One of the running themes of SES Chicago 2008 was an intense focus on personalization. In this video Kevin Ryan, the SES Advisory Board Chair, points out the interesting contradiction between privacy concerns and personalization.

While people are still very concerned about their privacy, they actually set those concerns aside when it comes to personalization. The possibilities and results of customization are so impressive that people do not mind putting their privacy aside to see it develop.

With more personalization comes blended search and search results containing more information. These results specifically include more local information, images, video, maps, and news. Kevin throws out a couple of statistics to show just how far blended search has come in 2008 alone.

In March at SES New York 2008, comScore data showed that 17 percent of searches contained some form of blended results. At SES Chicago 2008, the same data had increased to 31 percent. For the data to have nearly doubled in less than a year’s time further proves that expectations should be high for 2009.

In practical terms, this means that SEOs need to be prepared. As search becomes more advanced, so should you. I’m not saying that old SEO tactics will not apply, but I am saying that SEO will require some modifications. You will probably have to work harder because of all the options blended search offers. Embrace all the aspects of blended search and you will come out a winner.

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