SEO Predictions 2013: New Tools, Social Spam Witch Hunt and the Knowledge Graph

‘Tis the season of reflections and SEO predictions, and yes, here’s another for 2013: SEO and search marketing in the coming year is going to see trends in the way of SEO ranking data and tools that work in compliance with Google’s terms of service, more interest in Google’s Knowledge Graph and putting the kibosh on social media spam, according to Bruce Clay in his 2013 predictions.

Interested in hearing more about these SEO predictions for 2013? Check out this month’s SEO Newsletter feature story: “2013 Internet Marketing Forecast by Bruce Clay.”

And while we’re on the topic of predictions, nothing helps you ponder the future better than analyzing the trends of the year previous. And we’ve got some gems for you there, too. First, what happened globally in search marketing, and then how’d Bruce do on his 2012 predictions?

We rounded up Bruce Clay Australasia, Bruce Clay Japan and Bruce Clay Europe to talk about the trends of the year in their neck of the woods. I think you’ll find it interesting to see the adoption rate of certain methodologies across the globe, and what’s important to different business communities.

In the article, “What Internet Marketing Tactics Were in Demand around the World in 2012?“, we asked six questions of our offices in three very different locations across the globe:

1.  What were the buzz words of Internet marketing in 2012?
2. In what concrete ways did SEO change in 2012?
3. What proved to be the most effective SEO tactics of 2012, the most popular or the most requested?
4. What was the demand for content and content marketing in 2012 compared to 2011?
5. How did budgets for Internet marketing shift in 2012?
6. What was the demand for link building in 2012 compared to 2011?

And the big question is: How did Bruce do on his predictions for the state of search marketing in 2012? Virginia Nussey put together this month’s Back to Basics article, “Bruce’s 2012 Predictions Scored: How Accurate Was He?” and says:

“It’s one thing to make a prediction. It’s another thing to be held accountable for your claim. There might be far fewer fortune tellers in the world if they were confronted by the accuracy of their soothsaying later down the line.

Bruce is a veteran SEO who has witnessed the rise of Google, seen the value of search algorithm ranking factors ebb and flow, watched the results page morph and grow, observed the many faces of spam, and assisted countless companies to develop websites that attract visitors and establish loyal communities.

Bruce has been at the forefront of the online marketing industry since 1996; it’s hard to be involved with something for that long and not see patterns.”

The article analyzes his forecast for 2012 using survey data from readers just like you who cast their vote to score how his predictions panned out in conjunction with feedback from thought leaders in our industry, including:

• Tim Ash, CEO of SiteTuners and chair of Conversion Conference
• Motoko Hunt, president and search marketing strategist at AJPR
• Kendra Jaros, VP of marketing at Third Door Media
• Joe Kerschbaum, VP at Clix Marketing and author of Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Mike Ramsey, owner of Nifty Marketing and The Voice

The results? You’ll have to check out the article to find out!

So what are your 2013 SEO predictions? Have you got any feedback on Bruce’s for 2013? Don’t be shy — tell us about it right here in the comments section below!

Jessica Lee is the founder and chief creative for bizbuzzcontent Inc., a marketing boutique that focuses on digital content strategy and professional writing services for businesses.

See Jessica's author page for links to connect on social media.