SEO for a personalized Internet

Bentley007 in Google Personalization is Downright Creepy asks:

your search results will be tailored to your historical search profile. Over time, it will almost be like we are all using a different internet. What are the implications for the search marketing industry?

boiled down: the new Search Engine will be about people, not keywords. the new SEO is about sites that rank with humans, not with algorithms.

The implications are: SEO will become less about algorithms and computer science and more about psychology and salesmanship. It’s already half way there, isn’t it? In order to achieve online success, you have to appeal to people. Stuffing metas and finding the perfect code-to-content ratio is so passé it’s laughable - the new currency of SEO is tags.

Salesmanship and PR (Public Relations, not PageRank) will definitely increase in importance. As humans take over where algorithms formerly ruled, being found will depend on people knowing you’re there - a chicken and egg situation for sure. In order for a site to be popular, you need to be discovered. Not familiar with the pattern? Go rent some cheesy movies about dance competitions.

it’s what Digg does that Google don’t.

Google found an ideal algorithm for Web 1.0
Digg has the perfect system for Web 2.0
The secret sauce of Web 3.0? I know, but I’m not telling (yet)