@Tarzan 163270 wrote:
My main point is that even when/if you narrow the audience down to the geo and the niche you will be left with a handful of pages…. those pages will be ordered by optimization standards (most links, best keyword usage, domain name, etc)
Brings up an interesting point – how does one define “optimisation” I guess. I agree on the domain name remaining an important element, and I agree with you and Dom about on page “SEO” playing a role for a long time to come.
Totally agree on country hosting – not a fan of this at all…it’s Google telling us who we can and cant target. Wrong. Regards the CNN point, and this one…
…I firmly believe this is the future. How they get there, I have no idea, but the bounce rate, click rate, page views – ie: the general behaviour of a user to a site or sites found through a search term – will become the main factor in SERPS placement.
Hence why I think content will be King one day, and SEO as we know it today (links, keywords, titles, semantics, layout and design etc) will not be a major ranking factor.
The bottom line is, if you ran a search engine it is not sensible to allow outside forces (ie: webmasters) to manipulate your search results because while they can, your users can be served with crap. Simple as that. I believe that’s their ultimate goal.