More and more, users tap into diverse sources to obtain the information that will guide their purchase decisions.

The challenge for today's search marketers is to understand how best to interact with consumers within each new channel, in order to maximize opportunities for engagement.

To see what the future holds for search marketing, we should take a look back and understand why Search Engine Marketing became so important so fast as a tool for digital marketers.

Quite simply, SEM flourished because it effectively reaches consumers at the "point of need" and creates an opportunity to interact with them at that crucial juncture.  To excel at SEM, marketers need not understand  who their customer is, or where she lives. Rather, it's a matter of understanding  what she needs, how she looks for it and being available and accessible  when she seeks it.

As consumers adopted the Search Engine as their preferred way of seeking out information on topics of interest, marketers soon followed, attempting to ensure that "their website" was the one people found when they searched for a particular topic.  And that's how Search Engine Marketing was born.

Why is it important to understand the past to predict the future?  Because marketers will always follow the consumer, so understanding "where to next" will allow us to predict the future of SEM.

….So "where to next"? 

Social media
In 2004 MySpace and Facebook changed the digital landscape forever, with customizable online communities of friends, colleagues and "like-minded" individuals.  These sites now rank consistently among the most highly trafficked.  Clearly, users have migrated en masse to "community" websites.

Search Marketers need to understand this shift.  As users more and more frequently "turn to their community" to gather information, we must adapt our strategies to ensure that we are marketing to them in a relevant fashion within these communities, at the point of need.

Meta engines
While technically within the "engine" landscape, meta engines are often neglected in the search planning process.  This is a mistake, for as the number of users searching on meta engines – such as Kayak, CNET and Dice – increases, reaching them within this environment will be vital, precisely because this population tends to skip traditional search engines as they make their decisions.

Peer review sites
TripAdvisor changed the face of hotel research when it ushered in the era of peer-review Web content.  Search marketers cannot neglect this important trend; we need to include monitoring and leveraging peer reviews when we develop strategies to influence consumers' opinions and decisions.

Blogs & Experts
Bloggers have become de facto experts on a wide range of topics.  When seeking information, people turn in growing numbers to the blogosphere for enlightenment.  Like peer review sites, blogs are perceived as offering "the unvarnished truth" on a topic, rather than the "company line & marketing speak." Tapping into blogs gives us another way to reach searching consumers.

However, marketers should tread carefully in this area: trust is essential in the blogosphere, and any whiff of intrusive marketing could turn the community against a brand.

Mobile
Mobile search is fast becoming a critical element in the search landscape. Especially important for local, offline retail establishments,  mobile search offers marketers an opportunity to reach users at an even more immediate point of need: when they are on the move, already heading for a destination.

Don't get us wrong: the Search Engine is not obsolete.  But search marketers who wish to stay ahead of the curve need to take advantage of alternative channels to reach and engage with today's "searching consumer."