On December 14, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted against keeping net neutrality in a 3-2 vote. With net neutrality out of the way, this means your internet service providers (ISP), such as AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast, would be allowed to place restrictions on what users view online, can further promote their agenda, and even charge additional fees to view a certain tier of sites.
So what does this mean for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?
For one, certain search engines that are owned or favored by the ISPs are likely going to be promoted more. For example, Verizon purchased Yahoo earlier this year, so users with Verizon internet and cellular service may be pushed to use Yahoo over any other search engine (e.g. Google, Bing). Market share for Google may decrease and search engine experts may have to adapt their strategies. SEM specialists that may have solely focused on AdWords in the past would have to adapt to Yahoo’s ad strategies.
However, the premise of SEO would remain the same across the 3 search engines: Focus on delivering quality content and providing an excellent user experience. Over the years, we’ve noticed that when we optimize for Google and for human visitors, Bing and Yahoo usually follow suit when it comes to rankings and results. The search engines WANT to provide to the best results and experience to users, otherwise, they will use another search engine that would solve their search needs.
Have any questions on SEO or SEM and how this would impact your digital marketing for your business in 2018? Feel free to comment or reach out to us!
