Technology is really amazing.  Consumers have become more and more reliant on using technology is our day-to-day lives.  From searching for a service or business, identifying activities for the kids, checking for traffic conditions, looking for a new mate or a new job, we pretty much use search for everything.

Employees are constantly connected to their companies and their lives with smart devices, providing ease of access to company research/databases, competitive information, business intelligence and many other nuggets and information that power the knowledge workers.

Business owners, from retailers to e-commerce to service providers, are highly dependent on search and SEO in order to be found by perspective customers, connect with their existing customers and build their brand.

Search and SEO are essential for businesses.  Today we basically type a few words into a browser and we are prompted with a list of possible options enabled through the power of Google, Bing and Yahoo.  These choices help us to become more focused in our search and cut down on the amount of time we are on the hunt.  We have become highly dependent on this option as well as the preview screen so we do not even have to go to a site if it does not look right.  This is how we find those local businesses today.

Now that this is a norm, we can all relax right?  No as search has just started to change again.  No more word searches, image searches, contextual searches etc.  – Now we do voice search.  Can you say flux capacitor?

Siri, the recently released voice recognition app that allows iPhone users to control their cell phones verbally — seems like a cool party trick, sending text messages from your spoken instructions, checking the weather and setting up calendar reminders.

But that is not all it does or will do.  It will rapidly become the way you search for everything.  “Call me a cab” and it will do that.  As your personal assistant, Siri will continue to learn with you and provide you with what you need, when you need it.  Are we there yet?  Not quite.  Will we be there soon.  Yes we will!

For small businesses, start the learning process now.  Connecting with your customers via search and SEO just changed…… again.  Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.

Webman