What Is SEO and How How Has It Changed Over the Years?

 Many business owners will hear the term "search engine optimization" (or SEO) from peers in the industry or even rivals, and they may think of it as a way to boost sales, but what exactly is SEO? This article discusses what SEO is and why "new" SEO is functioning better than ever. Alternatively, a business owner may have attempted "SEO services" in the past and discovered that either didn't work as well as planned or were working but no longer as effective.

Before it was known as SEO, I worked in the market for website ranking and search engine optimization. Here are some developments that have occurred in SEO since the turn of the millennium and what to look for in the SEO services Image submission sites your SEO Agency provides.

We examine SEO's history, define it now, and discuss how to use it most  Online Learning Center effectively for our website.

SEO in 2000

Lycos and Excite were the two "major" search engines that were popular at the beginning of the millennium. Of fact, only a very small portion of the population in the UK at the time had access to the internet, and those who did used a sluggish "dial-up" system.

For speedy loading, websites only included one or two pages of basic information (within 20 seconds). The goal of SEO techniques back then was to "hide" as many keywords as possible in a page so that the website would appear in searches for those terms without appearing spammy to users.

The introduction of Google's "AdWords" programme in 2002 was heralded as the end of SEO because it allowed users to buy prominence on what is currently the most popular website for beginning internet searches.

Inktomi, AltaVista, and FAST were all acquired by Yahoo in 2003, thereby putting an end to all of the "smaller" search engines. Google started taking action against "spam" websites and behaviours. Google also realised that "AdWords" would not completely replace SEO and that "natural listings" would actually drive users to return to their search engine platform. Google began to acknowledge "professional SEO" professionals and encouraged effective SEO over spammy SEO.

As Google took action against websites that were spamming them, 2004 saw the first website "banned" from the internet. Additionally, they filed a lawsuit against the accountable "SEO Company."

In 2006, all you needed to rank a website was links pointing back to it, therefore link exchanges and link buying were very popular, and most websites included a page listing companies and links to their own website (I am still amazed how many websites continue this practice).

Between 2004 and 2008, Google—then the only true "player" in the field of search engines—started taking legal action against questionable linking techniques and businesses and tightened up on spam and link-buying. As Google focused on positioning websites based on their content and its relevance to the being conducted search, the "Noughties" came to an end with all "naughty" SEO tactics basically being wiped out.

SEO in 2010

Search engines began to pay attention to "Social Media" websites between 2010 and 2015, and soon Twitter "tweets" began to dominate the results. When I searched Google for one of my clients, I could still make out his face, and the entire first page of the search results was made up of tweets from a Twitter conversation two staff members had been having about how awful the company was.

The Google "Caffeine" update also included videos and images in the search results.

Google developed "personal search results," in which websites that you have already visited and past searches are used to determine which websites to display in the search results. Customers claimed their websites were "top of Google" for whatever industry-related searches they conducted simply because they had previously visited them frequently, and Google of course feed them back the URL for all relevant searches. This generated a "bit of a commotion" in the SEO community. Until you show them the new "Google Incognito search," this may still be a problem.

Being found for LARGE keywords was the main focus of website ranking. That was the main focus because a "Plumber" in Bristol would want to rank for that search.

The Google "Panda" and "Penguin" upgrades effectively put an end to "link exchanges" by imposing severe penalty on websites that had irrelevant backlinks. Google also created "no follow links" at the same time to permit websites to deliver pertinent connections and information without penalising either side. It marked the beginning of "safe linking." The secret to ranking in the search engines was now to provide high-quality, relevant material.

According to a report released by the "Office for National Statistics" in 2014:

In Great Britain, 38 million adults (76%) use the Internet daily, an increase of 21 million since 2006, when directly comparable records first started.

Between 2010 and 2014, access to the Internet via a mobile phone increased by more than twofold, from 24% to 58%.

Online purchases by adults increased from 53% in 2008 to 74% in 2017. The most popular item purchased online in 2014 was clothing (49%).

Although 35% of British adults use Internet storage space services to save data, 67% of all adults are aware of these services.

In the United Kingdom, there were 22 million homes (84%) in 2014, up from 57% in 2006.

91% of homes used fixed broadband Internet connections.

The UK was virtually completely internet literate at this point, and mobile phone website usage was enormous.

SEO in 2015 and Beyond

A mobile-friendly website includes different content for the smaller screen to make it easier for the user to read and understand. This was the largest change to the search engines in 2015. Websites that were not "mobile friendly" were "penalised" by the search engines. In order to give consumers the greatest experience possible, Google began giving higher results to websites that are responsive or mobile-friendly (i.e., they automatically adjust their size and format to match the screen).

Local businesses could finally have an advantage over the big corporations or "national" enterprises on the internet as more and more people in the UK started utilising their mobile phones for local searches.

The emergence of "semantic search," in which Google returns webpages in the results based on the content of a page rather than keywords, altered how SEO agencies viewed building websites. As internet users became more smart with their searches, ranking for the "Big" keywords—such as "Plumber Bristol"—became less significant. As many "long tail keywords" as possible helped increase website traffic and, most crucially, conversions.

What is the current SEO procedure?

The term "SEO" no longer accurately describes the procedures or methods involved in search engine optimization.

In the past, a website's content and structure were sufficient. Today, there is a lot more to be done in order to increase client engagement as well as a website's search engine ranking. The term "digital marketing" might be a better way to describe the service.

As was discussed earlier, outdated approaches made "large" keywords essential to ranking. It was all about "rankings" back then, thus focusing on a particular term for each page or even the entire website would boost the company's ranking.

outdated SEO techniques

Today, there are many things to think about when it comes to SEO. Conversion, not rankings, is the major objective and "semantic search" is the main motivator.

With semantic search, Google gives the searcher results from the page itself rather than the description the website's creator entered. Take the example of "Plumber Bristol" as an illustration. While this still holds true for companies who provide a solution for "distress purchasing," you would have focused on ranking the business for "Plumber Bristol," "Plumber in Bristol," and even "Emergency Plumber Bristol" a few years ago (where time and a solution outweigh the need for information and advice) It is better practise to provide material to a website that provides advise and direction as well as "long tail keywords" (searches that are three or four words or longer), such as "Emergency plumber with free callout in Bristol" or "Reviews for an Emergency Plumber near me." Semantic search satisfies Google's desire for the user to have the greatest experience and locate the necessary information quickly. This makes sense for a business owner as well. Would you prefer that a searcher who typed in "Plumber Bristol" discovered your website, where they might be looking for information, a job, or a plumbing service that you might not provide, or a more focused query like "best emergency Plumber near BS7"? Being found for "best emergency Plumber near BS7" will bring you customers, while "Plumber Bristol" will bring website visitors.

This is the biggest move Google has ever done in terms of keywords, and it is permanent. Digital marketing, often known as SEO, is no longer just about where you place but also about how many various search keywords you can be found for and how many of those lead to actual paying consumers.

Content on websites

300 words on a page was deemed to be adequate material by Google a few years ago (and only two or three years ago). The MINIMUM should be at least 500 words, they declared last year.

A potential client asks me to analyse websites every day, and the majority of them have pages with between 150 and 250 words per page. This is standard procedure. There are two perspectives on this. A different way to look at this is as an easy way to jump the competition by just adding content to your website. Either Google needs to change its expectations since the majority of websites do not meet them. Do you think Google will decrease its standards or continue to demand that websites perform to a certain level? Google released the "mobile friendly" update while knowing that around 80% of websites would need to be modified because it helped more than 50% of their users. The impact of quality material is felt by all users.

I advise our client to aim for 800 words per page. This amount of content is sufficient to be "semantic search" friendly, offer pertinent content, and avoid becoming wordy.

Good behaviour entails:

Page title: Describe the content of the page (include a "Big" Keyword if necessary).

Headline: posing a query

The topic and solution are briefly explained in the first paragraph.

picture or video

Detailed explanation of the solution

As an illustration, consider our Emergency Plumber in Bristol:

Page Title: Bristol Emergency Plumber

Headline: Are you seeking for the top local Bristol emergency plumbers?

In Bristol, Smith Plumbing provides a 24-hour emergency plumbing service. We can be with you in 20 minutes and don't have a call-out fee. We are the top emergency plumbing service in your area because of this, according to our client evaluations and comments. Call right away.

a professional-looking plumber or a van image

Longer description: Things they can fix, issues they frequently solve, client quotations, etc.

This offers several advantages.

Those who simply need a plumber will first read the first line, notice the picture of the van (which lends credibility and professionalism), and then phone the plumber. More details are available farther down the page for anyone who may desire them. Is this a form of SEO fraud? Definitely NOT. Google will appreciate you for giving the user information that is pertinent. The "new" SEO focuses on how material is organised and written on a page.

In the example above, the Plumber could be found by customers and potential customers looking for "Smith Plumbing","emergency Plumber near me," "Emergency Plumber in Bristol," "Best24 hour emergency plumbing service in Bristol," "emergency plumber Bristol reviews," and dozens more search terms. The second benefit is that your website will start to be found for a combination of the words on the page—semantic search. Would you like to be found for a single, broad keyword or a number of specific, customer-converting keywords if you were a plumber? Both Google and I concur on this.

The creation of website content for the search engines was an old practise. You must now produce content to offer customers value. The technique is simpler than you might imagine.

What were the five most recent consumer inquiries you received? What issue were they attempting to solve? Write about the issue and your proposed fix.

Link Creation

The traditional method of "link building" consisted on obtaining as many links as you could from different sources. A very large firm contacted us about their SEO this year, and they were shocked when we suggested they remove the 1.4 MILLION links that pointed back to their website because they had spent a fortune acquiring them over the years. No matter how relevant your website may be, having irrelevant connections shows this to Google, and the more you have, the worse it is.

A few relevant links today are more preferable to a million connections pointing to your website. Links must now be created through interesting relationships. A link from the "Gas Safe register," a nearby plumbing shop or bathroom showroom, and a few nearby websites that value his knowledge would be sufficient if we were to use our plumber as an example once more.

on social media

Even while there are still businesses like these still around today, a few years ago when I proposed that businesses join Facebook, I was frequently told, "Facebook is for teens, isn't it? We don't sell to that market. Facebook has the potential to be more effective than your website in bringing visitors and paying consumers to your door. Ages 25 to 34 make up the majority of Facebook users, followed by 35 to 44-year-olds. More than teenagers and almost as much as those between the ages of 18 and 24, Facebook use is highest among those aged 45 to 54.