There’s a significant amount of reflective social media posts happening at the moment and while we’re just as reflective as the next guy, its got us to thinking about SEO and how its changed in the past 10 years.
We’re not too ashamed to say that we were playing in the SEO space back in 2010, albeit as part of Digital Producer duties rather than as a dedicated SEO specialist. That in itself is testament to what a decade can deliver, 10 years may have given increased rise to SEO stepping out of the all encompassing marketing department box and evolving into a true skill to be continually learning, trying and testing.
But while we’re feeling all reflective, lets take a look at some things that have evolved in SEO since 2010.
What did SEO look like circa 2010?
Thankfully we’ve moved from keyword stuffing to unique and aligned keyword phrases mapped to unique URLS
Thanks to Penguin we’ve shifted away from spammy backlinks to best practice of quality links within relevant content
Socials were becoming increasingly important in 2010, but today’s search engine results pages now index and rank various social media posts, tweets, images and social profiles
The Google search results page has continued to have a big makeover. That number one spot on used to be a whole lot higher and the page far less interesting. Thanks to new result types such as Rich Snippets, Featured Snippets, Local Map pack, People Also Ask info and Image and Video results, the search results page circa 2010 is quite different to look at. Just check out the relic below!
Increased space ‘above the fold’ is being allocated to Google Ads results. Those search engines gotta make bank somehow!
The Google Mobile update in 2015 (aka Mobilegeddon) made responsive design the go to website design preference.
Reviews. The importance of trust factors has become increasingly important. Google reviews provide a strong signal of authority and trust. Genuine reviews of products, people, stores and businesses is the currency that can move a cautious online shopper straight to the add to cart phase
Lets get local baby. Whilst the lofty goal for a plumber might previously have been for world ranking domination, local SEO has been huge for local businesses keen to rank well in their local region where there customers actually reside
Pop ups. Apparently in 2016 Google were cracking down on mobile pop ups, but given every other site seem to be throwing multiple pop ups at me ALL. THE. TIME. I’m thinking that crackdown might be on hold for now.
We’ve seen Search get smarter. In 2014 Google started recognising spelling variations and synonyms. So it began to understand that when someone searched for ‘PJs’ a result showcasing Pyjamas was potentially valid. Search engines started to understand the relationship between search phrases too so when we asked for BIG Q, search understood we’d likely made an error and delivered results for BIG W.
Intent. As search engine professionals we started to recognised that not all keywords are created equal. The users intention and journey thought the buying cycle was an important factor in determining the value and potential of a keyword phrase
We’re all smarter. Back in 2010, SEO seemed like the closely guarded secret sauce only for those big companies with the deep pockets. Today, we’re thrilled to hear from so many keen small and growing businesses who are keen to roll up their sleeves and dive into SEO to improve the search engine visibility. Their ready to learn and if they dedicate the time, the resources are on offer for them.
Schema. Schema was introduced in 2011 and we don’t want to get too techy in this post but we can’t signed off without mentioning schema as an advancement of search in the past decade. The move to encourage small, individual pieces of data (micro data) to be identified throughout a website points strongly to a future in search result for voice and AI.
Search Engine Result page circa 2010. Source: Authority SEO.
This list is by no means exhaustive, merely a reflective view of how search has refined, changed and been honed over the past decade.
We’ve been SEO tragics for a long time and the constant changes are just part of what keeps it interesting.
No doubt the next 10 years will bring cries of ‘SEO is dead’ (it won’t be!), many major Google Updates (there’s bound to be many) and hopefully slimy black hat tactics becoming ineffective.
What do you think the next 10 years in Search will bring?
