Before we delve into the history of SEO, it’s first important to know what SEO is exactly. SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” SEO drives the results that appear when you search for something on a search engine site, like Google. There is also strategy behind what content you see and where it ranks. For more information on SEO, read this article.
SEO isn’t the same as when the Internet first launched. It’s changed in many ways and it’s still quickly changing. However, we’ve put a list together of some of the most important moments in the evolution of SEO.
1945-It all started back in the mid 19th century when Dr. Vannevar Bush, an American engineer, wanted to produce a common archive for all the data in the world. Way ahead of his time, he essentially wanted to create Google.
1960-Gerard Salton worked with a team at Harvard and Cornell to develop the System for the Mechanical Analysis and Retrieval of Text (SMART) system, which retrieved information.
1990-Alan Emtage created Archie, a program that allowed people to find information from other servers on the Internet, but only if you knew the name of the file you were searching for. Some people would say that Archie was the first search engine.
1991- Tim Berners-Lee launched the first website. Without him, there would be no World Wide Web.
1993-Because of a need for organization, search engines like Excite changed the game for how information was stored. It made finding what you were looking for a lot easier because it sorted results based on keywords on websites.
1994- Yahoo! Directory joined the Internet in 1994, which eventually grew into just Yahoo! At first, it was just a collection of the creator’s favorite web pages; however, it eventually became a searchable directory.
During these early stages of SEO, a lot of interesting practices were happening where marketers would do anything to generate high rankings in searches. For example, they would spam backlinks and tag excessively to get their company to rank high. Algorithm updates would take months to complete, which meant bad practices would go on for long periods of time.
1997-Ask Jeeves was also launched this year. This website used human editors to try and match what others were searching.
1998-This was the year Google was launched. Google helped deliver more relevant content efficiently and created rules and regulations on the Internet, many of which are still in place today.
2000-This was really the start of a massive Google takeover. It began providing guidelines to help get rid of all the common, nevertheless corrupt, behavior. Although these practices might have been in place now, people didn’t really start following them.
2003-Google updated its algorithm, which made many sites lose their ranking. Websites that were not using black hat SEO techniques were able to benefit from these changes. It pushed these sites that had great content to put the user first.
2005- Google started its personalized search feature to help make searches more relevant. They also launched Google Analytics, which is still widely used today.
2009- Microsoft launched Bing this year, and they marketed it as a tool that would produce better results than their huge competition, Google. In the end, it didn’t kill Google and was not as revolutionary as they had promised.
2010-Google’s Instant technology was released which showed users suggestions right as they were typing. This year was also big for social media content in SEO because Google and Bing both added social signals. This meant when you searched for something, your results included any written Facebook posts, or other social media content from your own network that were relevant.
2011-The Wall Street Journal published an article saying domains ending in .edu were more important to Google. In the article they discussed how Overstock would take advantage of this by offering discounts to students who’s school linked to Overstock’s site.
2013- Google personalized search results by using user data, which allowed them to display more relevant content based on a users history, location, and device.
2014-Another update to Google’s algorithm was released. This one focused on local search results and improved Maps queries.
2015-Google launched a mobile device update that lowered the rankings of sites that weren’t mobile-friendly. This was a big deal because SEO wasn’t just about keywords and content anymore, but now included the responsiveness of a website’s design.
The future- The Internet is changing so rapidly that it can be hard to predict what the future of SEO and the Internet will look like. Users want search engine results to show them exactly what they’re looking for just by putting in a small effort. People are using their phones more and more; they’re constantly staying connected to the web. Individuals are even using voice-powered systems like Alexa to control their house.
How can you prepare your brand for the future?
The way users search and look for information should be a driving force behind how you organize the content on your website as well as how you market your brand/business. You want to make sure your content is concise and direct and you should optimize on new trends. Your brand should maintain a strong presence across all digital channels to hold social influence. Keep your foundation strong by building relationships with users and creators, and don’t be afraid to take educated risks. Overall, remember-content is key.
Have questions, comments, or concerns about SEO? Contact us with anything SEO related, or to learn more about how we can help you with your brand's online presence.