Search engine optimisation relies both on technical information and knowledge of the psychology of users. In fact, most of the technical information available in the world of SEO comes ultimately from user psychology. The search engines rely on knowledge of how users think, and the search engine optimisation pros rely on knowledge of how the search engines think about how the users think. Sigmund Freud might have loved the challenge of SEO!

The increasing complexity of the relationship between the search engines and users is increasing the need for complex SEO strategies. For example, in reaction to users’ increasing tendency to search with long phrases, the search engines have looked for linked strings of words. In reaction, SEO experts have started optimising with long-tail keywords, which need a much more complex strategy because the target market for each keyword is much smaller. As Google and the other search engines develop new ways of tracking user behaviour, behaviour-related search results will increase in importance.

The term is ‘behavioural search’ and it will have an increasing influence on the way your site’s search engine optimisation needs to be implemented in the future. The search engine uses information it has gathered by tracking what that particular user has done in other areas of the net, and applies that knowledge along with their search term to provide relevant results. It is already happening in search results.

The move from this highly-specific approach to search and old-style search comes from the ambiguity of the English language. If you type ’signs’ into the search engine, in the old days you could get anything from business signs to a Mel Gibson movie. The way these were ranked would depend on how well the site’s SEO company had done their work. With behavioural search, the search engine will know that you’re more interested in the business side of things. Of course, that is if you haven’t recently had an urgent desire to investigate Mel Gibson movies.

With this shift, the place where a site currently ranks just won’t matter as much. The rankings are likely to be split. The good news is competition will lessen slightly.

When keywords are just one factor in a complex calculation from the user’s end of the search, more of the smaller factors will matter on your site. Your site will still need to be relevant to a user’s search, and so your existing links will be just as important for establishing your reputation with the search engines. Your content will become even more important for the different angles it takes. Above all, the shift in perspective is more likely to put more emphasis on providing a quality experience to your users. This is something your SEO plan should be working from in any case.

The shift in emphasis in search is not a surprise to the SEO industry, and a good SEO firm will be able to move with the flow. Talk to us at SEO Consult about how to evolve your search engine optimisation strategy along with search evolution.

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