Search Engine Optimization writing has been around since the mid 90’s and has since in accordance with the internet. SEO is about making websites easier to rank on search engine listings, and increasing visibility for potential readers
The latest big development in SEO has been the prevalence of social media. With sites such as Facebook and Twitter existing as gigantic social hubs, SEO had to evolve to include them. This means that new search engine algorithms have to include not only keywords and backlinks, but take social media into account, too. To gain high page ranks, sites now need to have a blend of unique content, large amounts of natural backlinks and social recognition.
SEO will always evolve and keep pace with the expansion of the internet. Google and other search engines find themselves in a continuous war to make sure content is unique, while those who work to improve page rank try to crack the algorithm code. The only thing to do, when working in SEO content writing, is to keep changing with the times – follow the new rules and continue to create quality content.
When 2000 hit, the internet shifted on its axis: Google’s page rank system became the authority in SEO content. The new ranking system was able to effectively cut out most of the spam tactics that had been employed on previous search engines and change the game in how sites were listed.
Google took the spotlight away from direct submissions and installed bots which crawled the internet and employed new algorithms. In order to get accurate ranking details, the bots would now search for things such as keyword density, backlinks and other data not released to the public. SEO content writers soon adapted, much like they did in the 1990s, and began to find ways to place quality backlinks and improve page ranking for their websites. This adaptation in SEO writers caused Google to change their algorithms again – proving that it is an ever-raging battle between the Google search quality team and those who write SEO orientated content.
In 1995 SEO was introduced along with Yahoo because, as the internet began to grow, there needed to be a way to organize the influx of websites being registered. The start of SEO was simple alphabetical optimizations and sites were formatted Yellow Pages style, by categories.
1996 already witnessed SEO improvement, by adding in keyword density comprehension. This was also the year that we saw the start of internet users and marketers trying to understand how the algorithms worked, so they could use them to their advantage. By 1997, Yahoo was the main search engine – if you wanted to get some visibility, then you had to be picked up by Yahoo’s algorithms. 1997 was also the year that SEO really took hold and was recognized by the general public as a valuable internet resource. The main SEO content practice in these early years was site spamming, but as algorithms updated tactics had to change.
