Challis Hodge’s UXblog

When a virtual journalist for a virtual newspaper reporting on the digital world of an online game lands on the real-world front page of the New York Times, it just might signal the dawn of a new era. Virtual journalist Peter Ludlow was banned from The Sims Online for being a bit too good at his job–for reporting in his virtual tabloid the Alphaville Herald on the cyber-brothels, crimes, and strong-arm tactics that had become rife in the game–and when the Times, the BBC, CNN, and other media outlets covered the story, users all over the Internet called the banning censorship. Seeking a new virtual home, Ludlow moved the Herald to another virtual world–the powerful online environment of Second Life–just as it was about to explode onto the international mediascape and usher in the next iteration of the Internet.

Some of the long-time UXblog readers might be familiar with my ‘overly complex diagram used to explain a simple concept.’ It seems appropriate to pull the old graphic out once again as we contemplate the future of specialty Search Agencies.

In recent years we have witnessed the birth of several specialty disciplines that quickly blossomed into specialty shops only to gradually fade out as their skills were absorbed into generalist shops and agencies. A few that come to mind include cognitive psychology into usability engineering firms, cultural anthropology into specialty research shops, and library sciences into information architecture shops.

Obviously some of these specialty shops still exist today but the vast majority slowly faded as agencies sought to find balance between these skills and efficiency in using them.

I believe the end of 2007/beginning of 2008 marks the peak of yet another specialty: Search Engine Marketing & Optimization.

The last couple of years have been challenging as agencies struggled to find ways to integrate specialty SEM shops into their interactive processes. While the value has been significant, they have not been able to achieve the levels of efficiency required to maximize that value.

Over the course of 2008 I believe we’ll see a great deal of realignment in this space. A few SEM/SEO shops will remain independent, some will align with analytics and media shops, while much of the SEM/SEO expertise will naturally merge into the interactive agencies and marketing shops. Once it’s moved into the i-agencies some of the SEM expertise will be absorbed into existing agency disciplines like planning, user experience, analytics, strategy or research. Still, I think we’ll see a specialized search discipline persist inside the agencies for quite some.

All-in-all 2008 will prove to be an exciting year as agencies, their partners and clients continue through the cycle: embracing change, growing and finding balance.