Kelvin Newman on the major search trends of 2016 [podcast]

Today sees the release of the ClickZ Digital Marketing Podcast series, featuring some of the experts who contributed to our Digital Trends 2016 report.

It features interviews with Tessa Wegert, Brian Clifton, Kelvin Newman and Parry Malm, looking at key trends for 2016.

Here we'll be taking a look (sorry, listen) to Kelvin Newman's episode on search marketing.

Kelvin is one of the best known figures in the world of search marketing in the UK, being the founder of Rough Agenda and organiser of Brighton SEO.

In Kelvin's podcast we hear what initially attracted Kelvin to search, where he sees the biggest opportunities for marketers entering the industry today and which search marketing trends Kelvin is really excited about in 2016 and why.

SEM in 2016

Kelvin believes there are two main areas that will influence search marketing in 2016. The first being the technology that search engines use and how we as search marketers need to respond to it. In particular machine learning.

Machine learning is used to find patterns and trends in data-sets. Previously it was fairly straightforward for search marketers to use technical on-page SEO to influence ranking factors.

However now, as algorithms become more complex and machine learning becomes more practical, the systems that search engines use to rank websites becomes even less transparent than before.

The upside of this only benefits the user...

"As marketers we just have to concentrate on making our websites better, the experiences we provide, looking at who is performing well and learning from our competitors, rather than taking a 'tick-box approach' to search engine marketing."

And the second major factor that will influence search in 2016 is how search marketers are perceived within organisations and the business of search marketing itself...

"There's a greater need for any marketing professional to ensure that any of their recommendations and strategies are not only right but that they are implemented, so your role as a marketing professional is not only to understand social media or CRO or SEO, your job is to deliver business change."

For search marketers it's important to remember the traditional skills that would otherwise be forgotten if there wasn't a search engine advocate, but also to be the "advocate of web best practice."

For lots more insight, listen to the full podcast here: ClickZ Digital Marketing Podcast.