The History of SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a practice that traces back to the first time someone used Archie to search for web pages.

The techniques associated with SEO have changed remarkably in response to the way search engines have become more intelligent. This has facilitated countless changes, most of which are for the best.

Let’s take a brief look at the history of SEO to better understand where it stands today, and where it may head tomorrow.

The Beginnings of SEO

Search engines like Excite, Yahoo and Google appeared between 1993 to 1997. They offered a way to catalog the many websites being published during the early days of the Internet.

They used simple search algorithms, and equally simple ranking techniques. They worked solely around the idea of keywords and “popular votes”, which gave rise to the very first type of SEO: keyword stuffing.

This practice would drive search engines to become more user-oriented in an attempt to deter spammers.

Emergence of a Giant

Search engines were relatively even until about 2003. Google, Yahoo, MSN, Dogpile, Ask, and most other search engines focused on penalizing websites for bad linking practices such as the ones that were popular during the 1990s.

Google began to change how search engines and SEO worked by offering the beginnings of personalized results and basic local searches. This shifted the focus of SEO from a global view to one that focused just on a single area.

Focusing on the User

SEO changed remarkably during 2006 to 2009. As search engines like Google began to focus more on delivering personalized results and a wider variety of results that included news and media, the focus of SEO became wider.

Keyword research tools made their debut during this period. This gave SEO experts a way to strategize based upon hard data, which made the field more efficient and competitive.

The last major change that occurred was a focus for publishers to optimize their content from the start. This allowed it to rank faster and gain more clout.

Penalties and Gains

Between 2010 and 2012, Google focused on penalizing websites that didn’t comply to “good” SEO practices. Even big brands like J.C. Penney and Overstock weren’t safe from these penalties.

Changes to how Google’s algorithm worked drove SEO to become more holistic. Experts would focus on creating quality content that would then be spread through social networking and other channels that had, at best, an indirect influence on ranking.

While some less-than-ideal techniques remained semi-viable, the most viable tactic emerged as content marketing. This aligned with the goal of search engines to deliver more relevant content, which made it the ideal strategy for SEO to focus on using.

An Accessible Age

The last major change in SEO is one that happened recently. Search engines have begun focusing on delivering a more accessible experience for more devices than just computers.

Google, for example, can search for images, utilize voice input from devices like mobile phones, search for content based on semantic ideas, and load search results without the need to reload entire pages.

SEO has evolved to align with these more accessible goals. Websites focus on delivering an equal experience to computers and mobile devices through the use of reflexive design rather than creating multiple websites. Successful SEO focuses on optimizing as a gradient rather than for specific devices.

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