What Is SEO And How It Evolved

What Is Search Engine Optimisation / SEO? Lets Take A Deeper Look

In 2022, it’s not enough just to have a website for your business. Every brand under the sun has a website (including your competitors). If you want to truly reach your customers and bring in more revenue, you need to have a complete online presence. And that presence? It starts with search engine optimisation (SEO).

But what is SEO?

The term SEO stands for search engine optimization. In it’s basic explanation, it is a set of tactics. These tactics aim to improve your website’s ranking on search engines. It is one of THE most effective methods to grow your business online.

Consider this: organic search accounts for a massive 95% of all web traffic. If you want a share of that organic traffic going to your site, you need to rank at the top of search.

Here’s the challenge: unlike other digital marketing platforms that are pay-to-play, organic search traffic has to be earned. You need to provide value through high-quality content, deliver a standout user experience for visitors, and ensure that your website’s technical elements are 100% sound.

Then, and only then will you earn your place in the first position of search — and the 34% clickthrough rate that comes with it.

In this guide, you’ll discover everything you need to know to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

But before we delve deeper into the meaning of SEO, we need to start with the basics: what is search engine optimisation and how does it work?

What is SEO and How Do You Define The Meaning Of Search Engine Optimisation?

SEO is an acronym rthat stands for search engine optimisation. In it’s most basic from, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is defined as the process of making changes / updating, or – “optimising”, your website to appear higher in organic search engine results. Effective SEO involves keyword research, high-quality content creation, technical optimisation, and link building—all working together to boost search engine rankings. With a well-executed SEO strategy, Australian businesses can improve online visibility, drive targeted traffic, and gain a competitive edge in their industry.

And trust us — if you’re looking to grow your business in 2022, this is absolutely something that you want to do.

Why Is SEO Important?

There are more than 6.5 billion searches made around the world every single day. Of those 6.5 billion searches, 75% of users never go past the first page of SERPs. If your website isn’t showing up on page 1, you’re not reaching 75% of your potential customers.

On top of that, organic search traffic is completely free. With SEO (search engine optimisation), you’ll bring in a steady stream of people to your website who are looking for your products or services every month while also getting more out of your marketing budget.

For any business looking to build visibility and increase ROI, appearing on the first page of search is a no-brainer.

What is SEO Marketing?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) marketing is the practice of optimizing a website to improve its visibility on search engines like Google. It involves strategies such as keyword research, content creation, technical website improvements, and link building to help a website rank higher in search results.

The goal of SEO marketing is to attract more organic (unpaid) traffic, increase brand awareness, and generate leads or sales by ensuring that a website appears prominently when people search for relevant topics or services.

So how do you get your business on page 1 of search engines?

You need to convince Google, Bing, or any other search engine that your website is the best answer for a person’s query. This is done through a mix of on-site SEO, off-site / off-page SEO, technical SEO and local SEO (if you have a physical shopfront).

What Is SEO in Digital Marketing?

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) in digital marketing refers to the practice of improving a website’s visibility on search engines like Google, helping businesses attract organic traffic to their website without relying solely on paid advertising. It is a critical component of digital marketing, working alongside strategies like content marketing, social media marketing, PPC (pay-per-click) advertising, and email marketing to enhance online visibility and drive customer engagement.

A well-structured SEO strategy includes several key elements: on-page SEO, which focuses on optimising website content, headings, and metadata; technical SEO, which ensures fast load speeds, mobile-friendliness, and proper more efficient website indexing; and off-page SEO, which involves building high-quality backlinks and strengthening domain authority.

Unlike paid digital advertising, SEO is a long-term strategy that builds sustainable online presence and credibility. When combined with social media marketing, businesses can amplify their content reach, while SEO-driven content marketing ensures that high-quality blog posts, landing pages, and videos rank for relevant search queries. Additionally, integrating SEO with PPC advertising allows brands to dominate both organic and paid search results, maximising their reach.

As noted above, SEO plays a crucial role in a broader digital marketing strategy by driving organic traffic, enhancing brand visibility, and improving website credibility. It works alongside other digital marketing channels like paid advertising (PPC), social media, and content marketing to create a comprehensive online presence.

Effective SEO helps attract high-intent users who are actively searching for products or services, reducing reliance on paid ads and increasing long-term sustainability. Additionally, SEO insights, such as keyword trends and user behavior data, inform content strategy and overall marketing decisions, making it a fundamental pillar of digital success

By investing in SEO as part of a broader digital marketing strategy, businesses can improve search rankings, increase brand awareness, and generate more leads—making it an essential tool for long-term online success.

Breaking down the 5 main types of SEO:

SEO is an umbrella term for all of the tactics used to help a website appear higher in SERPs. However, within SEO, there are a number of factors you need to consider, from on-page elements to link building and technical search engine optimisation.

All of these categories need to be considered as part of a holistic SEO strategy if you want to improve your web page’s ranking in organic search results.

1. On-page SEO

On-page SEO refers to tactics that are done ON your web pages to improve your search rankings. Think of this as any ranking factors that you can control, such as your site structure, design or content.

Some of the ranking factors that form part of your on-page SEO efforts include:

• Site speed to ensure your web pages load quickly for users, which is a major ranking signal for Google and other search engines.
• Mobile-friendliness of your website design and content for searchers browsing on smartphones and tablets
• Content marketing, such as developing blog posts, articles, videos and downloadable guides to provide value to your audience will increase conversions
• Optimising your page structure for users and search engines by using meta tags, headings and sub-headings, relevant keywords, images, alt tags and more
• Schema markup to explain your content to Google in a format that it can quickly digest and understand
• Site structure and internal linking to make your website easy for visitors to navigate

2. Off-page SEO

As you’ve probably guessed, off-page SEO covers all of the actions that happen off your website — such as on third-party sites or social media platforms. With this category, you have the ability to influence your ranking via link building on other people’s web pages or optimising your business’ social media page, but you don’t have direct control over the website.

3. Off-page SEO factors comprise of:

• Inbound links from trusted and authoritative websites. With link building, it’s not about more links – it’s about quality links. The goal is to reach out to the right sources (i.e. reputable and relevant sites) and offer genuine value in exchange for a link.
• Social media marketing and influencer marketing across relevant channels like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. The more buzz you get, the more likely it is that Google will see your content as useful and appreciated by your audience.
• Domain authority, which measures the authoritativeness of a website in its industry based on backlinks, content marketing, unlinked brand mentions, age of the domain, and more.

4. Technical SEO Factors

This type of SEO “technically” falls under the domain of on-page SEO because it refers to ranking factors on your website that you can control. However, unlike on-page SEO, which is more about content and user experience, technical SEO gets down to the nitty-gritty of your website’s code.

The goal with technical SEO is to ensure that your site is set up in a way that’s accessible to search engines.

This includes elements like:

• Crawlability. This refers to the ability of search engine bots to access and read your website content. If your website can’t be crawled, it won’t be eligible to appear in SERPs.
• Indexability. After a bot has crawled your page, it needs to be able to add your content to a central index. This index is what search engines use to determine what content to display in SERPs.
• Accessibility by bots and users.T his covers elements like server performance, HTTP status, page depth, orphan pages, site security, and more.

5. Local SEO

If you have a physical shopfront, then local SEO needs to be part of your broader digital marketing game plan.

72% of people who conduct a local search will eventually head into a bricks-and-mortar store as a result of that search. Local SEO connects your business with customers nearby who are looking for your products or services.

With local SEO, you build up your offline presence online using tactics like:

• Claiming and optimising your Google My Business account. Google My Business is your gateway to appearing in relevant local searches and for web searches conducted in Google Maps.
• Make sure there are consistent citations for your business online. This includes ensuring that your address, phone number and business name are the same on your different social media channels, and that you’re listed in key business directories, such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, or the Yellow Pages.
• Creating contentto build up your brand’s position as a local authority in your niche or industry.
• Link building with a focus on authoritative local publications, influencer platforms, community websites, and more.

Black Hat vs. White Hat SEO

At some point or another, you’re probably going to come across the terms “black hat SEO” and “white hat SEO”.

Although both share the same goal of improving your ranking on Google, they take very different paths to get there — and one of them (black hat SEO) could significantly hurt your website’s performance.

Black hat SEO refers to aggressive or manipulative practices that are designed to game a site’s rank in search engines.

These pages are made purely to rank in search engines without factoring in the human audience, and include unethical or shady tactics like:

• Stuffing a page or article with keywords
• Hidden text or hidden external / internal links
• Cloaking (i.e. presenting one page to search engines and another to users)
• Doorway pages that are only made to rank for keywords
• Negative SEO to try and hurt a competitor’s rankings
• Using link building exchange schemes or link networks
• Poor quality content, such as a blog post that offers little value to audiences
• Comment spam from website owners or bots

Black hat SEO go against a search engine’s guidelines, such as the Google Webmaster Guidelines. Websites found to be violating these guidelines get issued a manual penalty from Google, and will either end up being demoted to a lower position in search OR shot out of search results altogether.

On the other hand, white hat SEO exclusively uses practices that comply with search engine guidelines in order to improve a site’s ranking in SERPs.

These pages deliver experiences that users AND search engines love through tactics like:

• Creating high-quality content that’s well-researched and solves a user’s problem
• Designing a snappy, mobile-friendly website that loads quickly on all devices
• Making your website easy to navigate with a clear site architecture
• Effective use of structured data and keyword-rich meta tags
• Building backlinks – natural external links back to your page from other websites, with a focus on established and authoritative sites

Black hat methods used to be more common in the early days of SEO, when search algorithms weren’t as sophisticated. Since then, Google has rolled out several updates specifically designed to discourage site owners from using these tactics as they provide little to no value for searchers.

Bottom line: if you want to get to the top and stay there, steer clear of black hat SEO tactics. These tactics might offer some short-term gains but in the long run will cost you dearly in terms of Google rankings and revenue — and some websites never recover.

4 of the most common search engines:

1. Google

When we talk about major search engines, we have to start with Google. Google holds a massive 70% share of the global search market and accounts for 85% of ALL mobile traffic. This search engine by far has the largest organic traffic potential for marketers but alongside it, you also get the highest level of competition.

Another challenge? Google also regularly rolls out updates to its algorithm, from smaller core updates to major changes like Penguin and Panda. If you want to rank on Google, you need to understand how the algorithm works, and how it got to where it did today.

Here are the eight major updates that you’ll commonly see when talking about Google search:

• Panda (24 Feb 2011). One of Google’s largest early updates, Panda was designed to weed out black hat SEO tactics like duplicate, plagiarised or thin content; user-generated spam; and keyword stuffing. Panda assigned a “quality score” to web pages, which is still being used today as a ranking factor for websites.
• Penguin (24 April 2012). Just over a year after Panda, Google rolled out a second major update that tackled the second major black hat SEO tactics: unnatural backlinks. Penguin downranked sites with spammy or irrelevant links, as well as sites that build links using over-optimised anchor text.
• Hummingbird (22 August 2013). Hummingbird made it easier for Google to interpret search queries based on natural language processing and semantic SEO. After this update, keywords became less important to SEO, as the search engine became better at interpreting the concepts behind a search query and serving up the most relevant results for the user’s search intent, even if it didn’t contain those exact keywords.
• Mobile (21 April 2015). More than 7 years after the official iPhone was announced, Google rolled out it’s mobile-friendly update (AKA Mobilegeddon). The mobile update was designed in response to growing search trends on mobile devices, and shifted the focus to how user friendly websites were on mobile — NOT desktop.
• RankBrain (26 October 2015). RankBrain was rolled out as part of Hummingbird, and has now grown to be the third most important ranking formula in Google’s algorithm. RankBrain further helps Google customise search results based on a person’s search intent, synonyms, implied words and personal search history, while also weeding out websites with shallow content and poor UX.
• Medic (4 May 2018). As the name suggests, Google’s Medic update disproportionately affected medical websites and other sites that focused on Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) topics. With Medic, Google began factoring in a website and author’s expertise, authority and trustworthiness (E-A-T) as part of Google’s ranking signals.
• Bert (22 October 2019). A culmination of the efforts from Panda, Hummingbird, RankBrain, Bert evolved Google’s algorithm to better understand nuance both in queries and search results. After Bert, pages with poorly written or researched content were downranked in favour of relevant, well-written in-depth articles.
• Core Updates (2017 – present). Alongside major changes, Google also rolls out regular core updates throughout the year. These updates might be minor improvements to the algorithm bundled together, or improvements upon already existing updates like Bert. While SEOs don’t get any warning ahead of time, you can find the latest updates on websites such as Moz.

2. Bing

Many marketers focus their SEO efforts solely on Google, and rightly so — after all, it is the world’s biggest search engine. But in the process, they forget about the world’s second largest search engine: Bing.

Bing is Microsoft’s official search engine and accounts for 33% of web searches in the U.S. On top of driving organic traffic, Bing also powers other search engines like Yahoo, making it even bigger with its extended reach.

3. DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is a relative newcomer in the game, having only launched in 2008. Unlike other search engines, DuckDuckGo focuses on user privacy first and foremost. The search engine doesn’t store any data about its users. Instead, it pulls its search results from 400+ other sources, including Bing and Wikipedia.

Despite launching later than the other search engines out there, DuckDuckGo is growing FAST. The search engine hit 100 million searches per day at the beginning of 2021, and its mobile app has even overtaken Bing and Yahoo in mobile search market share.

4. Yahoo Search

Despite Yahoo’s somewhat dated design, the search engine still accounts for 3% of the global search market. While this might not sound like a lot, this represents MILLIONS of users around the world. The good thing about Yahoo Search is that it uses Bing, so the search results are fairly similar. If your website ranks well on Bing, chances are it’ll rank well on Yahoo as well.

Review how search engines work:

We’ve looked at the different types of SEO and the most popular search engines out there today. But if you’re serious about driving organic traffic from any search engine, you need to know how search engines rank websites.

For the purposes of this guide, we’ll use Google as our main search engine. However, the way Google works is similar to Bing and Yahoo, so it’s a good foundation to use for understanding how these platforms work.

1. Crawling and indexing the web

When a user types a keyword into a search engine like Google, that search engine scans an index of hundreds of billion pages on the web in order to determine the best results to display, based on the problem they’re looking to solve.

The pages contained in this index comes from Google ‘crawling’ the internet. This process starts with Google sending out spiders (AKA bots) to scan billions of known URLs on the internet. Each spider follows links on these websites to discover other pages, like threads on a web. After each page has been crawled, Google then analyses the text and non-text elements to understand what the page is about, before adding this information into its index.

Tip: you can check how many of your pages have been crawled and indexed in Google Search Console. Google Search Console has a ton of information to help you improve your website’s SEO, from ensuring your content is well-optimised to understanding how Google sees your website.

2. Ranking factors for websites:

Google determines the best results to show a user based on complex search engine algorithms with over 200 ranking signals. While Google doesn’t make the exact details of its algorithm public, these can be broadly grouped into three categories: relevancy, authority, and usefulness.

3. Relevancy

This is probably the most basic, yet most important component of Google’s search algorithm.

If a person searches for “buy black dresses online”, the last thing they want is to be presented with a list of results showing cat towers or truck tires. That’s why Google’s goal is to provide users with results that are closely related to their query.

Using keywords, natural language processing, and semantic search, Google is able to scan all of the content in its index and find pages with content that’s related to the user’s search query. After this, it uses other ranking signals like authority and usefulness to determine which websites should come out on top.

4. Authority

If you’re looking for financial advice, where would you rather go: a website that’s been quoted by multiple media publications and has a contributor network of respected economists, or a finance website run by your next-door neighbour?

Authority and expertise matter, particularly when it comes to the world wide web — which is why Google uses this as a core ranking signal in its search engine algorithm.

To determine this, Google looks at the number of pages linking back to that page:

As a page accumulates more backlinks, Google will start to see it as an authoritative source of information. However, keep in mind that quality matters much more than quantity: a website with links from .gov or .org websites is going to have a better chance of ranking than a site with links from unknown websites.

5. Usefulness

It’s not enough for a website to be authoritative and contain information that seems to match a user’s search query. Google wants to present useful pages at the top of search results. In other words, it wants content that ACTUALLY solves a user’s problem.

Believe it or not, high quality content doesn’t necessarily equal useful content — at least, not in Google’s eyes. If a page is well-researched but delivers a poor user experience and the content is hard to follow, this information is going to be largely useless to the reader even if it’s jam-packed with information.

Google measures usefulness based on how users interact with web pages. If people spend a lot of time on the website or click through to one search result over another, Google will give that page a ranking in SERPs. You can also find this information in the Behaviour section of Google Analytics.

6. Organic vs. paid results

We can’t talk about SEO without talking about the other side of the coin: pay-per-click, or PPC results,.

Paid search results appear above organic results. However, unlike organic results, PPC rankings are largely determined based on how much companies are willing to pay per click. If you pay more, you’ll have a higher chance of making it to the top.

While paid results DO technically appear at the top of SERPs, organic results offer higher quality and value for searchers. As a result, between 70 to 80% of searchers completely ignore paid search results and only click on organic listings.

PPC is also more expensive and has a lower ROI compared to SEO, due to the higher quality search engine traffic:

HTML for SEO: the basics you need to know:

Hopefully by now, we’ve hammered home the point: SEO is important for ANY website. In these next sections, we’ll cover off tangible actions you can take to improve your ranking in organic search results — and bring more customers to your website.

But before you can step up your SEO strategy, you need to have the right foundations in place. That means ensuring that your HTML includes all of the information Google needs to figure out what your content is about.

Here are six elements that all the pages on your website should have.

1.Title Tags

Your title tag appears in organic SERPs, and can significantly affect your content’s click-through rate from websites like Google.

This tag is limited to 60 characters, and should include your target keyword and an enticing description that makes users want to click:

2. Meta Description

In addition to your title tag, Google also displays a short snippet (<160 characters) in search results that outlines what your content is about. Like your title tag, this is an important place to mention your target keywords and pique a user’s interest so they click through to learn more.

If you don’t specify your title tag and meta description, Google will make one up for you — which can dramatically impact your rankings and CTR from organic search results.

3. Schema mark-up

Schema mark-up is a form of structured data that makes it easier for a search engine to understand what your content is about. Adding schema to your pages can also influence how your website is displayed in SERPs — for example, Google might add a price to your products in search results, or display a star rating underneath your URL.

There are literally hundreds of schemas out there designed for different industries, products and websites. Luckily, all of this vocabulary can be found on schema.org — making it easy to select and mark up your content with the most relevant schemas for your business.

4. Headings and subheadings

Heading tags, such as H1, H2 and H3, tell Google what different sections of your content are about. By using heading tags, you make it easier for Google to understand the various topics you cover on each page and the hierarchy of these topics. They also break up your content into digestible chunks for readers so it’s more useful and easy to understand.

Your H1 tag should contain your primary target keyword, while your H2, H3 and H4 tags can contain secondary keywords.

Adding keywords in headings will also help your site rank for featured snippets, like so:

5. Alt Text

All images on your website should contain alt text. This is a tag that tells Google what’s featured in your image, so it can describe it to people who are visually impaired. Users can also view alt text by hovering over an image.

In addition to making your website more accessible, alt text increases your chances of ranking in Google Image Search. Use your alt text to describe what your image is about, and keep it simple and to the point.

6. URL Slug

A URL slug is the part of your URL that outlines the key topic that your page covers.

This shows up in SERPs above the title tag, like so:

Your canonical URL slug should be short and include your target keyword. Without this, your URL might end up as something like www.example.com/p=1012983, which won’t do much to help your SEO.

3 tips for HTML:

• Use tools to help. enterprise level SEO tools and platforms like Ahrefs or SEMRush will tell you if a page is missing metadata or if there are any SEO issues that need to be addressed.
• Don’t stuff keywords into your content, title tags, meta descriptions, or your headings. This is a black hat tactic and leaves your website at risk of getting penalised by Google.
• Remember to include H2, H3, H4 headers. While your H1 tag is the most important on your page, you also should break up your content with subheadings. These tags give Google more clarity on the topics you cover throughout your page and improve the overall user experience.

How to conduct keyword research

Keyword research is another must-have component in any solid search engine marketing strategy. With keyword research, you’ll be able to drill down exactly what your customers are searching for. Once you know this, you can create content that answers their search queries and rank higher in SERPs.

1. Short and long-tail keywords

A holistic SEO strategy includes a mix of short and long-tail keywords.

Short-tail keywords are search phrases that contain only a couple of words, such as “buy shoes” or “flowers Sydney”. These keywords have a higher search volume but are less specific — plus, they’re the most competitive.

On the other hand, long-tail keywords are more like sentences, like “what are the best ethical clothing brands” or “top rated dog-friendly cafes in wollongong”. These comprise of a massive 70% of all searches, according to Moz’s search demand curve:

What’s more, long-tail keywords are far easier to rank for because there’s less competition AND they’re more specific, which means you’ll have a greater chance of adding value to your target audience.

The best thing to do with your SEO strategy is to rank for long-tail keywords in the short- and mid-term, while building up your authority and expertise for short-tail keywords in the long-term.

2. Use keyword research tools

We get it — keyword research can feel daunting. Where do you even start, and how do you know which phrases to focus on? Luckily, there are plenty of SEO tools designed to help businesses with exactly that.

Tools like Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, Ubersuggest and SEMRush’s Keyword Magic Tool are all great options if you want to uncover what your audience is searching for and how they’re searching.

All you need to do is pop in a seed keyword or topic and these tools will give you an overview of that query (including data on search volume and competition) and recommend similar keyword ideas:

3. Search intent: what is it and how can you use it?

Search intent is another concept you NEED to get familiar with if you want to succeed in SEO.

There are four types of search intent:

Remember Google’s Hummingbird update? Ever since then, user intent has formed a massive part of how Google understands queries and the type of results it presents in return.

For example, if a user runs a transactional search for “buy ski shoes”, Google understands that they want to take action and will present products from different brands in search results. On the other hand, if a user runs a commercial search for “best new ski shoes 2022”, Google understands the person wants to conduct research before buying and will present aggregated lists of products to help them narrow down their search.

For every keyword you target in your SEO strategy, make sure to get to the bottom of the “why” behind the search — then create relevant content for matching search intent. This way, your website will be more useful to your audience which, in turn, will increase your search rankings.

5. Analyse your competition

Here’s the deal: results don’t come overnight, particularly if you’re trying to rank on page 1 of google against fierce competitors. That’s why with any target keyword, it’s important to analyse the competition to see who’s currently ranking and why.

Do they have more backlinks pointing to their website? Are they delivering a better experience on mobile devices? Or perhaps their contributors are all trusted experts with high levels of Google’s E-E-A-T criteria? All of this information is invaluable because it reveals what’s worked to improve your competitor’s rankings — and what you need to do to beat them.

What Is SEO? Understanding Search Engine Optimization and Its Role in Digital Marketing

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving a website’s visibility in organic search results by optimizing content, structure, and technical elements. It helps websites rank higher for relevant search terms, making it easier for users to find information, products, or services.

SEO is often compared to search engine marketing (SEM), which includes both organic and paid strategies. While SEO focuses on long-term organic growth, SEM involves paid advertising methods like Google Ads to appear at the top of search results instantly. Both strategies complement each other, helping businesses maximize their online presence.

By understanding and implementing search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, businesses can improve their rankings, drive targeted traffic, and enhance their overall digital marketing success.

Now that we know what SEO is, lets look at how it evolved

What Companies Should Know About How SEO Has Evolved

Content is king. People have used that phrase for as long as they have known of or heard about SEO. However, based on the evolution of SEO, content that ranks well today is nothing like the content that ranked during the early days of SEO. That tactics in SEO, as well as online digital marketing, that you used years ago don’t just fail to produce results. They can actively get you penalised by search engines. This means you get less traffic, which results in less revenue. Your cost per customer acquisition shoots up because you have to rely on other methods to get people to your website.

You need an SEO strategy that helps you to avoid the outdated practices that don’t work.

This article explores a brief history of SEO, allowing us to see how it has evolved over the years. You’ll understand the tweaks necessary to make your strategy more effective. Best of all, we’ll dive into main SEO metrics and future trends and the actionable tips you can implement today.

Evolution of SEO has come a long way since its inception, evolving alongside search engine algorithms, user behavior, and digital marketing trends. What once revolved around keyword stuffing and simple backlinks has transformed into a complex ecosystem that prioritizes high-quality content, mobile optimization, and user experience. The constant changes in SEO tactics mean businesses must adapt quickly to stay competitive. In this post, we’ll explore how SEO has evolved over the years and what that means for modern strategies in today’s fast-paced digital landscape.

We’re going to tackle five aspects of SEO and look at how things have changed since back in the day.

Before We Talk About Evolution Of SEO – When did SEO actually begin?

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) began in the mid-1990s, shortly after the first search engines appeared. The earliest forms of search engines, such as Yahoo! (which started as a directory in 1994) and AltaVista (1995), helped users find information on the web. However, as the internet grew, search engines needed a way to organise and rank content effectively.

By 1997, the term “search engine optimisation” (SEO) started to be used as website owners realised they could improve their rankings by optimising their web pages with relevant keywords, meta tags, and creating quality content. Google, launched in 1998, revolutionised SEO with its PageRank algorithm, which ranked web pages based on the number and quality of links pointing to them, setting the foundation for modern SEO practices.

Since then, SEO has continually evolved, with search engines introducing new algorithms, ranking factors, and focusing more on user experience, content quality, and mobile-friendly designs. The goal of SEO has remained the same: to help websites appear on the search engine results page (SERP) in front of users actively searching for relevant information.

Who is considered the pioneer of SEO and why?

The pioneer of SEO is often considered to be Danny Sullivan, a prominent figure in the search engine marketing world. He is widely recognised for his significant contributions to the growth and development of SEO as a legitimate field.

Here’s why Sullivan considered a pioneer:

• Search Engine Watch: In 1996, Danny Sullivan founded Search Engine Watch, one of the first websites dedicated to helping businesses and individuals navigate the complexities of search engines and improve their online visibility. This platform played a key role in educating the public about the importance of SEO.
• Writing and Educating: Sullivan’s early writings and insights helped businesses understand how search engines worked and why search engine optimisation was essential for success. His clear, practical advice demystified SEO and made it more accessible.
• Search Engine Strategies Conference: In 1999, Danny co-founded the Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conference, which became one of the most important industry events for SEO professionals. The conference helped bring together experts and businesses to share knowledge and stay up-to-date with the evolving SEO landscape.
• Advocacy for Ethical SEO: Throughout his career, Sullivan advocated for ethical SEO practices and worked to combat “black-hat” SEO tactics (such as keyword stuffing and link farming) that could damage the reputation of the industry.

Other individuals and companies also contributed to the early growth of SEO, Danny Sullivan’s commitment to education, transparency, and his role in shaping the industry has solidified his position as one of the most important pioneers of SEO.

Evolution of SEO: A Comparison of “Then” vs “Now” A Quick Overview

Keyword Usage

• Then (Early Days Of SEO): Keywords were the primary focus of SEO. Websites would stuff their pages with exact-match keywords to rank higher in search results. Over-optimisation was common, with little regard for user experience.
• Now (Modern SEO Approach): Keyword stuffing is a thing of the past. Search engines, especially Google, now use sophisticated algorithms that understand search intent. Content is more naturally written, with a focus on context, semantic relevance, and providing value to users. Latent semantic indexing (LSI) and variations of keywords are used to make content more readable and relevant.

Backlinks

• Then: Backlinks were a major ranking factor, and quantity was considered more important than quality. Websites would often engage in link farms, buying or exchanging links to boost their rankings.
• Now: Quality over quantity is key. Search engines now evaluate the relevance, trustworthiness, and authority of backlinks. Spammy backlinks can lead to penalties, and a focus on organic, high-quality link-building strategies, such as guest posts, influencer collaborations, and content partnerships, is essential.

Content

• Then: Content was often thin and repetitive, with the main goal being to satisfy keyword requirements. Long-form, detailed content wasn’t as common, and websites often relied on simple landing pages with limited text.
• Now: Content is king, but not just in terms of volume. Today’s content must be comprehensive, valuable, and user-centric. Google’s algorithms, like RankBrain and BERT, are designed to reward high-quality, informative, and well-researched content. Blogs, video content, and multimedia are all integral to modern SEO.

Mobile Optimization Is A Major Part Of The Evolution Of SEO

• Then: Mobile SEO and optimization wasn’t a priority. Websites were designed and developed primarily for desktop users, with mobile sites often being a secondary consideration. Many websites were not mobile-friendly.
• Now: Mobile-first indexing is the norm. Google uses the mobile version of a website for ranking and indexing purposes. Websites must be responsive and provide a seamless experience across mobile and all other devices. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, it could drastically hurt your rankings.

User Experience (UX)

• Then: User experience was often neglected in favour of SEO tactics. Websites focused on keywords and backlinks, sometimes at the expense of design, speed, and usability.
• Now: UX is crucial for SEO success. Search engines now consider metrics like page load speed, mobile responsiveness, and user engagement signals (bounce rate, time on site, etc.) when determining rankings. A seamless, fast, and intuitive experience for users can significantly boost your SEO efforts.

Evolution Of SEO now includes Social Signals

• Then: Social media wasn’t considered a direct ranking factor. SEO was largely isolated from social media strategies.
• Now: While social signals (likes, shares, comments) may not directly impact rankings, they play an indirect role in SEO. Social media marketing helps increase brand visibility, drive traffic to your site, and build relationships, all of which can lead to more backlinks and increased site engagement—ultimately boosting rankings.

Technical SEO

• Then: Basic technical SEO elements were important, like having a site map, optimising meta tags, and ensuring proper keyword use. But technical SEO was often limited to just these elements.
• Now: Technical SEO has become much more complex. Factors like schema markup, site structure, URL optimisation, structured data, and secure connections (HTTPS) are now critical. Ensuring search engines can crawl and index your site effectively, without encountering errors, is more important than ever.

Local SEO

• Then: Local SEO wasn’t as prominent. Local businesses didn’t have a specific focus on optimising for location-based searches, and there was no Google My Business (GMB) to help them get found.
• Now: Local SEO is essential for small and medium-sized businesses targeting a specific geographic area. Google My Business (GMB) profiles, local keywords, and customer reviews are now crucial for ranking well in local search results. Google Maps and local pack results are increasingly important for visibility.

Algorithm Updates

• Then: SEO relied on a small number of search engine ranking factors. It was easier to game the system with keyword manipulation and backlinks. Google’s algorithm updates, like Panda., Penguin and Google’s Bard AI, were still in their early stages.
• Now: Algorithm updates are frequent and highly sophisticated, with major updates such as Core Web Vitals focusing on user experience and BERT understanding natural language. Websites must adapt quickly to changes in search engine algorithms and focus on delivering the best possible user experience.

AI and Machine Learning

• Then: SEO was heavily manual. Webmasters focused on on-page optimisation, backlinks, and keyword density.
• Now: AI and machine learning are transforming SEO. Algorithms like RankBrain and BERT use machine learning to understand user intent and the context behind search queries. AI-powered tools assist with keyword research, content creation, and website SEO audits, automating many aspects of SEO and providing deeper insights.

The evolution of SEO took us on a journey from a basic, keyword-focused approach to a more holistic, user-centric strategy. Today’s SEO emphasises content quality, technical SEO precision, user experience, and adaptability to frequent algorithm changes. While the fundamentals remain important, success in modern SEO requires a broader, more nuanced approach.

What you need to know about the evolution of SEO

Back Then – Keyword Stuffing

Keywords are the first thing you think about when you hear SEO.

You need to put keywords into your content to let search engines know what you want to rank for.

In the early days of SEO, this meant writing content with the aim of stuffing as many keywords as possible into it.

Take this as an example:

That’s a perfect example of keyword stuffing. The writer clearly wants to rank for the keyword “content marketing” and has done everything they can to shoehorn the term into the piece.

This practice arose because of the concept of “keyword density”. The theory was that there was some magical ratio of keywords that you needed to insert to get your content to rank in search engines. Many put this density at 1%. If you had a 1,000 word piece, you needed to insert your keyword 10 times.

This actually worked when search engine algorithms were much simpler. However, tactics like these will get you nowhere now.

Today – Evolution of SEO made it so that natural keyword variations are used

Evolution of SEO has come a long way. These days, the Search engine algorithms understand your content a lot better now than they used to. They’re actively searching for readable content that provides value to readers.

Keyword stuffing doesn’t create that content. Search engines and humans alike want quality.

Start with the two techniques you need to use today:

1: Use Keyword Variations Naturally

Once you’ve settled on a main keyword, think of all of the ways that you can vary it. For “men’s shoes” you could use alternate keywords like “men’s footwear”. You’re avoiding stuffing and Google’s smart enough to recognise the similarities between the terms. As importantly, use the keyword naturally. Don’t force it in five times for no reason.

2: Use Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) Keywords

LSI keywords are search terms that relate to your content. However, they’re not synonyms or variations.

For our “men’s shoes” example, some good LSI keywords could break down the types of shoes, such as:

• Loafers
• Sneakers
• Dress shoes

These are all phrases that you’d expect to see in a piece about men’s shoes. However, they’re not direct synonyms of the phrase. They add a little more context to the piece so search engines can get a better idea of what you’re writing about.

Of course, that assumes that you’re writing a piece that comfortably incorporates the LSI keywords.

A tool like LSIGraph can help you to come up with good LSI keywords:

Figure 1 – https://lsigraph.com/analysis/

SEO “Back Then” Vs SEO “Today”:

Back Then – Exact Keyword Matching

This relates to how you link to other areas of your website.

For example, if you wanted to link from a blog post to our website’s content marketing page, you’d create something like this.

That’s an example of using an exact match keyword as anchor text for a link. Anchor text aims to tell the reader what they’ll see if they click on the link.

That on its own isn’t a problem. It’s when you get something like this that exact match keywords become an issue:

Again, this worked back in the day. Today, it just tells Google exactly how you’re trying to influence search engine rankings.

Worse yet, a lot of SEO marketers would then create similar content for each variation of those terms.

Today – Intent matching is a huge component in the evolution of SEO

Today, it’s all about matching your content to the user’s intent, rather than using exact match keywords.

That’s important if you have a lot of keywords that share a similar intent. If they all serve the same purpose, lump them together into a single piece of content.

Create a single page that serves the user’s intent in searching for one of those keywords. Don’t make them navigate through reams of exact match keywords and anchor text to get where they need to go.

Back Then – Only Using Keywords in the Title and Content Body

Your title element and the main body of your content are always mentioned as the main places to put keywords.

That led to most people focusing on those tags and doing nothing with any other tags.

They’d optimise a little and it would do the job a couple of decades ago. Today, focusing only on those two tags doesn’t get you anywhere.

Today – Well-Rounded Optimisation

Today, title tags and keywords in the body of the content are still important.

However, now they’re part of the bigger picture. Google will still look at them to figure out what the content’s about. However, there are other things to optimise that you can’t miss out on. They mean you can optimise for both search engines AND humans.

These include:

Headline Tags. These are the headings and subheadings that you wrap in H1, H2, etc. tags. Search engines look to those for more context.

The URL. Nobody knows what they’re looking at when they see a URL like “www.example.com/product/category1/f4057fvw9”. Try to include keywords or something else that indicates what the page contains in the URL. For example, “www.example.com/products/smartphones/iphone7”.

Meta Descriptions. Searchers see your page’s meta description as part of result that search engines present to them:

It doesn’t improve your SEO rankings on its own. However, it does show the searcher what they’ll get if they click on your page. If the meta description matches the query, the searcher is more likely to click. More clicks lead to more chances of selling. Plus, that user interest may influence your rankings.

Image Alt Tags. There are several reasons to include an alt tag for every image that you use.

Firstly, you’re improving website accessibility. People with limited visibility who uses text-to-voice software rely on alt tags to tell them what an image represents.

Secondly, you can slot a keyword into the alt tag without messing up your content.

Finally, good alt tags can improve your ranking in Google Images, which can become a great source of traffic.

Back Then – Unnatural and Spammy Links

There are all sorts of unnatural linking tactics that people used to improve site rankings ages ago.

Such techniques included:

• Placing a link to their website on as many directory sites as possible.
• Spamming forums and blog comment sections with links
• Asking for reciprocal links from websites that also wanted to build their link profiles.
• Placing links in website footers (this was especially popular among website developers)

And that just covers getting inbound links.

There are plenty of ways to create unnatural outbound links and internal links too. The use of exact match anchor text covered above is one. Some companies also try to hide links where you’d never think to look for them, such as on a full stop.

Even Google got caught using that last one under the guise of its parent company, Alphabet:

Search engines are wise to these tactics now and will punish you for building low quality links. You may find your website demoted in rankings. At worse, you can get a manual penalty that removes you from the index entirely.

Today – Quality and Relevant Links Rule All

One backlink from a high-quality and relevant source overrides hundreds of low-quality links.

Backlinks are important but don’t have the power that they once had. They’re still important. However, it’s high quality content that answers queries that should be your main source of links.

The stats bear that out too. A website with a blog attracts 97% more natural links than a website without one.

Content is the key strategy to building good links in the modern era of SEO.

Back Then – Web Design Focused on Intrusive Ads and Elements

The user experience wasn’t at the top of the website developer’s mind during the early days of SEO. They wanted sites with tons of ads and other elements that just got in the way. Pop-up ads are a relic of that period.

Again, many went overboard. These ads and elements became so intrusive that they distracted away from the content on the website.

That’s still an issue today. Take a look at this page:

Figure 3 – https://monetizepros.com/ad-implementation/how-to-make-money-with-pop-up-ads/

It’s not easy to see what that page is about. It looks like a pop-up ad has even hidden the main body of the content.

Layouts like these became the norm because they generated revenue. Early search engines couldn’t detect the usability issues they caused.

Today – The Evolution Of SEO Means You Need a Seamless UX

It’s a lie to claim that ads don’t exist on modern day websites. They’re how a lot of webmasters earn their money.

However, thanks to evolution of SEO, the user experience (UX) is a key SEO focus now. Sites that perform well offer clear navigation and don’t obscure their content behind ads.

They’re also designed to work well on all devices.

A great website displays as well on mobile devices as it does on desktops. In fact, that’s crucial as more people browse the web using mobile devices than they do using desktops.

You need to create a seamless UX.

A good UX keeps visitors engaged and prevents them from bouncing away. This shows search engines that people engage with your content.

Search engines are more likely to rank you if they see that people don’t immediately hit the back button after clicking on your site.

Quick Tips for Creating Content That Ranks

Let’s round this aspect of the evolution of SEO out with a couple of quick tips for how to rank:

• Create content for humans first and search engines second.
• Ensure your content matches user intent to increase engagement.
• Focus on creating a seamless UX that keeps people on your site once they’ve clicked.
• Ensure your website displays well on all devices.
• Present content in a variety of ways. For example, articles, videos, and infographics.

The Evolution of SEO: Adapting to AI and the Future of Digital Search

The world of SEO is constantly evolving, with new technologies and trends shaping how search engines rank and display content. One of the most significant advancements in recent years is the rise of AI-driven SEO tools and strategies. These innovations have made it possible for marketers to optimize content more efficiently, analyze user behavior, and predict search trends with greater accuracy. AI is not just transforming how we optimize websites but also how search engines understand and rank content.

Looking ahead, the future of SEO is likely to be heavily influenced by advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. These technologies will continue to refine how search engines interpret queries, offering more personalized and relevant results. As things like ChatGPT become an even more integral part of SEO, it will allow businesses to create content that resonates with search engines and users alike.

In addition to AI, voice searches are becoming a main SEO Focus and are rapidly changing how people interact with search engines. With the growing use of virtual assistants like Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa, optimizing for voice search has become essential. Voice search queries tend to be longer and more conversational, which means SEO strategies must adapt to capture this shift in user behavior. As the technology evolves, and search engines become more technologically advance to the point of understanding the subtle language nuances, voice search will become a key and powerful component of successful SEO strategies moving forward.

Evolution Of SEO – The Final Word

Evolution Of SEO made huge strides over the past few years. SEO and also the search engines themselves, have changed quite a bit since the early days. The techniques that got results back in 2000 could seriously damage your website today and get you penalized by Google. It’s all about finding the right balance between creating user-friendly content that’s also good for search engines.

It’s not an easy task, which means you may need some help. That’s where we, Australia’s top SEO services agency, come in.

In Australia and need help? Why not reach out to our local SEO consultants? Learn more below:

SEO Sydney | SEO Melbourne | SEO Brisbane | SEO Hobart | SEO Perth | SEO Adelaide | SEO Gold Coast | SEO Canberra | SEO Darwin

Now that we covered what SEO is – we hand it over to you!

There’s no way around it: it’s tough to learn SEO. It exists at the intersection of technical expertise, creative content marketing, and PR – and we’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to improving your visibility in SERPs. There are a number of different tactics you need to have under your belt if you want to reach page #1 and outrank the competition.

That’s why we’re here to lend a helping hand. Want to unlock the secrets to astronomical ROI and SEO success? Get your free copy of the A-Z SEO Guide today. In it, you’ll find all the information you need to convert your site’s rankings into revenue and grow your business online, straight from the best Australian SEO services agency experts at OMG.

About the Author

Andrew Raso

Andrew Raso, Co-founder and Global CEO of Online Marketing Gurus, has been instrumental in transforming the agency from a start-up into a $15 million global powerhouse. Since co-founding OMG in 2012 with colleague Mehrdad Hedayati, Andrew has leveraged his deep expertise in SEO and digital marketing to drive OMG’s expansion across Australia, the US, and Singapore.