SEO is nearly two decades old. Can you believe it? There’s some debate over when SEO was first introduced and when the term was coined. This includes an unsuccessful patent application from 2007; however, the majority of industry experts believe that the origins of SEO in the year 1995.
And, after nearly 20 years, what can we show for it? SEO has grown in some aspects and is now an element of the budget of many Fortune 500 companies. I’ve been working in SEO since 2000, and I’m happy that when I explain to people about my work, I can make use of the words “SEO” or “internet marketer,” and I don’t need to resort to my previous standard of “I use computers. I could go into more detail however I’d require diagrams and the aid of an easel.”
It was always fun to watch, but it made me feel out of the crowd. In any gathering, I’m sure to meet someone who will say, “SEO? We’re looking for the formation of a new company. Are you able to use a credit card?”
In another way, SEO has earned a poor reputation, with pretty all of us having been burned by an unscrupulous “SEO” that has promised the moon but failed to deliver an unsatisfactory bagel (even the case that you love these things, which I don’t, it’s still a long way of the lunar surface).
If you are a part of a team who have incurred penalties, It can be depressing to witness the hefty hand of Google working. In the end, many of these firms were simply following the trends with the strategies they used some time ago but now are getting a hefty price for doing so.
Many small companies have stopped operations and are unable to keep up with the competition. Larger companies often discover they’re not up to speed with vital integrations, like mobile readiness. If you don’t have a well-known brand or a reputable, large agency behind you, it’s difficult to establish credibility in this field.
However, I’m here to share with you a little-known fact. It’s been a long time, and SEO’s veterans are becoming tired. A lot of them are leaving SEO and include the legendary Jill Whalen and Jonathan Colman. Many have retired, having earned their money. Some are changing their names and trying to get rid of the brand, the restrictive elements, and the stigma associated with “SEO” behind. We’ll continue to be SEOs.
In my city, which is SEO-friendly, Raleigh, NC, you will see this trend unfolding as well. A number of meetup groups and the Google Plus community are searching for fresh leaders. The leaders who have been around for a while have been in the business for a long time and are exhausted and ready to try something new or perhaps so popular that they no longer have the time.
It’s time for the next SEO generation to take the helm and lead the SEO world.
You might feel overwhelmed initially as you strive to be a voice in a busy and crowded market. However, I’m here to give you some tips on how you can distinguish yourself from the rest by aiding you in understanding the basics of what SEO is really about.
SEO Is Marketing
The interesting aspect of SEO can be that the more changes happen but the more they remain the same. The strategies change, and the penalties rise, and blackhats become more sophisticated, but SEO is essentially marketing.
The Dot-Com Bubble Bursts, 2000
Marketing is all about being awesome. In the final analysis, be sure that you’re making things, selling, and creating something that is amazing. Bring people joy or help them with their issues. Help them make their lives a bit more comfortable.
The internet isn’t an opportunity to make money fast. This ship sailed away in 2000 when the dot-com bubble came to an end. It is essential to have a valid product or service that’s as robustly supported offline as it is online. I’m not saying that you have to build an office in a brick-and-mortar building, but you have to have genuine individuals behind it to make it successful. It is no longer a matter of selling vapourware. long gone.
SEO Is Relevance
Beyond obtaining an exact number or ratio of links or utilizing keywords for a specific number in a certain amount of time, a website must be relevant for an excellent position in search engines. If you want to be in the top 10 of search results, it must be from being “relevant.” There’s a lot of competition for almost every search term, and you must stand out in some way, whether that’s customer loyalty, affection, top-quality product, or a truly unique product.
Be sure that your website isn’t just accessible on mobile devices but also mobile-friendly. Make sure you go the extra mile to make sure your customers have a great experience for your customers with your email marketing and coupon offers, as well as the customer support you provide. There’s nothing better in SEO than a large number of satisfied customers.
SEO Is Strategic
You should be thinking about the future. Wearables such as Google Glass and the iWatch are just the beginning. We have already pushed well beyond search engines into Experience Optimizing on review websites, Facebook, Pinterest and many more. Soon, we’ll expand beyond the boundaries of websites, too.
SEO isn’t a set of strategies or a system you can manipulate. Examining Google’s algorithms, patents, and updates can be fun when you’re interested in the information. However, if you’re doing it in order to hack your algorithm’s algorithms, you’re bound to fail.
Be aware of the way the product you offer is positioned. What can you do to leverage the latest technologies in your company or in the business of your customers? Learning these skills and understanding today will give you an edge over the rest of us, since it’s difficult to teach you can “think fourth dimensionally.”
SEO Is Relational
You are free to mock Schema’s concept and laugh at the awestruck users of FreeBase and look down your nose at Wikipedia. Be aware that while doing it, they’re planning an outline of the way we’ll locate things. I’m hesitant to refer to it as search since it’s not about data strings and understanding the world. If you’ve not been to the blog of Google, Introducing the Knowledge Graph: things, not strings it’s time to.
The primary issue that we’ve always explored is the fact that we’re using the word “language. The word, in its definition, is inherently ill-defined and unclear. When we put web pages’ four corners and attempt to comprehend the fundamental connections between objects or “entities,” the rush to schema will begin to make sense.
It doesn’t matter if we’re required to keep tagging everything we see or if search engines are getting better at identifying the relationships; entities will determine the way we search. This isn’t a new concept; however, if I hear someone else mention Hummingbird to be an algorithm change or a punishment…
Hummingbird is a major change in the way that the Google database is structured in the way the algorithm handles data. It’s the biggest alteration for Google ever since its introduction to PageRank. To maximize the new time of Hummingbirds, it is essential to understand this.