My colleague Heath Row just asked for my top of mind 3-5 important trends in search, or that vicinity. For the record, they are (in no particular order):
- Gradual emergence of search 2.0 in the mainstream engines: "unified search" (my name for the trend) from Google and Ask, personalized search, etc. Collectively they will create pretty big changes in the search experience over the next 12-24mo that could impact marketers significantly
- Overall the rapid iteration of features/functionality from the engines and the industry's ability to keep up, from tech integration, execution, integration and best practices POVs
- The continual 'emergingness' of local and mobile. One of these days, they'll be huge, but it's been kind of like watching the bad guy who gets steamrolled in slow motion in Austin Powers...
- Extensions of search: content targeting > site targeting >... and now audio, print, behavioral. Are agencies going to have to choose between being "SEMs" or "Google agencies"?
- Long slow progression to integrating search and display... Not just reporting but planning and managing. Synching these up at each stage is at least as hard as just getting the data lined up in one place.
- Not exactly search but the big question for me right now: pay per click was an evolutionary leap forward in marketing that grew out of the primordial stew of search. In web 1.0, the primary activity was trying to find things. That made search the nexus: everyone goes through there to get almost anywhere. And that provided the foundation for keyword targeting and the scale/speed for a dynamic pricing/performance model to emerge. Question is, will another evolutionary leap happen out of the new nexus of social networks? Now that hundreds of millions of pple go through there for many kinds of personal connections, what new ad form will emerge? Display, sponsorships, ppc, etc will certainly play a role there, but is there a "pay per node" or "pay per person" or another engagement driven model lurking out there that will change the game again?
