It has been a long time since I’d listened to the keynote address I delivered at Driving Sales, 2011. This was a hectic time – my wife had just had an operation, my company had just been purchased, and I was coming into Vegas without a speech prepared.
One prediction I muffed was that Facebook would buy or partner with Bing. While it technically came true with Bing integration into Facebook and Facebook integration into Bing search results, it wasn’t the blockbuster deal I had anticipated.
On the other hand, talking about quality inbound links as the key to SEO success came to pass on April 24, 2012, when Google released their Penguin update. It devalued poor-quality links and rewarded high-value links, something that I discussed in the keynote several months before.
Another portion of the speech mentioned social signals. It doesn’t matter that Google is claiming they don’t have an effect. Testing by reputable SEO professionals proves that it definitely does have an impact, though back in 2011 that impact was minimal. Today, it’s big.
I’m not into tooting my horn but this even took me by surprise when I checked the dates.
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