The Evolution of Search Engine Optimization Maintaining the applicable skills relevant to SEO can leave many SEO specialists floundering. Following the evolution of SEO is the best way to update the skill set necessary for effective search campaigns.	Visited: 2200 5.0/5.0 (13 votes total) Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
by Brian Easter April 26, 2010

The biggest change search engine optimization has seen in the last 5 years is recognition.  Previously, “SEO” was a term that might be thrown in at the end of a meeting and left mostly unexplained. Now, SEO is a major focus of many firms’ marketing campaigns – and it’s often specifically requested.

In addition to increased interest, the actual process for achieving success has evolved dramatically.  Previously, keyword stuffing, link farms, and other shady tactics were all perfectly acceptable.  If you practiced SEO that way today, you would be accused of “Black Hat SEO”.  Although SEO is still a young profession, it has evolved rapidly to handle the increased adoption from major companies and the constant changes in search engine algorithms and behavior.

Keywords: From Stuffing to Purposefully Selective

Historically, one of the primary focuses of SEO has been keyword density.  Including a desired keyword as many times as possible in meta tags, title tags, and on the page was an effective strategy to create rankings in search engines.  Now, if you try the same strategy, search engines will quickly red flag your site; and instead of gaining rankings, your site will be exiled to no man’s land.

Today, SEO depends on quality content.  Creating content and title tags that still draw attention to particular keywords is a key part of this strategy; however, including these keywords in text that is naturally written (without forced repetition) is now considered the best practice for having your page rank for desired keywords.

Design: From Afterthought to Intentional Design

The promotion of SEO has long been solely the domain of marketing companies, but recently an increasing number of companies have taken the initiative to pursue SEO firms, rather than be pursued by them. 

Not only is SEO in greater demand than ever, SEO strategies are being incorporated into comprehensive marketing strategies, making SEO efforts more effective.  The appearance of SEO as a driving force in a marketing plan makes maintaining effective, relevant SEO practices all the more important – a piece of the marketing mix that cannot afford to be relegated to the backburner, but must rather be intentionally designed and thoughtfully planned to achieve success.

Links: From Quantity to Quality

As with any profession, if you start talking to a SEO specialist about certain aspects of their job, there will always be a point about which they wax rhapsodic, usually regarding how it was better in the good old days.  In the case of SEO, the good old days are approximately 5 years gone, and the topic of discussion is links.

Getting links used to be simple; working with link farms and creating reciprocal link trades often involved an email or two at most.  Google didn’t mind – seeing that a site had 1,000,000 links was sufficient to ensure that rankings were achieved, never mind that 999,999 might be from online gambling sites. 

These days, however, search engines have refined and streamlined the criteria for what constitutes a good link. The quality of linking domains has gained prominence as sheer volume has decreased in importance.  The best links today can be described in two words; “relevant” and “organic”.  Gaining links from another website closely related to your products or services, or even merely in the same genre, is much more beneficial than farming out links to say, textile manufactures in China.  In SEO terms, organic doesn’t mean pesticide-free, but rather the appearance of naturally occurring links, or linking for interest and not for money.  The combination of these two factors makes quality links much harder to obtain and is one of the more difficult challenges SEO specialists face when creating effective campaigns.

The New Kid: Social Media

The emergence of social media marketing as a viable option to draw traffic and position the brand in search results has lead to a new interest in strategies for gaining dominance on social networks. Although effective SEO strategies for social media have not been completely solidified, what is clear is that the rules are radically different from traditional SEO.  For a successful pairing of SEO and Social Media Optimization (SMO) consumers must enjoy your product and appreciate your site.  Creative skills like web design and marketing tactics like coupons or sales are becoming increasingly important to successful search campaigns, in large part due to the impact of social networks.

The Skills SEOs Need Now: Writing and Networking

Never underestimate the talents of a technical SEO specialist.  With their up to the minute knowledge gained from constant blog perusal, knowledge of HTML, and ability to perfectly place content, these masters continually force search engines to update their algorithm.  These days, however, technical skills alone are not sufficient for effective SEO.  Writing compelling copy, be it for on page content or off, is now a required skill.  Developing unique and imaginative content, while still conveying the brand message of clients, is a difficult task that requires both creative talent and experience.  However, using writing skills effectively to create valuable content is now vital to the success of SEO campaigns.

The next set of skills now essential for SEO efforts is networking.  Gaining a network, through social media or in person, is a much more effective way to gain quality, organic links than dated tactics like trading or buying links.  A result of the evolution of link importance, these quality links are valued by search engines for their relevancy and context. 

SEO: Dynamic, not Static

SEO continues to evolve, and smart firms will evolve with it.  Although the importance of keywords and links cannot be discounted, new factors such as networking and writing are valuable skills that must be honed.  The combination of traditional skills and current techniques make SEO more effective and more integral to marketing campaigns than ever before.