Windows 7’s Launch Crucial for SEO’s

Fall 2009.

Everyone in SEO land should be on their toes this fall as we see the search giants muscle for growth this coming fall/winter. Why you ask? Because two major players in search will all be launching new OS’s in time for holiday sales which in turn means a surge in their search traffic.

The Setup

For those of you who aren’t sure what I’m talking about, I’m referring to the release of Windows 7 in the new retail locations Microsoft is opening this fall and the launch of Google’s new Chrome OS coming to netbooks. Both OS’s are conveniently being launched just before the holiday season in hopes of grabbing large amounts of market share from October through December. With this peak in PC sales we will find most users using the default search provider installed on their machine’s default browser. So, depending on which company gets more users utilizing their OS, search engine usage can change drastically.

Forward Thinking

So, based on the idea that OS directly affects search engine usage, SEO’s that foresee users flocking to one more than the other might want to focus more of their time optimizing for the engine that has more users. Do you catch what I’m getting at yet?

What I’m saying is that Bing’s market share will definitely rise this fall and “forward thinking” SEO’s will be prepared. As of right now we know that Windows 7 is selling quite well as the BBC reports:

“Amazon said that sales of Windows 7 in the first eight hours it was available outstripped those of Windows Vista’s entire 17 week pre-order period.”

Compare that to Google’s release of their new mysterious Chrome OS that is targeted at least initially at netbooks. So far, we are not getting a lot of details on this and the future of “netbooks” is still yet to be seen. Yes, Chrome OS will be free but users are much more likely to switch search engines than OS’s.

Also, let’s not forget Yahoo. With all the new buzz and innovation coming out of Microsoft and Google what is Yahoo doing to keep up? They are changing their homepage. Yes, they are making the logo purple. That’s about it. Will we continue to see more users leave Yahoo for greener pastures? Definitely.

The Pitch

I don’t want anyone to think that I am overly confident in Bing’s ability to come up the ladder as the new nexus of search. I definitely have my doubts. But I am sure that there is genuine innovation going on there and that the marketing is on track to gain serious popularity for the engine. The SEO’s at the top of the game will make sure that as Bing’s reputation grows, their sites will be optimized for it. Will yours be ready?