Predictions for 2020

[engine]

How close were we to predicting 2019 for webmasters?
Predictions for 2019 [webmasterworld.com]
Some were good and some weren't so close.

I'll take a stab at 2020.

Big business will continue to be in the cross-hairs of regulators, perhaps with a bit more of a bite this time.

Google will have lost all its connections with simply being a search engine, and will turn into more like a portal, but this time with even more content from the sites that feed it.

Home speakers will continue to take hold, with home automation becoming a problem, especially if inadequate defences by bad actors remain unpatched.

There will be a concerted effort to raise the profile of other search services as alternatives.

That's a start...

[RhinoFish]

I nailed the Cortana prediction! :-)

[lucy24]

Last time I hit New Posts, this topic title showed up immediately adjacent to one containing the words “facebook”, “millions” and “leak”.

I predict this juxtaposition will recur.

[engine]

I predict this juxtaposition will recur.

Very funny, but probably very true, too.

This sale could be overturned. ICANN to Review Sale of .ORG Registry by PIR [webmasterworld.com]

Google AdSense will continue to be a challenge for many to make a living that it once was.

[tangor]

Creators on YT and elsewhere will continue to see control of their products eroded. More challenges to YTs biz are starting up, and one or more might actually take off.

The US election year will be part of "the web" and operations. Government is more engaged now than in 2016.

EU challenges to big tech will escalate, expect more "fines".

Privacy issues of all kinds will come center stage... and some might affect the average webmaster.

[mack]

I think there will be a company that starts to make some gains on Google, specifically regarding YouTube. There is no way any company can currently compete using the same style of technology as YouTube simply based on the sheer amount of hardware and infrastructure required to deliver the service. There are a few services popping up using torrent and p2p potential alternatives that look to have some promise. If a company can provide a video sharing service without the huge expense that YouTube currently has they may be able to penetrate the market.

I also expect a lot more in the way of EU "tech Taxes" being levied against tech giants.

Mack.

[DixonJones]

I’ve banked on 2020 being the year SEOs start optimising through entities and topics instead of keywords and queries. Likewise, we’ll all learn what content schema does.

Outside of SEO, I predict a rapid move towards a trade deal between uk and us.

I also expect the Irish to test the gdpr rules on one of the big tech companies there.

[anallawalla]

Google will launch a different kind of search engine.

[ClosedForLunch]

Google will launch a different kind of search engine.

"Google Classic"

[lucy24]

"Google Classic"

... prompting years of heated argument about whether their “classic” search really is identical to what it was before they rolled out the new version, or if they’ve intentionally exaggerated the differences.

[werty]

I predict AdWords will become more and more bloated and Google will continue you to feed worthless traffic causing many folks to question whether they should find alternative sources of traffic for their business.

It will be interesting to see what large data leaks will happen.
A few times in 2020 I will threaten smashing my phone :P

[tangor]

The Emperor gets a new set of clothes.

[phranque]

• there will be more attempts to regulate GAFA et al by EU countries and individual states but not so much by the US federal government
  
• the questionable sale of the .org registry will be significantly modified or nullified
  
• there will be several large data leaks or hacks, especially regarding wearables, home automation/security/surveillance, smart speakers/smart tvs, genealogy, and streaming services
  
• better methods and tools will become available to analyze and define entities, topics, and semantic relationships

[Mark_A]

The number of searches on Google which don't result in an external click will rise from 50% to at or nearly 70% ..

[goodroi]

There will be plenty of saber rattling of politicians but not as much actual action this year. People will hate Google even more as they continue to push towards more complicated AI influences that are less understood by people. Spammers will continue to exploit the weaknesses but many will do so at diminishing profit margins as the cost of ranking increases.

[lucy24]

People will hate Google even more

“People” or webmasters?

[goodroi]

Both, Google is an easy target. Many people that don't understand SEO or technology will blame Google for perceived & actual shortcomings . Google is also a for profit company and generating profits usually comes at the expense of others. There are also growing issues inside of Google like the unionization push & different ethical preferences.

[tangor]

generating profits usually comes at the expense of others

Chalk this up to the most extraordinary UNDERSTATEMENT of the year ... and the year is only 2 days old!

[IanTurner]

Gets out the crystal ball - only $2 from AliExpress - for the only year where we'll all have perfect vision

Amazon starts to lose market share in AU/NZ - with AliExpress taking over - this will be repeated in markets across Asia and into Africa

Google revenues decrease as they lose market share in the online ads world

Google/Apple/Microsoft home products continue to be rejected by consumers as perceptions that they are the start of Big Brother increase

The big media players Netflix/Sky/Disney etc pick up more of the online advertising revenue budgets - and start to think about their own portal/search services

Broadcast television dies - becoming replaced more and more by on demand streaming services who produce more content - smaller TV stations start to go bust

Accessibility legislation continues to increase

Privacy and Data Protection Legislation finally catches up with the big IP address/no-cookie tracking loop holes (actually this may take another 10 years as legislators are still completely out of touch with the real world)

Trade tensions continue to be a major issue - 2020 could be the year of the tariff, with sanctions and import/export bans becoming more common.

Europe become more and more irrelevant in a world dominated by the US, China, Russia, India and the major oil producing nations.

No one notices that the worlds biggest problem is overpopulation

[IanTurner]

@DixonJones - if by content schema you mean anything related to schema.org, I'd very much doubt it. Schema.org has buried itself in a pile a garbage about two miles deep from which nothing useful is ever likely to escape.

The idea of imposing a schema on the worlds information is an impossible and futile task - for every rule there are dozens of exceptions.

[bill]

2020 will finally be the year of the Linux desktop!

[Mark_A]

For B2C especially, voice search will become much more significant.