An economic limbo requires a change of focus for online SEO and SEM campaigns.

Rather than having the luxury of creating online campaigns that result in high long term yields a wise decision is to scale down and introduce short-term yield variables.

Specifically, introducing local searches becomes a significant part of short-term yield campaigns. For SEO purposes, client reviews and ratings can be critical to the success of local search engines. Therefore, it’s extremely important that these trust-based modules be optimized, encouraged and submitted for search inclusion.

While online advertising is more recession proof than other forms of advertising the seeming slump is do it consumers scaling back their monthly expenditures. However, the immediacy of online advertising and the ability to do extreme tailoring allows for targeting typically not seen in print or on-air advertising.

The current trend for online marketing is to focus more on local (geo-targeted) searches and reputation management. Banner ads and social media marketing, unless tied to a specific goal, are being dramatically reduced.

One of the biggest SEO errors online marketers can make in this or any economy is keyword selection. Analysis of your site as it is today is extremely important when changing the focus. Do not give into the desire to select generic keywords without the data to support that selection. Keyword selection sets the theme for any campaign and therefore can change the SEO strategy significantly. A heavy focus on generic terms can cause flow down and actually reduce your specific keywords as well.  Also to increase conversions your site or landing page MUST support both your keywords and ads.

Finally, link building remains a high ROI opportunity. No longer is simple submission enough. Although some search engines frown on link buying, it remains a tool used in online marketing. However, as search engines crack down and move from mere vocal displeasure to sanctions link building remains one of the most important aspects of SEO marketing.

Ultimately, the opportunity for profit remains with SEO.