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Search engine optimization has become an essential part of online marketing in the past decade, revolutionizing the way people use the internet. What started out as the simple idea of keyword use has evolved into the different, more detailed optimization methods used today by SEO services as Google’s search algorithms have been developed over this time.
In a decade of search engine development, Google has introduced various important changes, which today’s SEO companies must consider to ensure online marketing success . Today’s more sophisticated search engine requires SEOs to give up many techniques from the past and understand these current, more effective ideas in online marketing.
Acceptable Keyword Use
One of the most significant changes that has occurred in the past decade has to do with how keywords are now used. Keyword stuffing is no longer acceptable and may even result in penalties. Instead, Google has gradually evolved to the point where long tailed and semantic keywords are acknowledged as useful, interpretable parts of website content, rather than as optimizing elements all their own. As algorithms seek to better understand a searcher’s intent, careful keyword usage that illustrates that intent has become essential for SEO services.
Quality Content Matters Even More
The idea that ‘content is king’ has been an important concept throughout the past decade, as Google’s algorithms have become more trained to identify quality content. Today, SEO companies must provide unique content that provides value to the reader in order to earn high marks from Google. Paragraphs of poorly written, vague content stuffed with keywords have been replaced with practical, optimized articles, blog posts and other content that provide the reader with valuable information. The quality and usefulness of the content alone is now a key element for effective marketing and optimization.
Organic Links Over Link Schemes
Search algorithms now also have the ability to identify many types of link schemes, such as those that became popular as the importance of inbound links became more apparent. As a result, SEO services have learned that organic links generated through honest marketing methods earn the most pagerank.
Local Search Has Taken Hold
The past decade has also brought about major changes in how local search is ranked. Ranking in the SERPs for local search has become more competitive, requiring better local and overall optimization. Google readily highlights local options based on search queries. This evolution has also resulted in more location-based search queries, making optimization for local search more important than it has ever been.
The Advance of Mobile
With the continued growth of mobile use, Google has focused more and more on mobile-friendliness and mobile function. A desktop website that’s optimized for desktop search is no longer sufficient today, as mobile sites and apps have begun taking over. SEO companies must now make mobile optimization a priority in their marketing plans.
The Knowledge Graph
A more recent introduction by Google only a few years ago, the Knowledge Graph has added to the SERPs, as Google attempts to provide fast, relevant responses to search queries. This has created additional challenges for SEOs, who strive to have their site represented within the knowledge graph and in the SERPs immediately following it.
SEO has changed exponentially in the past decade with the continued evolution of Google’s web algorithm. Search has become a more exact, detailed process that provides better, smarter, and more personal results for searchers while becoming more challenging for SEO companies to master at the same time. The notable examples above illustrate some of the most significant ways that algorithms have changed, pointing to the essential ways that SEO services must change to incorporate best optimization practices!