30-second summary:
- SEO’s dynamic nature and Google’s mysterious algorithm specifics keep the industry on its toes
- Is it possible to simply spot the inefficiencies of SEO in its infancy and foresee trends?
- With over 20 years of leadership roles, SEO pioneer Kris Jones taps into his experience to help SEOs derive more strategic value
Pretty much anytime we speak about something’s future, we’re doing something called extrapolating. By definition, extrapolating involves extending existing data or trends to assume the same procedure will continue in the future. It’s a form of the scientific method that we probably use every day in our own lives, quite reasonably, too: the summers will be hot, the downtown traffic will be bad at 9 AM, and the sun will rise tomorrow morning.
But how can we look into the future of something as complex and ever-changing as SEO? As with all cases of hindsight, we are clear on how SEO began and how it has transformed over time.
We see the inefficiencies of SEO in its infancy and how advancing search engines have altered the playing field.
The catch is this: how can we surmise about the future of SEO without having access to all the mysterious algorithm specifics that Google itself holds?
The answer is simple: we have to extrapolate.
I’ve seen SEO from the boardroom perspective for more than 20 years. I’ve seen the old days of keyword stuffing to the semi-modernization of the late 2000s to the absolute beast that Google has become now, in the 2020s.
Given that, where do I think SEO is going in the not-too-distant future? Here are some thoughts on that.
User intent will remain crucial
One aspect of SEO that is essential right now and will become only more vital as time goes