This being the case I think we will see Google improve their local search facility and continue to add more services. Maybe not this year but I think we might see some interesting things happening with their Streetview - possibly overlaying mapping info on top of Streetview photos (think a cross between Streetview, Google Maps and Google Earth).

Social media
Social media is being embraced widely by the Australian Y-Generation but in 2008 I wasn't convinced that social media could have any impact on local businesses in its current format. I have a feeling that this will change in 2009 as new features are rolled out for sites like Facebook, Twitter and even Google.

Social media will give businesses the opportunity to get their products and services in front of targeted prospects who will in turn review these products and services so their friends and networks can learn and gather information from their thoughts and reviews.

Another way businesses can benefit from social media in 2009 is to track what people are saying about them and their businesses. Keeping alerts for your business or brand name is an interesting way to see what people are saying about you in Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.

Mobile
As data becomes more and more affordable we will see an increase in the amount of people adapting to the mobile internet. I'm not just talking about search and checking email. Many people are now using the mobile internet to find your business via GPS, find out what others think of your service and then seeing if someone else within a short walk/drive offers this service or product at a more affordable price.

I think 2009 will see businesses starting to wake up that mobile internet is here and people are embracing it.

Rankings becoming a thing of the past
As the web diversifies and more options are becoming available for business to get in front of users, I think we will see a decrease in the importance of ranking your website in search engines and a trend towards using other additional media options available to promote and market businesses.

This means web developers and agencies will need to spend more time on understanding how different aspects of online promotion works if they want to provide an overall service for their clients.

Video will just get bigger
Video has seen a huge rise over the last few years and with the ability to shoot, produce and upload videos right from a mobile device we will see a huge impact on how people get their news and other information. 

Imagine calling your friend to ask him how the sports game is going and he quickly takes a video, uploads it to YouTube then sends you an SMS with the link so you can see for yourself. 

Besides the cool gadgety things you can do, video will also see businesses benefit from producing content that helps people. Look around on YouTube and you will be surprised at what people put up there.

I'd really love to hear your predictions and feedback about my prediction list for 2009. Do you agree with my ideas? Do you disagree with my predictions? Send me an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and we can post your ideas on SEOhub.