SEO/SEM Tactics For 2006

[stuntdubl]

MODERATOR NOTE: Post split from 2005 Year End Revisit: Is There A Google Sandbox?.

2006 SEO =
User:
Time
Trust
Traffic
Applying carbon conceived criteria to silicon based intelligence



...Not variable manipulation... unless your REAL good and all scientific like, and have some serious hardware, $$, and smart people.

I never liked the bh/wh debate... whitehats were always kinda whiney...but 2006 SEO will be partially related to the polarization of the "shades of seo" to the lighter shades of grey, or extreme black. the sandbox debate feels kinda like that with a bit more substance, though it can be nearly as tiresome at times. It is a matter of semantics, and SEO theory principles. Depending on the way you frame the industry and define your own internet marketing goals, your interpretation will vary.

You rely on the engines or you don't. If you do, it's like having a supervisor in a job that you must at the very least respect. If you lose trust or respect in either scenario, it is tough to regain.

It's much easier these days to learn how to build a good site and business model than it is to crank out affiliate junk that is based on low value arbitrage. It's pretty TOUGH to learn new business models constantly and evolve them quickly enough for SERP manipulation anyhow!

I think I'll focus on making sites better for engines and users in 2006 and use whichever new technology that has the greatest ability to produce growth in the short term with an eye out for changes to help from becoming collateral damage.

[DarkMatter]

I think in 2006, links and content get to be "king" together.

Links from a plain old decent site aren't that valuable anymore, you need links from a decent site that is also on-topic. Creating weak content and getting tons of links to it is not usually efficient: if you create good content, then good on topic links will create themselves.

[grasshopper]

todd, i agree. the legs on the straight junk-in-quantity affiliate model are shortening, even as we speak. while there's much more wiggle room in MSN and Yahoo for that model, i can't imagine that both companies won't attempt to close many of the obvious loopholes as Google has (and let's forget about G's continuing 302 issue for the moment

as a side note to your point about taking advantage of short-term opportunities, in my view there's there's no reason not to keep spamming if you're good at it, which is to say, it's giving you good ROI. however, i recommend to all my clients that they build their business with the future in mind.

i'm sure this will sound pretty tired, but regardless of the "acceptable risk" profile of any of my clients, my recommendation is the same - have some legitimate irons in the fire for the coming year. think about your business and what makes it unique. use them brain cells, get creative, and then build toward your strengths. take advantage of the short-term opportunities, while building your business to last beyond the engines' next round of algo updates.

there are a number of sites out there that are so good that i don't ever use an engine to find them. in some cases i've bookmarked the them. in more cases, they're central enough to my personal or professional life that i've memorized the URL. when was the last time any regular reader used an engine to find theonion.com? if your site is speaking to its audience well enough to deserve memorization of the URL or a bookmark, then you don't have to worry about any hiccups in the algos. and diversifying risk to make myself and my clients a bit less reliant on the engines makes me happy.

[Marcia]

Most of the SEO tactics I've got in mind for 2006 are increasingly user-centric, trying to make sure that visitors find what they're looking for. Surprisingly, it's more about Information Architecture than what we'd normally consider to be SEO.

The plan is to concentrate on and watch MSN Search very carefully, as the top priority. MSN's traffic provides a gold mine full of valuable information, not only on how users search and how to meet their needs, but for taking a refreshing new look at the different SEO elements and how they work in combination.

[AussieWebmaster]

Originally Posted by Marcia

Most of the SEO tactics I've got in mind for 2006 are increasingly user-centric, trying to make sure that visitors find what they're looking for. Surprisingly, it's more about Information Architecture than what we'd normally consider to be SEO.

The plan is to concentrate on and watch MSN Search very carefully, as the top priority. MSN's traffic provides a gold mine full of valuable information, not only on how users search and how to meet their needs, but for taking a refreshing new look at the different SEO elements and how they work in combination.

I think the impact of analytics changes alot this coming year.... testing results for everything become truer when combined with well worked analytics.

[sebastian]

Agree with Marcia and AussieWebmaster...

User interface improvements will have much more effect on rankings. Sites coded in perfect HTML and XHTML will be far superior because the spiders will be able to crawl them in the most complete way.

Also, users are getting smarter and smarter. Our 10 year old son now knows immediately when a search has taken him to a "spammy" page as opposed to what he is truly looking for. Less and less people are going to allow themselves to be tricked by link pages and cloaked content leading further credibility to Marcia's point on user-centric.

Seems everything is coming full-circle now that search is established. I truly believe the following basic formula will equate to proper organic rankings:

1) clean code including following the dom correctly
2) relevant, well-written copy
3) longevity of the site and domain owner
4) strong number of quality inbound and outbound links

*** and in the case of two good sites battling it out for placement, inbound link quality will break the ties

And for paid programs:

1) gotta be in Google
2) gotta be on Yahoo!
3) gotta be on MSN
4) optional - experiment with smaller, niche sites

What do I see as dead techniques:

1) link spamming
2) link begging via email
3) cloaking
4) keyword-loaded pages

And lastly, improved analytics will allow it all to come together and truly show us what is and isn't working. My only fear? People finding ways to trick analytics. ...it never ends.

[mcanerin]

My only fear? People finding ways to trick analytics. ...it never ends.

Already happening... <sigh>

Re-purposed, smarter clickbots are now in some SEO toolkits, and that's just the primitive methods - I'm sure it will get more interesting as time goes on.

My fear? The only way to get perfect results is to have perfect information. My concern is how far SE's will go to get the information they need to improve their results.

Ian

[AussieWebmaster]

My only fear? People finding ways to trick analytics. ...it never ends.

Originally Posted by mcanerin

Already happening... <sigh>

Re-purposed, smarter clickbots are now in some SEO toolkits, and that's just the primitive methods - I'm sure it will get more interesting as time goes on.

My fear? The only way to get perfect results is to have perfect information. My concern is how far SE's will go to get the information they need to improve their results.

Ian

I have seen a few things especially by the click frauders.... they have to cloak and hide a lot to avoid the engines stopping their checks....

[liamanthony]

Originally Posted by mcanerin

Already happening... <sigh>

Re-purposed, smarter clickbots are now in some SEO toolkits, and that's just the primitive methods - I'm sure it will get more interesting as time goes on.

My fear? The only way to get perfect results is to have perfect information. My concern is how far SE's will go to get the information they need to improve their results.

Ian

with a search engine team of about 500 versus myriads of seo companies, freelancers and crackers... id say it would only take a couple of months to get some sort of crack with their algos...

i bet some already did...

What I see for SEO in 2006. Well This is my best guess. Google laid it all out real clear in the last Patton. Can I show that off my site and not get banned by Google? (=

Well What I think will be king is pure content. Well laid out easy navigation sites.

I think key layout for 2006 will include more CSS and less tables. Google has already made efforts to increase the sand box “Sand box where?” time looking for longevity in sites based on content theme and possibly the owner.

The links are always key. Links from link pages are right out. Three way links will be king in 2006.

Google MSN Yahoo will be keying in on over stuffed keyword intense sites and looking more for purer content. I would agree that improved analytics should start kicking in soon.

The sites need to be more user friendly. Less is more. If a blind person can read your site and
Tell exactly what is going on with a brail keyboard than you can bet the search engines and everyone else can too.

Blogs will become more increasing popular and start to take over the I have a home page space to “I have a Blog”.

Spamming I am sure that the spammers will continue to stay ahead of the curve.
If you are playing against them and can’t beat them. Why not Join em? (;


Well my two cents. Enjoy every one!
Happy New Year.
-Jason

[leoshen]

Best Wishes from China

[Matilda]

In helping people to list in our search base here at Aussieseek being free or paid We shall at all times be polite and answer all emails with a decision.
We have a complaints policy. We will at all times prefer content to cash
I am moving to a better relationship with various SEOs and willmake an effort to to meet more. Having Said that

All the Best for 2006

Keith

[liamanthony]

Originally Posted by DarkMatter

I think in 2006, links and content get to be "king" together.

Links from a plain old decent site aren't that valuable anymore, you need links from a decent site that is also on-topic. Creating weak content and getting tons of links to it is not usually efficient: if you create good content, then good on topic links will create themselves.

i think links would be LORD and content will be the VASSAL since the new tweak (if the rumors about that new "authority docs" algo is true) will be implemented soon.

i dont know whether "authority docs" would be LORD or VASSAL... maybe it'll be the LORD's WHORE... since it would be working along with the linking algo...

[liamanthony]

i believe that seo tactics combined with sem techniques will surely work well this year... i have seen several companies using both techniques and so far they apparently work well together...

for those who believe that they are not separate fields i beg to disagree...

[Mikkel deMib Svendsen]

It's pretty TOUGH to learn new business models constantly and evolve them quickly enough for SERP manipulation anyhow!

For some that might be difficult, true, but for some of us thats what we have been doing since the 90s and nothing has really changed. 80% of my "border line" strategies change every 3-6 month - it has been so forever and I don't see any change. The only change I really see is that we now have a lot more SEOs that are not used to this game and are not up for this challenge. But some of us are indeed

What do I see as dead techniques:

1) link spamming
2) link begging via email
3) cloaking
4) keyword-loaded pages

Yeah, I know. I am not expecting to make more than a couple of million dollars in 2006 on that sort of crap

[AussieWebmaster]

Originally Posted by Mikkel deMib Svendsen

Yeah, I know. I am not expecting to make more than a couple of million dollars in 2006 on that sort of crap

With those numbers you should be the King of Sweden soon......

[Mikkel deMib Svendsen]

Kings don't make this kond of money here, so thanks, but no thanks. Besides, Kings can't make their money in nothing but underwear, smoking joints having fun

[Opie]

pass the dutchie = 2005 searches per month

[AussieWebmaster]

Originally Posted by Opie

pass the dutchie = 2005 searches per month

Now that would be impressive....

[vayapues]

Quality content, and solid IBL.

In 2006, we will be launching some completly new ideas, that we hope will really drive us to the top of our industry online. I will reveal later, but I can't right now. I could loose my job.