Daily Obsessive Google Rank Check:
Pool Cues: #1
Pool Cue: #2

It might just be the stupid in me, but I’m taking Notre Dame -2 over Hawaii today.  Hawaii isn’t that good and I just refuse to believe that Notre Dame is as bad as they seem to be.  With last night’s cover, I pushed my 2008 Bowl record to an unimpressive 2-4.

On to other news.  Just in time for the holidays, Matt Cutts plays the harbinger of doom with this interview at Pubcon.

Really interesting 10 minute interview where among other things, the SEO face of Google discusses how rankings aren’t going to matter as much in 2009.  It sounds like there’s going to be a heavier focus on localizing search as well as pushing search results based on each individual searcher’s history.  I guess we’re finally starting to understand how that sneaky Google Desktop program is going to work its way into your search results.

From a consumer perspective, I get why they’re doing this.  From an SEO perspective though, its really going to force companies to revisit their search marketing strategies.  In my opinion, this is just another way that Google is going to force companies to spend more on Adwords.  When this happens, the result will be that any company who wants to be above the fold guaranteed for every searcher will have to bid (and bid strong) on their keywords of choice.