The Seven Deadly Sins of Website Copy
By Michel Fortin (c) 2009 

Throughout my research, I'm always surprised when I stumble onto
websites that are professionally designed and seem to offer
great products and services, but lack or fail in certain
important elements.

Elements that, with just a few short changes, can help multiply
the results almost instantaneously.

Generally, I have found that there are seven common mistakes. I
call them the "Seven Deadly Sins." Is your website committing
any one of these?

1) They Fail to Connect

Traffic has been long touted to be the key to online success,
but that's not true. If your site is not pulling sales,
inquiries or results, then why would it need more traffic?

The key is to turn curious browsers into serious buyers. Aside
from the quality of the copy, the number one reason why a
website doesn't convert is that the copy is targeting the wrong
audience or fails to connect with them.

First, create a "perfect prospect profile
(http://www.michelfortin.com/how-to-target-your-perfect-customer/)."
List all the attributes, characteristics and qualities of your
most profitable and accessible market.

Don't just stick with things like demographics and
psychographics. Try to get to know them.

Who are they, really? What are their most pressing problems?
What keeps them up at night? How do they talk about their
problems? Where do they hang out?

Then, target your market by centering on a major theme, benefit
or outcome so that, when you generate pre-qualified traffic,
your hit ratio and your sales will increase dramatically.

Finally, ensure that your copy connects with them. Intimately.
It speaks their language, talks about their problems, and tells
stories they can easily appreciate and relate to.

Since this is the most common error that marketers and
copywriters commit, and to help you, follow the following
formulas.

The OATH formula
(http://www.michelfortin.com/can-your-prospects-take-an-oath/)
helps you to understand the stage of awareness your market is
at. (How aware of the problem are they, really?)

The QUEST formula
(http://www.michelfortin.com/want-better-copy-go-on-a-quest/)
guides you in qualifying and empathizing with them. And the
UPWORDS formula (http://www.michelfortin.com/to-up-sales-up-words/)
teaches you how to choose the appropriate language your market
can easily understand, appreciate and respond to.

2) They Lack a Compelling Offer

"Making an offer you can't refuse" seems like an old clich�, but
don't discount its relevance and power. Especially in this day
and age where most offers are so anemic, lifeless, and like
every other offer out there.

Too many business believe that simply offering a product or
service, and mentioning the price, are good enough. But what
they fail to realize is that people need to intimately
understand the full value (the real value and, more importantly,
the perceived value) behind the offer.

Sometimes, all you need is to offer some premiums, incentives
and bonuses to make the offer more palatable and hard to ignore.
(Very often, people buy products and services for the premiums
alone.)

Other times, you need to create what is called a "value
buildup."

(In fact, premiums are not mandatory in all cases, particularly
when the offer itself is solid enough. But building value almost
always is.)

Essentially, you compare the price of your offer not with the
price of some other competing offer or alternative, but with the
ultimate cost of not buying-and enjoying-your product or
service.

This may include the price of an alternative. But "ultimate
cost" goes far beyond price. Dan Kennedy calls this "apples to
oranges" comparisons.

For example, let's say you sell an ebook on how to grow better
tomatoes. That might sound simple, and your initial inclination
might be to compare it to other "tomatoe-growing" ebooks or
viable alternatives.

But also look at the the time it took for you to learn the best
ways to grow tomatoes. Look at the amount of money you invested
in trying all the different fertilizers, seeds and techniques to
finally determine which ones are the best.

Don't forget the time, money and energy (including emotional
energy) people save from not having to learn these by
themselves. Add the cost of doing it wrong and buying solutions
that are either more expensive or inappropriate.

That's what makes an offer valuable. One people can't refuse.

3) They Lack Reasons Why

While some websites are well-designed and provide great content,
and they might even have great copy, they fail because they
don't offer enough reasons for people to buy-or at least read
the copy in the first place.

Visitors are often left clueless. In other words, why should
they buy? Why should they buy that particular product? Why
should they buy that product from that particular site? And more
important, why should they buy now?

What makes your product so unique, different and special? What's
in it for your customers that they can't get anywhere else? Not
answering those questions will deter clients and impede sales.

John E. Kennedy, a Canadian fireman and copywriter at the turn
of the last century, talked a lot about the power of adding
"reasons why." His wisdom still rings true to this day, and we
know this from experience.

Once, my wife had a client whose website offered natural
supplements.

It offered a free bottle (i.e., 30-day supply). But response was
abysmal. Aside from being in a highly competitive industry, the
copy failed to allay the prospect's fears. They thought it might
be a scam or that there's a catch.

So all she did was tell her client to add the following
paragraph:

  "Why are we offering this free bottle? Because we want you
   to try it. We're so confident that you will see visible
   results within 30 days that you will come back and order
   more."

Response more than tripled.

Similarly, add "reasons why" to your copy. To help you, make
sure that it covers all the bases by answering the following "5
why's:"

  * Why me? (Why should they listen to you?)
  * Why you? (Who is perfect for this offer?)
  * Why this? (Why is this product perfect for them?)
  * Why this price? (Why is this offer so valuable?)
  * Why now? (Why must they not wait?)

4) They Lack Scarcity

Speaking of "why now," this is probably the most important
reason of all.

A quote from Jim Rohn says it all, and I force myself to think
about it each time I craft an offer. He said, "Without a sense
of urgency, desire loses its value."

People fear making bad decisions. With spams, scams and snake
oils being rampant on the Internet, people tend to
procrastinate, and they do so even when the copy is good, the
offer is perfect and they're qualified for it.

Most websites I review fail to effectively communicate a sense
of urgency. If people are given the chance to wait or think it
over, they will. Look at it this way: if you don't add a sense
of urgency, you're inviting them to procrastinate.

Use takeaway selling in order to stop people from
procrastinating and get them to take action now. In other words,
shape your offer - and not just your product or service - so
that it is time-sensitive or quantity-bound.

More important, give a reasonable, logical explanation to
justify your urgency or else your sales tactic will be instantly
discredited. Back it up with reasons as to why the need to take
advantage of the offer is pressing.

Plus, a sense of urgency doesn't need to be an actual limit or a
deadline. It can be just a good, plausible and compelling
explanation that emphasizes the importance of acting now - as
well as the consequences of not doing so.

For example, what would they lose out on if they wait? Don't
limit yourself to the offer. Think of all the negative
side-effects of not going ahead right now.

5) They Lack Proof

Speaking of the fear of making bad decisions, today's consumers
are increasingly leery when contemplating offers on the
Internet.

While many websites look professional, have an ethical sales
approach, and offer proven products or services, the lack of any
kind of tangible proof will still cause most visitors to at
least question your offer.

The usual suspects, of course, are testimonials and guarantees.
Guarantees and testimonials help to reduce the skepticism around
the purchase of your product or service, and give it almost
instant credibility.

(I often refuse to critique any copy that doesn't have any
testimonials. It's not just to save myself time and energy. I
would be wasting my client's money if the only recommendation
they got from me was to add testimonials.)

Elements of proof is not just limited to guarantees and
testimonials, either.

They can include the story behind your product, your
credentials, actual case studies, results of tests and trials,
samples and tours, statistics and factoids, photos and
multimedia, "seals of approval," and, of course, reasons why.

Even the words you choose can make a difference. Because, in
addition to a sense of urgency, your copy also needs a sense of
credibility.

Today, people are understandably cynical and suspicious. If your
offer is suspect and your copy, at any point, gives any hint
that it can be fake, misleading, untrue, too good to be true, or
too exaggerated to be true...

... Then like it or not your response rate will take a nose dive.

So, help remove the risk from the buyer's mind and you will thus
increase sales - and, paradoxically, reduce returns as well. Plus,
don't just stick with the truth. You also need to give your copy
the ring of truth.

To help you, follow my FORCEPS formula
(http://www.michelfortin.com/what-surgery-taught-me-about-copywriting/).

6) They Lack a Clear Call to Action

Answer this million-dollar, skill-testing question: "What
exactly do you want your visitors to do?" Simple, isn't it? But
it doesn't seem that way with the many sites I've visited.

The KISS principle (to me, it means "keep it simple and
straightforward") is immensely important on the Internet. An
effective website starts with a clear objective that will lead
to a specific action or outcome.

If your site is not meant to, say, sell a product, gain a
customer or obtain an inquiry for more information, then what
exactly must it do? Work around the answer as specifically as
possible.

Focus on the "power of one." That is:

  * One message
  * One audience
  * One outcome

If your copy tells too many irrelevant stories (irrelevant to
the audience and to the advancement of the sale), you will lose
your prospects' attention and interest.

If it tries to be everything to everyone (and is therefore
either too generic or too complex), you will lose your prospects
completely.

And if you ask your prospects to do too many things (other than
"buy now" or whatever action you want them to take), you will
lose sales.

Use one major theme. Make just one offer. (Sure, you can offer
options, such as ordering options or different packages to
choose from. But nonetheless, it's still just one offer.)

Most important, provide clear instructions on where and how
to order.

Aside from the lack of a clear call to action, asking them to
do too many things can be just as counterproductive. The mind
hates confusion. If you try to get your visitors to do too many
things, they will do nothing.

Stated differently, if you give people too many choices, they
won't make one. So keep your message focused or else you will
overwhelm the reader.

7) They Lack Good Copy

It may seem like this should be the number one mistake.

While it's still one of the top seven mistakes, it's last
because the ones above take precedence. If you're guilty of
making any of the previous six mistakes, in the end your sales
will falter no matter how good your copy is.

Nevertheless, lackluster copy that fails to invoke emotions,
tell compelling stories, create vivid mental imagery, and excite
your prospects about your product or service is indeed one of
the most common reasons websites fail.

Top sales trainer Zig Ziglar once said, "Selling is the
transference of enthusiasm you have for your product into the
minds of your prospects."

Copy is selling in print. Therefore, its job is no different. In
fact, since there's no human interaction that you normally get
in a face-to-face sales encounter, your copy's job, therefore,
has an even greater responsibility.

It must communicate that same enthusiasm that energizes your
prospects, excites them about your offering and empowers them to
buy.

Aside from infusing emotion into your copy, give your prospects
something they can understand, believe in and act upon. Like a
trial lawyer, it must tell a persuasive story, make an airtight
case and remove any reasonable doubt.

Above all, it must serve your prospect.

Many sites fail to answer a person's most important question:
"What's in it for me?" They get so engrossed in describing
companies, products, features or advantages over competitors
that they fail to appeal to the visitor specifically.

Tell the visitor what they are getting out of responding to your
offer. To help you, first write down a series of bullets.
Bullets are captivating, pleasing to the eye, clustered for
greater impact and deliver important benefits.

(They usually follow the words "you get," such as "With this
product, you get.")

But don't just resort to apparent or obvious benefits. Dig
deeper. Think of the end-results your readers get from enjoying
your product or service.

Do what my friend and copywriter Peter Stone
(http://www.peterstonecopy.com/blog/) calls the "so that"
technique. Each time you state a benefit, add "so that" (or
"which means") at the end, and then complete the sentence to
expand further.

Let's say your copy sells Ginko Biloba, a natural supplement
that increases memory function. (I'm not a Ginko expert, so I'm
guessing, here. Also, I'm being repetious for the sake of
illustration.) Here's what you might get:

  Ginko supports healthy brain and memory functions... so that
  you can be clear, sharp and focused... so that you can stay on
  top of everything and not miss a beat... so that you can be a
  lot more productive at work... so that you can advance in your
  career a lot faster... so that you can make more money, enjoy
  more freedom, and have more job security... so that (and so on).

That could have turned another way depending on the answer you
give it, which is why it's good to repeat this exercise. Here's
another example:

  Ginko supports healthy brain and memory functions... so that
  you can decrease the risks of senility, Alzheimer's disease,
  and other degenerative diseases of the brain... so that you
  won't be placed in a nursing home... so that you won't place
  the burden of your care on your loved ones... so that you can
  grow old with peace of mind... so that you can enjoy a higher
  quality of life, especially during those later years... so
  that (and so on).

Remember, these are just examples pulled off the top of my head.
But if you want more help with your own copy, my FAB formula
(http://www.michelfortin.com/the-oft-confused-features-and-benefits/)
is a useful guide.

Bottom line, check your copy to see if you're committing any of
these seven deadly sins. If you are, your prospects won't
forgive you. By not buying, that is.
================================================================
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker,
and consultant. Visit his blog and signup free to get tested
conversion strategies and response-boosting tips by email, along
with blog updates, news, and more! Go now to
http://www.michelfortin.com. While you're at it, follow him on
Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/michelfortin).
================================================================

Using Social Media to Boost Search Engine Results
By Lauren Hobson (c) 2009

Most of us are well aware that the search engines frequently
change their algorithms to improve search results for users (and
foil spammers), which can make it challenging for small
businesses just to keep up. But as web technology continues to
evolve, it also creates new opportunities for small businesses
to improve their SEO strategies and boost their rankings as
well. Social media (sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Technorati, Digg, etc.) provide an excellent opportunity for
small businesses to not only promote their products and services
online, but also to gain significant ground in the search engine
results.

One of the most critical components to getting top search engine
rankings is the number of inbound links and link popularity a
web site is able to build. Although there are several existing
link building strategies available to small businesses (e.g.,
press releases, directory submissions, article syndication,
etc.), social media can help create additional high-value,
on-target inbound links that are essential to achieving top
placements in the search engines.

For example, each time you use Twitter to publish a link to new
content on your web site, that link gets "planted" on the
Twitter page of each person following you, and has the potential
to spread even further as your followers share that information
with their own network of contacts.

Integrated Social Marketing (ISM)TM

If you have properly integrated your social networking profiles
together, that same Twitter "tweet" could then be fed via RSS to
your Facebook business profile, your corporate blog, your
LinkedIn account, and any number of other social sites that you
have set up for your business. It's not a far stretch to imagine
the link you broadcast on Twitter could reach dozens, hundreds,
or even thousands of other places on the web, all pointing back
to your web site! By integrating your social networking
profiles with each other, with your web site, and with your
existing marketing initiatives, you can easily make one single
marketing action (such as a tweet) show up in multiple places
online, each containing a new, relevant inbound link to your
site.

Quantity AND Quality

In addition to the sheer number of inbound links that are
created through social marketing, the value of the links that
are created is another important criterion that search engines
consider. To be valued by the search engines, inbound links must
be from relevant, "quality" web sites, and search engines today
give social sites like Facebook and Twitter great value. These
sites are highly visible to the search engines, and are
constantly taking updates from users. Links tend to be shared
according to subject matter, which means the search engines will
see them as being relevant and on-target. All of these factors
combine to create high-quality inbound links in the eyes of the
search engines.

Online Visibility and Branding

Creating visibility for your business and your "brand" is really
key when using social media for building links. The power of
social media is realized when other users see your links or
content, then share that information with their own network of
contacts. Simply adding a bunch of links to your social profiles
is not enough; you need to have a strong reputation and a brand
that users trust so they will feel comfortable sharing your
content with others. Brand recognition typically leads to
natural link building anyway, which means your inbound links
will end up coming from bloggers, colleagues, customers, and
other people who are exposed to your links and find them useful
enough to share with their own contacts.

The Proof is in the Rankings

A recent example from Website Magazine explained somewhat
surprising results when they searched for their publication's
name in Google. As expected, their web site came up as the
number one listing on the results page. But what was not
expected was the number three listing on the results page was
the magazine's Twitter page. They then performed a number of
Google searches for the terms "Chicago Tribune," "Chicago Public
Golf," and "Daily Career Tips," all with similar results in
Google - the Twitter page for each of these terms came up near
the top of the search engine results every time.

The conclusion was that given these results, Google must be
giving serious weight to Twitter content, and I happen to agree.
The search engines of course keep their ranking algorithms
top-secret, so there's no way to know how much weight (if any)
is really given to Twitter or other social media sites. But
results like those in the example above are hard to ignore!

A Great Opportunity

Social media is here to stay, and small businesses are beginning
to use it to effectively promote their businesses, reach their
customers, find new leads, keep customer mindshare, and
instantly communicate with customers. But maybe one of the
biggest benefits of adding social media to your marketing mix is
the creation of high-value, on-target inbound links that can
help improve visibility in the search engines and boost your
business to the top of the search engine rankings.
================================================================
Lauren Hobson, President of Five Sparrows, LLC
(http://www.fivesparrows.com/), has more than 16 years of
experience in small business technology writing, marketing, and
web site design and development. Five Sparrows provides
professional web site and marketing services to small businesses
and non-profit organizations, giving them access to high-quality
services at affordable prices. To read articles or subscribe to
Biz Talk, please visit http://www.FiveSparrows.com/biztalk.htm.
================================================================

How Much SEO Do You Need To Get Top Rankings?

By Titus Hoskins (c) 2009

Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions, perpetuated by

industry SEO experts, is that a website must follow perfect SEO

strategies to get top rankings. While adhering to simple common

SEO standards does help the search engines both find and index

your site more quickly, it doesn’t guarantee by any stretch of

the imagination that following those SEO guidelines will propel

your site to the top of the rankings.
If only search engine optimization was that easy!
No doubt, there are some SEO faux pas that will do harm to

your site’s rankings, especially in Google, the ultimate

hall-monitor all puffed up and ready to pounce on any

misbehaving webmaster. Things such as keyword stuffing, keyword

spamming or linking out to bad neighborhoods such as link farms,

pharmaceutical or gambling sites may get you blacklisted.
But how much SEO do you need? How much search engine

optimization do you need to get top rankings? Do you need a

whole lot or do you need very little SEO?
Actually, after 10 years of marketing online, the answer to that

question varies depending upon what you’re trying to accomplish

with your SEO efforts? If you’re operating an online business in

a very competitive (read lucrative) market, SEO will be high on

your agenda as you go about annihilating your competition.
Even if you’re an ordinary webmaster or website owner you’re

probably fussing over your rankings in the search engines. The

higher the rankings you achieve for your chosen keywords; the

more traffic you will get. Good quality traffic that converts

well into loyal subscribers and fans of your site.
Many webmasters and companies spend thousands of dollars each

month in order to get their keywords and sites up to the top of

the list. If you’re into affiliate marketing, your daily income

will rise and fall almost parallel to your rankings. Now, if my

earnings increase, I know automatically my rankings have gone

up, usually in Google. If my earnings go down, I know my

rankings have gone south. Some times even a drop or rise of one

place on the first page SERPs will affect how much you earn.
Obviously, because of this fact, SEO or how well I am optimized

for the search engines is extremely important to me. I am

constantly building quality links and quality content for my

sites. Some keyword battles you win, some battles you lose. I

have been fighting some keyword battles for over 3 or 4 years

now!
But how much SEO is enough? How much SEO should you do with your

sites? Many webmasters make sure all their on page set-up or

lay-out is done exactly to what the SEO experts say you should

do. This is not a bad idea. Make sure your Title, URL,

Headlines, Keyword Density… are all laid out right. These are

things we can control and adjust to meet the SEO standards.
Other SEO or ranking factors are much harder to predict, many of

them are simply out of our control. How other sites link to us,

what they put in the anchor text, what they say about us…

simply things we can’t control.
I believe the over-riding reason why your site is listed at the

top of any rankings has to do with the number, the quality and

the quantity of sites linking back to your page. The higher the

number of related quality one-way links you have flowing back to

your site, the higher it will perform in the rankings. Your

anchor text is very important (underlined part of a link); it

must contain your keywords or variations of it. The content on

the linking page should also be related to your chosen keywords.
Get this part right and you will get high rankings.
Or at least this has been my experience – all the other ranking

factors do count but this is the over-riding factor in my

opinion.
Another major ranking factor lately, has been the importance

Google is placing on social media links. Get your content to the

first page of Digg with lots of diggs and it will rank high in

Google. This is not surprising when you consider the nature of

these social bookmarking sites… it really is an actual “vote”

for the quality of your content. Getting Delicious bookmarks has

a similar positive effect.
Another prominent factor, from my observations, is having your

major keyword in your Domain Name. Use hyphens if you want but

having those keywords in there, does help rather than hinder

your rankings.
Now if you’re wondering about how Google ranks pages or your

keywords…. Google has around 200 ranking factors (with filters

and penalties thrown in to make all our lives interesting) which

it uses to rank your keywords/pages. This is still the best

online resource that lists all of Google’s ranking factors:

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/internet/google-ranking-factors.htm
Now the question still remains, how much SEO do you need? How

much time should you spend at optimizing, building links,

worrying your head off over the latest Google Itch?
The answer always comes back to quality content. Create a site

that has quality content and the SEO will take care of itself.

People will link to your site, you will get bookmarks in all the

social media sites, Google will find your content and rank it.

Your SEO will grow naturally as your site grows. Keep building

more pages, keep targeting more and more related keywords in

your niche or subject area and you will get higher rankings.
Now, of course, some webmasters are a little more aggressive in

how quickly they want their rankings to rise to the top of the

search engines. Here’s something you can do if you want to go

into the SEO battle full-force.
1. Download SEOquake (http://www.seoquake.com/) and place this

free SEO toolbar plug-in on your Firefox (or I.E.) browser.
2. Go to Google and type in the keyword or keyword phrase you’re

targeting with your site or content.
3. Click on the number one ranking and observe how many pages it

has indexed, PageRank, how many backlinks it has, age of the

site… and so on.
4. Then click the page info button and study all the on-page

factors this site has and notice what it’s doing with its page

and keyword density lay-out.
5. Check all the backlinks this site has in the different search

engines. Copy or try to get the same backlinks for your site

that your competitor has acquired. Then get more backlinks

and/or higher quality backlinks than your competitor.
6. Watch your rankings rise…
Just a few more words of wisdom and we’re done. Some battles

will be too tough to fight, the competition will be so stiff you

just can’t compete. Other battles will take a long time; months,

even years before you rise to the top. Your best bet is to

choose long-tail (multi-worded) keywords that have little or no

competition. You can rise to the top within days, even hours.

The sweet thing is this: long-tail keywords are often the most

lucrative and bring in the most sales. For in the final

analysis, you just don’t want SEO, you want smart SEO. And you

will quickly learn, most times you can often out-smart your

competition, even if you can’t out-rank them.

How does Google Incorporate the Hawthorn Effect

First off, what is the “Hawthorn Effect” ?

The Hawthorn Effect refers to the proneness of people to work harder and perform better when they are participants in an experiment. It was found that many people change their behavior due to the attention they are receiving from researchers..

The Hawthorne Effect was first discovered in 1924 by researchers at Harvard University who were studying the relationship between productivity and the work environment. Conducting these experiments at the Hawthorn Plant of Western Electric in Chicago found that productivity increased due to attention from the research team and not because of changes to the experimental variable.

Wait, I thought this article was about Google in the 21st century?
Did you know that Google is watching you? Quick, go put some pants on! No, not that way, get your mind out of the gutter! Google is watching you in a user behavioral and beneficial manner. Google is working on several products and projects that will eventually change how the search engine will respond to your interaction. The process is for Google to capture your request for information and measure the response to the data it provides you. Google obtains key data that helps them understand how to better manipulate the results that are being returned to you by measuring your responses. There are several beta tools currently in place testing to help them determine their course of action and refine their process in an effort to produce a better user experience for.
The “Web History” utility that is now available to all users of Google Search. Collects information about the sites you visit and uses it to generate a better response to your queries. This utility contains…

1) The ability to view and manage your web activity – search across the full text of the pages you’ve visited, including Google Searches, web pages, images and news stories.

2) Get search results that are more personalized and based on the things you’ve searched for on Google and the sites you’ve visited.

3) Get reports on your trends and web activity – how many searches did you conduct and at what time of the day. Which sites do you frequent the most?

Want to learn more about this utility? Then visit google.com/psearch
So, How will This Collected Web History affect the Search Engine industry?
Well, on its own, or combined with other beta tools in the making, it will help Google provide you with results that you want to see the most, and it will help remove items that you are not interested in seeing. In other words, Google is now tailoring the search results to each indivdual person searching on the web. Joe will get different resutls than Jan when they both search the exact same keyword.
Let’s experiment?
Put on your google goggles! Begin by creating a user account with Google. Then turn Web History on for a week or so, and chase your tail looking at keywords that are specific to the ranking of your website or a site you are maintaining. Check several times a day, closing and relaunching your browser each time you check. Eventually you are going to see a message near the top of the window that the results of your search are being influenced by… you guessed it… Web History. Pay attention to where your site is ranking with Web History turned on.

Now, after a week of allowing “Web History” to collect some information… go to your google account and turn it off, and check your page positions on Google for the same Keywords? Did you see any difference? You betcha! Google is watching you and capturing your behavior and they are manipulating your search results to match your expectations and what they perceive is your preference based on the “experiences” they have collected from you. If Web History perceives that Pink Watches by a particular manufacturer are important to you in the majority of your searches, they will bubble to the top of the page while other Pink watches by different manufactures will sink lower and lower.

Is it the end of the Search Engine Optimizing Industry?

Most likely not, factors that will make one site’s links above another will most likely not be completely limited to the users interaction and preference in the future. Traditional factors we all know and pursue like content and page ranking will continue to play a part in winning the position on the page.

Will it end here?

I doubt it! There’s at least two more prominent areas where Google can capture user preferences and then modify the result set to meet their expectations, and they are actively testing or running programs to do exactly that right now.