As owner of 65% of the U.S. search market, Google has the ability to change the search engine marketing space with each update it makes; on average, the engine implements 500 potentially game-changing modifications to its search algorithm per year. However, the search giant’s tendency to not disclose the details of its updates and, thus, the potential for bias and violation of antitrust law, has resulted in an investigation into its search technology by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

In an effort to increase its transparency, Google published details of 10 of its most recent updates on its corporate blog. Still, Google Engineer Matt Cutts reminds readers that the brief snippets are merely a glimpse into the hundreds of updates that modify the Google search environment. The changes revealed in the post were specifically chosen because it is unlikely that marketers or website owners will use the details to “game” the system and use black hat techniques to gain higher search rankings.

Some of these most recent updates, however, deserve more attention than a brief snapshot behind the scenes of Google development processes. For example, Google’s October decision to encrypt all searches made by logged in Google users has been estimated to have an average impact on 10% of search traffic. This update comes on top of a recent addition to the 2010 Caffeine indexing system that is estimated to impact 35% of search by prioritizing more recent content. These two instances are a strong example of the power Google wields to create change in the organic search space. Take into consideration that Google will be placing increasing importance on the content of website and landing pages as opposed to the header or menu text, and search engine marketers could be looking at a future rife with significant strategy overhauls.

A reflection by Sean Voorhies, Account Supervisor

90octane Account Supervisor Sean Voorhies discusses his opinions on recent allegations that SEO is cheating the search system.

Imagine you’re driving on a dirt road. It’s nighttime. Your headlights are dim. You’re trying to find a friend’s house but there are no street signs and only a few faintly recognizable landmarks. You can see houses glowing in the distance but you aren’t sure where to turn or how to find what you’re looking for.

Contrast that image to that of the city. There are street lights, street signs and the roads are clearly marked and register on your GPS. You may not know where you are going, but you can say with certainty that you know how to get there.

To the search engines, content on the web that is optimized using legitimate (or white hat) SEO tactics is equivalent to city street signs, lights and road maps. Optimized content helps to guide and direct engines and searchers to the right places, showcasing the right results and providing a map of the web.

By Meg Archer, SEM Specialist

When a site links to you, what do you do? 90 gives advice on how to create a linking strategy that is beneficial to your SEO plan as a whole.

To implement a strong SEO strategy, businesses must create a relevant linking strategy.  To be most effective, sometimes businesses or agencies must use another site to syndicate content. As is often the case with third-party listings, this relationship can get tricky. But, if you follow some simple rules, your site will reap the benefits of well planned and executed SEO and linking strategies.

Most obviously, if your content is syndicated on a partner site, ensure it links to your original article. Simon Heseltine, director of SEO at AOL Inc. and writer for Search Engine Watch, supports this recommendation. “This tells the search engines the location of the original, after they determine its duplicate content.” If the syndicate includes a link back to your original content, not simply your homepage, this will build credibility for your site.

However, it is important not to have a link to the syndication on your site because this creates reciprocal linking. We strongly recommend against reciprocal linking because it often comes from link farms, is inorganic and can negatively impact your site ranking in search results.

By Elyse Jarvis, Account Coordinator

As users become more aware of the nature of the “search,” it is important for marketing and advertising programs to implement strategy accordingly.

As marketers, we distinctly understand the benefits of SEO practices, but, as a U.S. survey by Performics concluded, user search behavior and awareness of search tactics are changing.

According to the survey:

More than 75 percent of respondents use search to further research a product or service after seeing an ad. And, contrary to common understanding of search users as only willing to delve so far to find information they are looking for, Performics found:

•    If a searcher doesn’t find what he or she is looking for on the first try, he/she will try, try again.
- 89 percent will modify their search query and try again.
- 89 percent will visit a different search engine.
- 79 percent will sift through multiple results pages to find the inf

By Kinnick Wheaton, Account Coordinator

As Google innovates, consumers post reviews and social media booms, marketing strategies must heed to the importance of the local search result.

It has been said that 2011 will be the year of local and mobile search. Already, local search innovations are popping up everywhere. This seems a natural progression now that mobile devices are capable of efficiently browsing the internet and new apps are created daily to facilitate local interactions. The strength of “local” in the SEM industry is indicated by Google’s local-favored search result innovations, the increasing importance of online reviews, and what local businesses are doing—or should to be doing—to keep up a vibrant online local presence. The trend of “going local” must not be ignored when managing a marketing program for any kind of business.

The most evident local innovation is the way Google organizes results for certain queries. Google posts local results before organic results and paid ads for queries it believes to be locally related. For example, when searching for weather or pizza, the initial results are that of local pizza joints or real-time weather forecasts. These results are enhanced by Google toolbar’s My Location feature, which allows users to define and alter their current location by entering a zip code or city/state location.

Similarly, Google Instant, another recent innovation, has also been a larger player in the growth of local search. With Google Instant, results change depending on whether the search is taking place on a mobile device or PC because Google assumes that users using a mobile device are more locally focused.