He believes this is a result of Google controlling access to all the world’s information and calls it a “natural monopoly.” Ultimately, it will likely lead to the regulation of search.

At the time of the taping of this interview, the European Commission had recently opened an investigation into the search giant. During that same time frame, Google also received a license to sell electricity. Incidentally, this information was not widely publicized.

Because the U.S. supports private enterprise, Ryan does not think it will see as much regulation as other countries that do not strongly support the private sector. He goes on to indicate that the regulation will impact the natural, editorial side of search more than it will impact the paid advertising side.

“It’s going to get really, really interesting really fast,” says Ryan.

Unfortunately, most politicians in Washington do not understand interactive media and all the factors involved with it, such as privacy. For this reason, Ryan advises the search industry to spend less time branding and more time keeping up with what is happening in the nation’s capital.

Do you agree with Kevin Ryan and believe that search will become a public utility?

He went on to say that they understand the importance of having their own YouTube channel. This allows brands to have control over the message they send out to the public. Another method for maintaining that control is hosting video on your own site, as we do here at WPN. With video hosting, there are costs involved as well as the need to provide high quality production to reinforce the brand.

Overall, people are beginning to take video a lot more seriously. Ryan still refers to the space as the “Wild Wild West” but says we are starting to see inklings of what it could look like in the future.

Many people either overestimate or underestimate the knowledge of their company’s C-level suite in regards to search and social media. As a good rule of thumb, Ryan says that when the mainstream media catches on to the latest technological innovation, chances are the C-level execs are willing to come on board as well.

When it comes to the actual approach, the best way to go about it is to show how SEO, SEM, social media, and whatever other initiative you might be pushing can be integrated into already established programs. Emphasize how all the areas work together to produce greater benefits for the company.

Are you having any success in communicating with your C-level executives? If so, what tips can you share for others to utilize?

Kevin explains how SES attempts to be consistent and offer the “tried-and-true” information they always provide, but they also bring plenty of new ideas and concepts. According to Kevin, those of us closely involved in the industry often forget that new people are discovering this space everyday. Those people need to be educated on the basics.

SES is continuously looking for ways to cater to people’s needs. One such measure they took with the New York show was the expansion of Site Clinics into Extreme Makeovers.

For Kevin, key takeaways included a strong need to educate people on the basics before the advanced, a noticeable growth and interest in blended search, and the increasing popularity of social media. Kevin says social integration and personalization are key components and growth drivers for search to move forward.

As noted in our video coverage, we can agree with Kevin and say that social was definitely a significant theme at SES New York. What were your key takeaways from the show? Do you agree with Kevin or were there other topics that stood out to you?

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.