“It’s not just what you talk about that’s important, it’s also who’s talking about you.”

Social Signals and the influence on search are no longer theoretical. Both Bing and Google factor social signals into their ranking algorithms for “regular” search results. Who you are socially, your authority, the authority of those who talk about you (or your company) all play a role. However, how much influence does and will social signals have on SEO? While some are raving about how the industry will change others think that the tail is wagging the dog.

Personally I think that although social search might still seem relatively small in retrospect to other factors of SEO or just a trend because it is fairly new, it should not be underestimated. Therefore it is necessary to add it to the equation and your overall strategy because you don’t want to be the one who is left behind when it picks up speed.

Following a bout of negative feedback concerning Google’s ability to filter out low-quality search results from content farms and identify it as spam, the iconic search engine has declared war on sites that exist purely for the purpose of generating links. By now, any SEO consultant will have heard of the “farmer algorithm”, Google’s latest update designed to reduce spam in search results. Of course, the burning question is, how will the search industry be affected?

According to Danny Sullivan, writing for SearchEngineLand, Google expects the change to impact approximately 12% of US search results, and eventually plans to roll out the algorithm update globally. And while most industry insiders have been picturing the wilting of metaphorical crops, Google won’t officially state that the changes are aimed at content farms. In fact, while industry news sources have dubbed it the “farmer” algorithm, Google refers to it as the “Panda”, named after one of the project’s key developers.

SMX Advanced returns to London this year, 16 & 17 May at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel & Conference Centre London Kensington. SMX Advanced has become one of the leading global search marketing conferences, featuring international speakers sharing their expertise and advice in a number of advanced search marketing sessions. For a brief idea of what you could expect, you can find the London 2010 agenda here.

As an SMX Advanced blog partner, MediaVision are able to offer 15% discount off registration when using the promotional code MEDIAVISION011.

Remember to register early and take advantage of the Early Bird offer, a further discount on registration available until the end of March 2011.

If you follow the heated rivalry between the world’s leading search engines, you’ll know that Microsoft Bing has been marketed as a “decision engine”, taking shots at rivals like Google with a series of comical advertisements highlighting the threat of “Search Overload Syndrome”.

Pretty amusing, but Google marketing professionals will agree that the latest dispute between Google and Microsoft Bing is no laughing matter. The industry has been abuzz since Matt Cutts and Amit Singhal accused Bing of lifting code from Google and copying their rival’s search results.

With Google continually dominating the search engine sphere trailed by Yahoo and Bing, it’s hard to imagine that a newcomer could give any of these major players a run for their money. But Qwiki, a new search engine concept that went live on Monday, has proved intriguing enough to make any SEO specialist sit up and take notice…

Qwiki made headlines last year when the search platform won the TechCrunch Disrupt Award amid predictions that it would soon change the face of information consumption. So what is it exactly that makes this latest search engine concept such an exciting one?

The hour of midnight has struck, the champagne bottles popped and the world welcomed the arrival of another new year. Of course, this brings with is a flood of resolutions and predictions for the coming 12 months, and any SEO specialist will be know that the industry has been inundated with SEO predictions for 2011.

A crucial factor to consider is how the world’s biggest search engines may be developing this year. Where will 2011 take Google, Bing and Yahoo?

Friday October 22nd marked the launch of Kooday, the World Wide Web’s newest search engine – it is the brainchild of a Canadian entrepreneur and any search marketing company will be interested to hear about the features that make Kooday different from its long-established counterparts like Google and Yahoo.

It must be said that Yahoo search has never been quite as popular or as glamorous as Google; in fact I find comparing Yahoo and Google brings to mind a typical “teen movie” scenario where the shy, mousy girl with braces feels she can never compete with the pretty, spoiled cheerleader who seems to get all the attention. Of course the turning point usually comes when the mousy girl gets a confidence-boosting makeover, and the recent Yahoo search enhancements may be a step towards the search engine’s very own “Cinderella story”.

Recent Google search updates, from the rollout of Instant to the updated AdWords interface, have been causing a stir in many a SEO agency in recent weeks. With Google at the forefront of search innovation, it’s not surprising that rival engine Yahoo has started devising some strategic search enhancements as well.