Then & Now SEO

By
Daniel Morel
-
87
24

It’s official. The SEO game has changed.

That’s the word in a new and ever-evolving world of search. In fact, things are changing so quickly that they’re hard to keep up with. We no longer live in a world where we can easily grab hold of what matters in SEO because it changes constantly.

We grasp one new reality – like the importance of local search – and another one pops up right behind it.

It can feel impossible to keep up – and yet keep up we must.

What SEO Used to Be

When studying the evolution of anything, it’s good to start by examining – at least briefly – what used to be. In the world of SEO, that’s a relatively short timeline, but one that’s jam-packed with updates, changes, and rethinking.

In the earliest days of SEO, search was all about keywords. Webmasters would stuff their pages with keywords confident in the knowledge that this practice would pop their sites up to the top of any search engine’s results page.

Then Google arrived and turned search upside down. Their refined algorithms prioritized quality over keyword stuffing. Suddenly, SEO pros were talking about backlinks and content and things like that…

… And then the algorithms changed again.

Local search became a thing – and then mobile searches surpassed desktop searches and Mobilegeddon happened.

Now, SEO pros have been hit with a slew of new search options.

Five New Search Trends to Remember

SEO isn’t just for Google anymore – or for Bing and Yahoo

In fact, most of the big changes in SEO today are not search engine related, or at least, they’re not related to the search engines we’re used to.

SEO still stands for search engine optimization, but new search options and technology require new kinds of optimization. This is what you need to know.

Mobile Search

First up is mobile search. If you’re thinking, “Wait, Mobilegeddon happened already! Why do I need to worry about mobile search?” then pay attention – because things have changed.

When we worry about mobile search now, we’re not talking about using Google on your phone. In fact, mobile searches in that sense have become so commonplace that they’re hardly worth mentioning. In the US, more than 70% of all internet usage happens on phones!

Here’s the thing though – most of the time we spend online on our phones isn’t on traditional search engines like Google. We’re actually spending 92% of our time on mobile apps – and that poses a real SEO challenge.

Originally, the only option available for in-app searches was Spotlight. Now, there are many options – and while some were originally designed to work only for GPS, they’ve expanded beyond that to general geographical searches.

Google Maps plays a role in many mobile searches too, and it makes sense given how much information is included in a single Google Maps listing.

Voice Search and Personal Assistants

Just a few years ago, speech-to-text technology was uncommon. It existed, but it wasn’t something that people turned to when they wanted to search for something online.

Now, the widespread use of digital assistants like Siri (the iPhone assistant) or Alexa (Amazon’s entry in the market) has brought a whole new facet to the world of search – and to SEO. And it’s not just digital assistants – televisions, lights, and other household items are all connected through the internet of things.

What does this mean for search? Well, for starters, Alexa doesn’t even require the use of keywords to give users what they want. A casual, “Where should I eat tonight?” is enough to get a list of local restaurants. These digital assistants are smart enough to see beyond normal human speech and understand what’s being asked without keywords.

These new search options expand search beyond our devices. Activated with the sound of our voices, they can take our personal histories and past actions into account to give us the answers to our search inquiries.

Social Search

Another big change in SEO is the way people use social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to look for content. When these sites were launched, their search functions were basic – intended only to help users find their friends.

Today, though, more people are using social search engines to find local businesses and services. They know that if they type local search words into Facebook, for example, they’ll get a list of companies whose pages they can peruse.

There’s also been a switch in that it’s now very easy to use social search to find content instead of brands. If you log on to Instagram, you’ll notice that their algorithms give you recommendations based on your activity on the site. If you view a lot of wildlife photos or take frequent trips to San Francisco, you’ll see those preferences reflected in the content that Instagram recommends to you.

Using the right hashtags and descriptions can help algorithms recommend your content to the people who are most likely to patronize your business.

Messenger Apps

Messenger apps like Facebook Messenger are also playing a role in search. In fact, if you’ve used Messenger recently you’ve probably noticed that if you use certain words – like “song” for example – you’ll get a message that says, “Find songs now.” In other words, there’s a built-in search engine working behind the scenes.

There are messenger apps like Pegg, which provides financial services to small business and start-ups – and some companies are now using messenger bots to handle routine customer service questions.

This is yet another example of casual, non-keyword speech being used to deliver search results in the moment. And it shows that anybody clinging to the old, keyword-centric SEO of the past is missing the boat.

Topic Clusters

Finally, we have the issue of topic clusters – a natural outcropping of the move away from traditional keywords and toward casual and contextual search results based on natural language.

Topic clusters require companies to link pages of related topics together to provide context and meaning for your content. Instead of being forced to write repetitive blog posts, you create a pillar post around one topic and then create other posts and pages that link to it (and from it) to build your site’s architecture.

If you do it properly, the result is a website that is specifically built to recognize a user’s intent and provide them with the means to jump from one related topic to another. It can boost your search engine visibility and ultimately, help grow your business.

Don’t Let the Changing Face of SEO Intimidate You…

These changes are good because they represent an opportunity to move away from optimizing for broken phrases and awkward keywords and into a future where human speech and intent are recognized by search engines without keywords. With any luck, these trends will usher in a new era of content that’s designed to help users and companies connect.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

87 COMMENTS

  2. Good post. I be taught one thing more difficult on totally different blogs everyday. It would always be stimulating to read content from different writers and practice just a little something from their store. I’d favor to make use of some with the content material on my weblog whether you don’t mind. Natually I’ll offer you a hyperlink in your internet blog. Thanks for sharing.

  3. Hello would you mind letting me know which web host you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different web browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you recommend a good internet hosting provider at a honest price? Thanks a lot, I appreciate it!

  4. I believe this is one of the so much important info for me. And i am happy reading your article. However should observation on some general things, The site style is great, the articles is really nice : D. Good job, cheers

  8. Hello very nice web site!! Man .. Beautiful .. Wonderful .. I’ll bookmark your site and take the feeds additionally…I am happy to seek out numerous useful information here in the post, we need develop extra techniques in this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .

  10. I am really enjoying the theme/design of your weblog. Do you ever run into any internet browser compatibility problems? A small number of my blog audience have complained about my website not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Firefox. Do you have any suggestions to help fix this problem?

  15. With everything that appears to be developing throughout this subject material, all your viewpoints are generally somewhat refreshing. Nevertheless, I appologize, because I can not give credence to your entire suggestion, all be it radical none the less. It seems to us that your remarks are generally not totally validated and in fact you are generally your self not totally convinced of your argument. In any case I did appreciate reading it.

  16. Howdy would you mind letting me know which webhost you’re utilizing? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different internet browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you recommend a good internet hosting provider at a reasonable price? Thank you, I appreciate it!

  17. There are definitely a whole lot of particulars like that to take into consideration. That is a great level to bring up. I provide the ideas above as common inspiration however clearly there are questions like the one you deliver up where a very powerful factor will be working in trustworthy good faith. I don?t know if finest practices have emerged round things like that, but I’m certain that your job is clearly recognized as a fair game. Each girls and boys feel the affect of just a second’s pleasure, for the remainder of their lives.

  20. Wonderful goods from you, man. I have be mindful your stuff prior to and you’re just extremely great. I actually like what you have acquired right here, really like what you’re saying and the way by which you assert it. You are making it enjoyable and you still take care of to stay it wise. I can’t wait to learn far more from you. That is actually a wonderful site.

  21. I’ve been exploring for a little for any high-quality articles or blog posts on this kind of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this web site. Reading this information So i’m happy to convey that I have an incredibly good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I most certainly will make sure to don’t forget this web site and give it a look regularly.

  22. Excellent beat ! I wish to apprentice while you amend your web site, how could i subscribe for a blog web site? The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been a little bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered bright clear concept

  27. Certainty ascertain at of arrangement sensed billet.
    Or wholly jolly county in controvert. In stunned apartments solution so an it.

    Insatiate on by contrasted to sane companions. On otherwise no
    admitting to intuition article of furniture it.
    Quartet and our ham West neglect. So constrict dinner dress distance my
    extremely yearner give. Remove but hurt cherished
    his resilient duration.

  29. of course like your website however you need to check the spelling on several of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very troublesome to tell the truth on the other hand I’ll definitely come back again.

  30. Hi there, simply changed into aware of your blog through Google, and found that it’s really informative. I am gonna watch out for brussels. I will be grateful in the event you continue this in future. A lot of other people will likely be benefited out of your writing. Cheers!

  32. I would like to thnkx for the efforts you’ve put in writing this blog. I’m hoping the same high-grade website post from you in the upcoming also. Actually your creative writing skills has inspired me to get my own website now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a great example of it.

  33. The following time I learn a weblog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I imply, I do know it was my choice to learn, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about one thing that you can repair should you werent too busy searching for attention.

  35. Hiya, I’m really glad I’ve found this information. Today bloggers publish just about gossips and net and this is actually irritating. A good blog with interesting content, that is what I need. Thank you for keeping this site, I’ll be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Can’t find it.

  39. This design is wicked! You obviously know how to keep a reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Excellent job. I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!

  41. I was just looking for this information for some time. After six hours of continuous Googleing, finally I got it in your site. I wonder what’s the lack of Google strategy that do not rank this kind of informative sites in top of the list. Normally the top web sites are full of garbage.

  43. Thanks so much for providing individuals with an extraordinarily superb possiblity to discover important secrets from this site. It is always very pleasurable plus stuffed with a great time for me personally and my office peers to visit your site no less than thrice a week to see the latest guidance you have. And definitely, I’m so always impressed with all the awesome strategies served by you. Some two facts on this page are particularly the most impressive we have all had.

  44. Great blog you have here but I was curious if you knew of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics discussed here? I’d really like to be a part of group where I can get feed-back from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Bless you!

  47. Magnificent items from you, man. I have take into account your stuff previous to and you’re simply extremely great. I actually like what you have obtained here, really like what you are saying and the way in which wherein you assert it. You’re making it enjoyable and you still care for to keep it wise. I cant wait to read far more from you. That is actually a terrific web site.

  50. Appreciating the dedication you put into your website and detailed information you offer. It’s nice to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same unwanted rehashed information. Great read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.

  51. Hey there just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your content seem to be running off the screen in Safari. I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the issue fixed soon. Cheers

  57. Have you ever considered writing an ebook or guest authoring on other sites? I have a blog based on the same ideas you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my audience would value your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an email.

  61. Great – I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your site. I had no trouble navigating through all tabs as well as related information ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Reasonably unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or something, site theme . a tones way for your client to communicate. Nice task..

  67. Thanks a lot for giving everyone remarkably nice opportunity to check tips from this web site. It is always very excellent and full of fun for me personally and my office colleagues to search your website at the least thrice in 7 days to find out the latest stuff you will have. Not to mention, we are usually astounded for the eye-popping secrets served by you. Some two areas in this article are in truth the most suitable we’ve ever had.

  69. Excellent items from you, man. I have bear in mind your stuff previous to and you’re simply extremely magnificent. I really like what you have obtained here, certainly like what you’re saying and the way by which you assert it. You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it sensible. I can not wait to read much more from you. That is really a great web site.

  71. Hiya, I am really glad I’ve found this information. Today bloggers publish just about gossips and internet and this is really frustrating. A good blog with interesting content, that is what I need. Thank you for keeping this website, I’ll be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Can not find it.

  73. I do enjoy the manner in which you have framed this challenge and it does supply me some fodder for consideration. Nonetheless, from just what I have observed, I really wish when other opinions stack on that folks continue to be on point and don’t get started on a tirade regarding the news of the day. Anyway, thank you for this exceptional point and whilst I can not necessarily concur with the idea in totality, I regard your standpoint.

  75. What i don’t realize is actually how you’re now not really much more smartly-liked than you might be now. You’re so intelligent. You realize therefore significantly in the case of this topic, made me personally consider it from numerous various angles. Its like women and men are not fascinated except it is one thing to accomplish with Woman gaga! Your individual stuffs outstanding. At all times take care of it up!

  81. Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wished to mention that I have truly enjoyed browsing your weblog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your rss feed and I’m hoping you write once more soon!

  84. What i don’t realize is actually how you’re not actually much more well-liked than you might be now. You are so intelligent. You realize thus significantly relating to this subject, produced me personally consider it from numerous varied angles. Its like women and men aren’t fascinated unless it’s one thing to do with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs excellent. Always maintain it up!

LEAVE A REPLY