SEO 2012 – Predictions

Some interesting thoughts, some safe bets…… here’s some experienced seo people’s take on SEO 2012.

I tried to avoid the normal ‘the website is dead’ or ‘seo is dead’, ‘exact match domains don’t work’, or ‘anchor text doesn’t matter any more’ posts as I will post on that when I see it reflected in real results pages.

I think the earth shattering consensus is; mobile will be big and so will social media – so get a mobile site, and get on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

I still think your website should be the centre of your marketing world – not a social network. But then, I am not that much of a networker.

Some expect search engines to be more agressive in the Web Spam War – explicitly – shady linkbuilding practices – I always do – but sometimes I wonder if they (search engines) are even fighting that war anymore – electing more, to focus on the quality and type of sites at the top of results, at the tip of the iceberg that is Google search results. It would make sense to me – and looks that way.

Still – it’s probably a safe bet to aspire to gaining better links in 2012 and building a better website. I plan to.

Note – And remember the EU Cookie Privacy Directive… that might cause a few headaches for website owners of all kinds.

Update Jan 13 2012:

SEO

The following posts where highlighted on Marketing Land.

  1. AffiliatePrograms.com: Top SEO Predictions for 2012
  2. Business 2 Community: 2012 Will Divide SEO Practitioners Into Two Camps
  3. Dejan SEO: SEO Predictions and Advice for 2012
  4. eConsultancy: 2012 search predictions: the experts’ view
  5. Fourth Source: Search Marketing Trends 2012
  6. Freelance Writing Dreams: 2012 New Year SEO Predictions and Trends
  7. Harvard Business Review: Google Will Change Web Marketing in 2012
  8. Kaiserthesage: SEO Strategies and Inbound Marketing Best Practices for 2012
  9. Outspoken Media: Build SEO Momentum in 2012, Not Resolutions
  10. PromotionWorld: 12 SEO Resolutions for 2012
  11. Search Engine Journal: 5 New Year Resolutions for SEO Consultants
  12. Search Engine Land: An SEO Playbook For 2012
  13. Search Engine Land: A Few Link Building Predictions For 2012
  14. Search Engine Land: 9 New Year’s Resolutions For Link Building In 2012
  15. Search Engine Watch: Biggest Search Events of 2011 & Predictions for 2012
  16. Search Engine Watch: Search & Mobile Marketing Trends: SEO Apocalypse 2012
  17. Search Engine Watch: 7 Quick Tips to Keep Your SEO On Track in 2012
  18. SEOAndy.com: 18 Trends Which Will Change SEO in 2012
  19. SEOmoz: 8 Predictions for SEO in 2012
  20. Smart Traffic: Smart Traffic’s SEO Trends for 2012
  21. StartupSmart: Five SEO trends to lookout for in 2012
  22. State of Search: SEO 2012 – Will Schema Be A Factor
  23. Straight Up Search: SEO Predictions for 2012
  24. Vertical Measures: New Year’s Link-a-Lutions: Quality Link Building in 2012
  25. Web Marketing Group: SEO Predictions for 2012 – Don’t Get Left Behind!
  26. AffiliatePrograms.com: Top Affiliate Marketing Predictions for 2012
  27. AM Navigator: 40 Affiliate Marketing Predictions for 2012
  28. Marketing Land: How 2012′s Rise Of The Affiliate Channel Will Impact The $300B E-Commerce Industry

Marketing Land has lots more seo predictions for 2012 here.

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Written by Shaun Anderson

6 Responses to “SEO 2012 – Predictions”

  1. Robert says:
    January 4, 2012 at 7:45 am

    I’ve seen a dramatic increase in mobile usage in the past few months. While still only a small percentage of overall traffic, the rate that it seems to be increasing is promising.

    I think that because many devices are now actively searching for sites that are compatible, we’ll see an increase in the need for a mobile site (or at least a mobile compatible version). These in turn should generate more traffic should search engines put 2 and 2 together.

    I’m also seeing an increase in links reported from the social sites, as to whether they’re going to aid SEO remains to be seen, but no doubt will impact relevancy, freshness and authority… so… there has to be some kind of knock on effect somewhere.

  2. Chris says:
    January 4, 2012 at 9:57 am

    Speaking of web spam, before the disappearance of Yahoo site explorer, a competitor leapfrogged my website with shady, or link building practices that i’m not so keen on, and I noticed, more specifically, them making tens of lame blog posts on irrelevant content blogs with a hyperlink of the desired keyword on each one.

    Their keyword density is also ridiculously high and I assumed that eventually, Google would drop it down again.

    I guess though, that due to their site which is ecommerce, and ours being a b2b info site, it seems Google saw fit for them to retain number 1 and 2 spots, which makes sense, but alters my perception on how Google deals with certain sites.

    • Shaun Anderson says:
      January 4, 2012 at 12:00 pm

      This kind of thing is prevalent in seo at the moment.

      • Chris says:
        January 4, 2012 at 2:25 pm

        I hope when we do create a WordPress blog for one of our ecommerce sites, and apply the same processes to that blog as we do our blog for our b2b site ( highly relevant, good quality content, aimed for the industry and the target market ), Google will favour our site over any that do attempt the same web spam practice as our current ranking competitor.

  3. Removals Edinburgh says:
    January 4, 2012 at 9:34 pm

    Ive had some sales people trying to sell me a .mobi domain and site package. Cant your own site just be on a mobile view as well?

    My stats for android are very high and ive been getting enquirers from mobile searches for 2 years now even when site wasn’t working right.

    • Shaun Anderson says:
      January 4, 2012 at 10:04 pm

      If you’re still using WordPress you can install a simple plugin that will turn your site into a mobile site – do a search for ‘wp mobile plugin’ or something similar.