Search Engine Optimization

The search engine landscape is evolving again. The number of important sources of traffic is becoming smaller. But is the job of an SEO (Search Engine Optimizer) easier? Lets take a quick look at some recent industry shake-ups. AOL has recently announced they will drop Overture and Inktomi in exchange for Google Adwords and Google's free listings. Inktomi is experiencing tough times financially but may have partnership opportunities in the near future. Excite is now back as a meta-engine with help from InfoSpace. Finally, Looksmart has made a recent, sudden switch to a total PPC model, which has in the process upset many customers and SEOs. Can they rebound?
 

From these industry changes emerges a new, shorter list of important search engines and directory referral sources. SEO's will likely now focus on: Google, AOL (through Google), MSN (through Inktomi and Looksmart), and Yahoo!, with the addition of an Overture PPC campaign. Google Adwords is another PPC option, but with (often) higher prices, no position guarantee, and the possibility of free traffic from Google, it is not a smart spending option for many clients. Compared with the long list of search engines from two years ago, it would seem easy to optimize for this new short list of traffic-producing engines. In fact, some say that it is easier than ever to get traffic; just manage a few pay-per-click accounts. While there is no doubt about the traffic numbers PPC can generate, it is an expensive alternative to the recent years of virtually free traffic.
 

An SEO's job is to provide inexpensive website traffic. The SEO industry has flourished because of the ROI it offers clients. As search engines move to pay-for-traffic models, SEO firms are finding it increasingly difficult to give clients the same return for each dollar spent. SEO is far from dead, however. SEO management of free traffic, pay-for-inclusion, and pay-per-click traffic can still offer clients a far better ROI than if they managed PPC accounts themselves.
 

There are still opportunities for many free clicks from Google. With the recent AOL deal, Google may command close to 50% of the global Internet traffic market. Sound huge? It is. Virtually all free traffic now comes from Google. With their new audience reach, optimizing for "Googzilla" has just become much more important and fiercely competitive. Only good optimization will be able to produce lots of high-quality free traffic for its clients.

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