SEO Blog

Yesterday, Dave Davies and I used our weekly WebmasterRadio.fm show Webcology to predict the key trends and fortunes of the coming year. When we agreed to do a predictions show two weeks ago, I figured it would fairly easy. I have been writing an annual predictions column for at least five years and each one rolled off my fingers quickly. It should be as simple as it was last year, right?

I was wrong. While we did a fine show, it tended to be more of a conversation about how search and social media was faring and less about predicting where it was going. For a number of reasons, the predictions have been far harder to make this year.

The world we work in is changing quite rapidly. Change has been a dominant theme in my thoughts in 2006 and 2007 and entering 2008, we see those changes seriously manifesting all around us. The pace of evolution in the market, the greater economy, the environment and in global politics is going to get faster. Each of these meta-areas has a direct effect on the business of search and Internet marketing as we know it and each has to be factored into every prediction. As we are starting to realize about Global Warming, the pace of change is accelerating exponentially. In 2008 what we have known to be solid ground is going to get rather swampy, much like the permafrost around Hudson’s Bay.

On behalf of the management and staff of Metamend Search Marketing:

We wish you and your family a happy holiday. Here’s to a safe and prosperous New Year.

Metamend will be closed Christmas Day and December 26 but will be open Thursday December 27 and Friday December 28th.

Andy Beal’s Blog, Marketing Pilgrim is reporting that Google has confirmed a story that ran in Bloomberg.com this morning. According to Bloomberg, Google’s acquisition of display ad giant DoubleClick is going to win approval from the Federal Trade Commission as early as today or tomorrow.

Noting that both Microsoft and Yahoo have purchased display advertising firms of their own, the FTC appears ready to dismiss their complaints against the DoubleClick sale.

FTC approval clears one of two remaining hurdles in Google’s path. The other is an in-depth investigation undertaken by European Union regulators which is expected to be concluded and ruled on by April 2.

I started compiling links for this piece eight hours two days ago and have since been on a interesting journey through my own memories of 2007. The online marketing industry is in one of its greatest periods of transition as enormous sums of ad-spend pour into the sector looking for places to be spent.

Many small to medium sized search marketing firms catapulted into the big leagues seemingly overnight this year as advertising firms found greater value in online and digital media than in traditional television, print and radio.

The major search engines understand where the money is going. Each acquired its own online advertising network this year in order to contextually serve content-rich advertising across as many subscribing websites as possible. The moment Google initiated the slow process of spending $3.1billion to buy DoubleClick, Yahoo and MSN had to have ad-networks too. Not having one would be like not having a paid-search advertising platform…

2007 was also the year of the Facebook. Perhaps the fastest growing social network in 2007, Facebook received a great deal of attention in the mainstream media and from online marketers. Adding two or three hundred thousands new users per month, Facebook ranks among the most popular networks online. The company faced a setback late in the year when privacy concerns forced it to withdraw and redesign its social advertising platform, Facebook Beacon.