Back in 2007, Searchengingeland.com did a great interview with Matt Cutts on the future of SEO.  I find it extremely interesting just how high quality Matt's advice really was.  It really hinged on a few things: - personalized search results - local search results - the need for a website that is more focused on a users need than the need of the search engine Well, not suprising everything discussed has really come to pass.  Google is serving up more local results and has rolled out ways to allow for increasing personalization - (the show options update and the old Google promote are just the latest examples). Interestingly, even though this was a few years ago the advice does not  yet seem to have been taken fully to heart. Local search, personalized search, blended search and a high quality website are all more important than ever.  Yet, these are often ignored by many businesses. One interesting trend that I continue to see is that many small and mid-sized companies are paying thousands of dollars to "SEO" their website while spending next to nothing on new content and content development.   This lack of focus on building and bettering their web assets is troubling.   It means that search engine optimization services are being sold into a situation in which a long lasting, positive result is not really possible. Companies need to focus on content creation and optimizing that content as the primary technique for marketing online.  Certainly, things can be done to underlying meta data, existing content and site infrastructure that can all be tremendously important - yet, the paramount tasks for any Director of Marketing or Sales that is charged with managing and marketing their website should be pulled in any combination from this list:

• case study/white paper creation
• extensive encyclopedia-like articles on products and services
• frequent blog postings
• frequent on-page press releases and press release syndication
• creation of product videos/testimonial videos, etc.

These steps should help make your site very relevant to both visitors and search engines alike.  These simple steps will help future proof your internet marketing efforts.