Video interview with Matt Cutts on changes at Google

Bruce Clay made a claim that “ranking is dead”. In the video shown here, Matt Cutts of Google responds to that assertion.

Matt does not completely agree with Bruce that “ranking is dead” but does announce that it is not as important as it once was.

There’s a lot more to SEO than just ranking number one in Google for a key phrase. Since searches based on personalisation and localisation are becoming more and more prevalent, Matt echoes Bruce’s words that the central focus for SEOs should be traffic and conversions.

With all these innovations, the game is changing for SEOs. Matt says they are now marketers and need to embrace universal search by integrating video, images, books, etc. As far as Google trends go for 2009, they will affect SEOs as well. Matt reports how black hat SEO is “getting more malicious” and shamelessly illegal.

In summary, SEOs need to be aware of these actions and act accordingly. They need to decide where they stand on legal and ethical issues and how they will adjust their strategies to compatibly adapt to these new trends.