Matt Cutts is a Google engineer who is in charge of the Google Webspam team. Basically if he speaks, nearly every SEO expert listens. His blog can be found here: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/ The reason is that he gives insight on the google algorithm and what they may be making “Black-Hat” next.
Recently Cutts has been focusing on the Universal Search capabilities that Google is striving for. This means that Google is beginning to integrate Video, Flash and other media into its search algorithm. Previously the websearch had a preference towards Text Only websites. This is still the case, however google has improved its ability to catalog Flash and Video.
Also, Cutts asked for input on what he should be targeting. He gave a listing of what people are annoyed with here http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/webspam-in-2009/#comment-218697 . This should give you an insight into what Google may slap you with over the next year or two.
One thing is social media. In fact google places huge emphasis and power on social media sites like Facebook, myspace and others. However, website owners believe it should rank lower than their main website. Social media works now. However in the future it may not be so powerful.
Also, owners want harsher penalties including banning of Black Hat SEOs. Matt emphasizes that they want long-term websites that are interested in developing good content and want to be powerful in the long-run.
However, there are interesting admissions about what black hat techniques still work:
Keyword Rich Domain Names
Wiki’s
Social Networking such as Facebook Myspace Twitter Digg and more
keyword Stuffing, hidden links, article bank sites, forum spammers, doorway pages
Link Exchanges
Paid Links
RSS scraper sites
Cloaking of other sites.
I am not saying that doing any of the above is recommended. In fact I would stay away from some of it. But, by Cutt’s admission, it seems that these are still valid ways to get high google rankings, even if Google is actively trying to eliminate the spam.
