The web, like anything else in life, is a popularity contest. Currently, Google seems to be the almighty decision maker on determining popularity–a lot like that kid everyone wanted to be like in high school.

And just like the popular kid who stayed heavy metal while everyone else was going grunge, Google won’t hold it’s supreme title forever unless it adapts with the times.

Should you optimize for Google? Of course! But Google has it’s flaws, and plenty of them. For one, Google determines popularity through mathematical algorithms. No matter how great the algorithm, there is still that human element missing–and solving that problem is where the future lies.

You might say, “well, who needs that human element, apparently Google is doing a fine job of returning good quality sites.” If you’re only using Google, then you have no idea what you’re missing. A search through a different search engine can produce completly different, and sometimes “better” results.

What do I mean by “better?” Well, search engines that involve the opinions of human beings in their rankings just seem to return sites that are more interesting, sites that I want to browse around on longer, sites that really get me interested in the topic. Not sites that are chock full of keywords wrapped inside of heartless, dull content.

Don’t underestimate the power of social networking. In my opinion, search engines like Stumble Upon and Digg are the way of the future. Real people vote on the quality of sites so you’re less likely to come across a robotic list of links that makes your mouse high tail to the back button before the page even finishes loading.

Yahoo’s first search engines were done entirely by hand. The reason that didn’t work though, is because they were measured by a handful of people at Yahoo. Google came along with a faster and broader way to organize a search and stole the show.

The reason that sites like Stumble Upon and Digg are different is that the sites that show up in the search results have been voted on by the masses. It’s not just one person’s opinion that determines if a site is popular, and it’s not a robot either. When a person who is part of the network likes a site, they vote for it by clicking an icon on their toolbar.

What’s more, with Stumble Upon, you can view profiles of people who have similar interests and find sites that they’ve voted on. I’ve found many more interesting sites ‘per capita’ by stumbling through Stumble Upon’s search results than through the first few pages of Google.

What this means may strike fear into the hearts of many website owners. With the way the internet is headed, you’re website is really going to have to be unique to get noticed. Writing a bunch of copy to fatten a site and to embed keywords is not necessarily what people want. It’s what Google wants. And if Google goes, then you’re left with nothing.

What’s better is to really have passion about your topic. To ask yourself honestly, would I stop and browse through my site? Would I send the link onto someone else? In order to be popular, you need lots of passion about what it is that you’re doing. So much passion that you can’t help but tell other people about it.

If you don’t have that passion, maybe you’re doing the wrong thing, or maybe you don’t have the confidence in your product or service or industry. Leaders get noticed. And in order to be a leader, you need to take chances. Those popular kids in school that led the trends no doubt had a few ideas that didn’t work, but they went out on a limb and tried new things. The rest of the people followed.

The strategies Google is using today to return results is unlikely to be the way it will be done in 5 years–or even 2 years. As people really begin to discover how to tap into the inter-connectivity of the internet and build software platforms to encourage it, it’s only natural that new technologies will emerge that truly bring the most popular sites to the top for the search. Not the sites that have been around the longest. Not the sites with the best keyword density. But the sites that really have something to offer to real people who are sitting at their computers, seeking answers to their questions, who are looking for something that will change their perspective, or inspire them, or enrich their life, or solve a particular problem.

Right now we can pretend to be popular by doing what Google wants. But soon, you’ll need to be popular by doing what people want. If you don’t know how to do it, hire a creative team to make it happen. If you’re afraid your products and services aren’t up to par, make a plan to get them there. The goal is to get organic links, not paid links that raise your backlink count on some analytical tool, but targeted links that real people add to their sites because they thing what you have to say and offer will be a benefit to the people that visit their sites.