The Bully on the Block

As I've mentioned previously Google almost single handed defined the rules of search marketing, and created an entire industry (and jobs) built around figuring out their algorithms. In 2012, there's no doubt we will see Google continue to create "rules" that we all must adapt to.

The introduction of "not provided" in organic search results will likely far exceed the predicted 10% of all visits and we can expect Google to make Google+ a significant factor is search rankings.

Look at the image below.  This is a search result for "running shoes" as it was displayed on my 22" screen today.  Does anyone see that the TOP ORGANIC result is not above the fold?  All of your selection choices in this image are Paid Ads or result from a Google Places listing.  From marketer's perspective, this reduces the hard earned value of the top organic spot.

Organic clicks have always been 80% of all activity but 2012 might be the year where we see this number start to fall.  The bully on our block will keep us guessing this year - and be assured the changes will be to his benefit.