Warrington Web Design have over 50 years in web design and development, in that time we have experienced and been a part of several SEO trends. SEO is a fickle thing as search engines constantly update and change their criteria for SEO so it is important we change alongside them to meet these criteria.
This blog will give a brief outline of the history of SEO and provide a little insight into what might lie ahead.
Where it all began
August 6, 1991 saw the launch of the first ever website. Two years later the internet was beginning to get crowded and so search platforms such as Excite began to emerge. These platforms helped categorize content based on keywords and back end optimization.
Black Hat Begins
(1994) saw the creation of Yahoo and (1997) was when the world’s leading search engine Google was launched. At this point underhand ‘blackhat’ tactics were the main way website owners got ahead. This unethical approach to SEO was enough to trick the primitive search engines as patches to algorithms often took months to complete. As SEO Warrington specialists, Warrington Web Design never utilise black hat techniques in any capacity.
Google and other search engine giants began to look closely at the way in which their search engines indexed pages.
Things Begin to Progress
In response to this unethical approach, Google decided to level the playing field for website owners taking a more ethical approach. What Google did was implement several updates and patches which penalised black hat tactics such as bad linking and keyword stuffing.
Also this time saw the birth of local SEO. Local SEO such as the kind of SEO Warrington that Warrington Web Design mainly conducts, allowed users to search specific to their area for results in close proximity.
User based Experiences
This period of time focused on Google improving their service experience for users in several different ways. A more personalized web experience was provided through features such as the engine optimising content for users based on their search history called Google Suggest. Warrington Web Design work with these user based SEO Warrington criteria to make sure you end up at the top of search engine results.
At this point SEO became much more personalised and specific as analytical tools such as Google Trends and Google Analytics allowed for SEO implementers to better monitor their efforts.
The Realisation
For the first time it seems as if website owners have realised the way forward is through producing quality, user focused content.
More regulations regarding keywords, quality control, and over optimization meant that those not willing to change their strategies would be penalised.
To successfully optimize a website, marketers were forced to develop valuable and shareable content focused toward users. Shared content throughout the web and social media platforms created backlinks and engagement that built up a page’s SEO ranking.
Present Day SEO
As Google and other search engines move towards tailoring search engine experience to users’ specific interests and needs. Now it is more important than ever that content produced for SEO purposes is relevant and well optimised.
Should you need help launching an SEO campaign, Warrington Web Design are SEO Warrington specialists here to help in any way you may need, get in touch for a quick chat about your options and what we can do for you.