Search Insight Application

Even in the interval between my last post and this (3 months admittedly), the nature of SEO has transformed. Appetite for real-time information, driven by the twitter-factor, has ingrained the philosophy that recency determines relevancy. Search results have followed suit. Increasingly, the top placements in organic search listings go to the latest content crawled. Granted, that source needs to be credible, and all the usual background checks are still in place (website adhering to search engine best practice guidelines, content focused on particular target search queries & market authority as a results of peer citation and indexed site interaction). With credibility assumed, search users now demand more; they expect the inside scope - personalised results delivered as soon as they come on-stream online.

I manage a small surf shop in Dublin. Lately, in the run up to Christmas, I've noticed a spike in customer requests for second hand surfboards. Tapping into Google's human behavioral nerve-centre, I discovered a mirror reflection in online research activity. Google has revamped and tanked up its keyword tool. One nice feature is the local search trends monthly chart. Check out the obviously increase in Irish interest in terms associated to second hand surfboards:

Go over to Google insights and the picture worldwide reinforces the theory:
Eager to capitalise on these learnings, I immediately logged-in to my surf blog, and drafted a post tailored to the topic in question.

Within hours, the Google.ie results had reshuffled and my post had secured an above-the-fold placement for my website in this niche market. Notice how swift Google is to index and reward new content, articulating the time that the post was published within the search result.

To date, my business has not dabbled in second hand trade - it's incredible how with the use of Google's psychological data-mine and an adaptive strategy, a company's market presence can rise from obscurity to a premium feature in the blink of an eye. This is not just-in-time production, this is ahead-of-time production.

SEO activities; A realistic breakdown of time-management

I was tempted to right-click copy & paste Randfish's recent "doodles" on SEOmoz, but then I remembered something I'd seen over at SEO book not so long ago, which stopped me in my tracks. Instead, I'll just link over to the article about the field of search engine optimization, which clearly calls a spade a spade!

SEOmoz has the definitive business model for future search marketing. It's worth listening to this interview where Rand outlines why SEOmoz has become a publisher, rather than a consultancy.

A long walk to Google infamy

I am not a Plastic Surgeon, I'm a Shrink!

Search engines have challenged the status quo of marketing, or to qualify that, the information revolution, made possible by the Internet, has empowered individuals, as the industrial era did organisations. In the knowledge economy, information transparency enables choice. David can slay Goliath online. On this level playing field, those that treat their consumer pool as a renewable energy resource rather than an oil field will reap recurring dividends. The saying "Customer is King" must pay more than lip-service. Google search results embody genuine customer service, as they refine and improve based on user-feedback. As Chris Anderson points out in his recently published book *FREE*, Google's entire business model revolves around market demand, with monetisation an after-thought. Granted, not all stayed companies can be so liquid and responsive, but as more and more migrate to a foundation built on naughts and zeros, such versatility will be the gold standard.

This puts search analysts at a distinct advantage. Human behavioural scientists at heart, e-business patterns and trends deliver real- (and ahead-of) time insight into consumer psyche; intellectual property most valuable when network economics (herd mentality in the online marketplace) divvy out fewer market players in a competitive market space. Market research, once the occupation of accountants and management consultancy firms, is handed over to psychologists, with market mind-share the subject of their social practice.

Search engine strategists adopt an architectural role in defining the blueprint of a demand-driven business model. To optimise a website is to perform cosmetic plastic surgery - it covers over the wrinkles and excess but ultimately the cracks reemerge, often worse than had well been left alone. If happiness on a personal level comes from looking within oneself (with or without the assistance of a shrink!), corporate success is outward-looking and engineered by an architect who takes their brief at source, the voice of the market.

If you are looking for a quick (but expensive) fix in the operating theatre, try Adwords. If it is long-term results that you're after, step into my office prepared to have your assumptions challenged and your marketing plan inverted.

*book reviews online at the Economist and the Financial Times, both of which struggle with the conceptual framework of "freemium"!