for long enough. As always, when the discussion comes up, I\u2019ve got a tendency to try and think like Google;<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve invested millions in their search engine to make it the advertising platform of choice.<\/p>\n
They own the largest slug of the search market and their display network has 20% global reach.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve invested millions on their Video platform (You Tube) and Internet TV.<\/p>\n
Their browser; Chrome is gaining ground across the world and is now the most used browser on the planet.
\nThey have produced Nexus, one of the best selling mobile \/ tablet technology platforms.<\/p>\n
Their social media platform called Google +is an integral part of how they would like users to use the web.
\nTheir analytics tool is now the most commonly used platform across the web.<\/p>\n
For the 1st time in a long time, their market share has dropped to below 90% in the UK and the balance of power is more closely related to new devices and platforms than it ever has been.<\/p>\n
They need to make billions to keep their investors happy. So what should we expect to see happen in 2013.<\/p>\n
Organic Search \u2013 Let\u2019s look at the organic search opportunities; in summary there will be less of them. Following the success in the US, Google shopping feeds officially turns into a paid search channel in the UK in early February 2013. What was a great way of generating free organic search space, ideal for those browsers in shopping mode will be a paid search channel. It\u2019s great if you have a product that can be promoted as an enhanced product listing ad, click through rates are excellent if you have a well thought out advert with a competitive price. We\u2019ve been waiting for years for Google to make money out of this channel, if you\u2019ve been pondering for the past 5 years whether Google\u2019s free shopping channel was ever worth it or not; you\u2019ve lost your chance. The shopping channel will be a must for all retailers if they need search engine visibility as the amount of free organic results space, visible above the fold will continue to decrease in 2013.<\/p>\n
We will continue to see updates and tweaks on a regular basis. Panda and Penguin updates will continue because we are still not seeing the most relevant search results on the devices we use or the locations that we search from. Buying dodgy links still works and will continue to work until Google has enough data to understand how social signals (not social spam) actually works in accordance to visibility and engagement.<\/p>\n
Schema Data \u2013 Geeky as it is, this is something that will benefit those that use it, less so in 2013, more so in 2014 and onwards. Having a universal language that can pull data from your website into your feeds (news, shopping, people, places, affiliates, social) is a great thing that simply means you will be able to syndicate and share your content (regardless of what it is) over a wider range of devices. It all sounds like VISIBILITY to me and it\u2019s probably the one of the last bastions of technology advances that will make a marked difference to how your content is distributed across the web and your internal data sources. Big Data is here to stay and search based applications are the new business intelligence tools of the future; ignore this stuff at your peril, however we are aware that the biggest limitations will be the resentment of ditching costly outdated legacy information and content management systems. Everything takes time; normally, too much time.<\/p>\n
Content Creation \u2013 Hardly a surprise, is it? Content is what keeps us engaged and informed and creates both stimulus and interest to the point of conversion, search engines love it, because it is a measurable asset that tells us what and who likes our content. There will be no revolution here; simply more people will use it and share it over a wider range of formats and more content providers will see the benefits of using it. The knock on effect is, content creation will become commoditised, just like the dodgy link building and septic blogging industry that grew like a rash on the back of the SEO industry. Why?<\/p>\n \n Get exclusive insights into digital \n \n \n Stay Forward <\/h2>\n
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