How Has SEO Changed Over The Past Decade

The world is always changing and, as a result, it now looks a whole lot more different to what it did only ten years ago. Look around you, and I’m sure you will be able to see numerous ways in which your environment and life has changed. You will probably look a whole lot different to what you did over a decade ago too!

But did you know that the internet is also a much different place to what it was ten years ago as well? Even though it may not be quite so obvious, there are a few ways in which the internet has changed before our very eyes. One of those is regarding SEO and the way search engines trawl through websites deciding which ones to place at the pile of their search results. SEO has been incredibly crucial in the entire ranking of Google’s search results for a good few years now, and it is necessary for companies to keep up to date with any changes they might make so that they can continue to optimize their website as best they can.

So, are you wondering how SEO has changed over the past decade? Here are a few most notable ways. Make sure you use these changes to improve your business’s SEO practices.

Content Is Now King

 When SEO first burst onto the internet scene, it didn’t really too much about the content that was on the site. As long as there were plenty of keywords in the content, then it would help the website get a great SEO ranking. But then Googled realized that this meant a lot of low-quality websites were being ranked highly, so it put a stop to it. Now, content is very much king, and in order to rank in the top results, you need to make sure that the content and copy you are posting is always of the best quality. If you are stuck for ideas as to what to write and blog about, you might want to use zag.ai for some inspiration and to expand ideas from keywords. Don’t forget that your content also needs to be free from any errors and spelling mistakes as well, as these could be detrimental to its perceived overall quality.

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 Local SEO Is Now Super Important

 Back in the day, companies never used to have to worry about local SEO. However, this is now very much a big deal and not taking not of local SEO could have very negative effects for a business. Not only is it more important, though, but there have also been a lot of big changes in how companies need to carry out local SEO. For instance, it is now essential that they all list their address on google.com/maps so that they appear on Maps app. Lots of customers search for new local businesses using these location services, so it’s critical for a company to be listed here, you can take help of  internet marketing agency to do seo for you. It also helps to have a few local keywords scattered throughout your copy too. Although there shouldn’t be too many of these or else they could stand out like a sore thumb.

 Link Schemes Are No More

 Previously, link schemes were a great way to boost a site’s SEO over a very short period of time and for very little money. Haven’t heard of these link schemes before? That’s probably a good thing! Even though the definition of a link scheme is a bit hazy, it can simply be put as trying to influence the ranking of a site by placing links in other external posts. Just a few years ago, a lot of companies were investing heavily into this kind of backlinking. That’s because it was easy to amass a lot of links through to your website for very little cost. Thankfully, Google has now tried to stop this practice, and sites that do seem to be involved with linking schemes are often punished by getting pushed down the search engine’s rankings.

 Websites Now Need To Be Optimized For Mobile

 Remember when cell phones were simple things that you could only ever use for calling and sending SMS messages? Well, they are a lot more complicated now, and everyone uses them to check the internet. In fact, using the internet on mobile phones has become so popular, that more people access online sites via their phones than laptops now. As a result, more websites are being designed to be mobile optimized. That just means that they can be easily viewed on small screens. As Google now understands that mobile optimization is such a huge part of using the internet, it has started to mark optimized site favorably. So, if you do want a good SEO ranking, you need to make sure that your website is fully optimized for mobile.

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 Keywords Aren’t As Important As What They Once Were

 Just a few years ago, many companies used to try to fill all of their content and copy with as many keyword phrases that they could get in. However, now that Google have moved over to a more natural emphasis with SEO, they are starting to penalize companies that throw in too many keywords, as they can sound slightly robotic. It’s still perfectly fine to use multiple keywords in blog posts and social media updates, just make sure your content isn’t saturated with them.

 Strategic Titles

 Did you know that titles also have a big sway over a site’s SEO? Previously, many content writers tried to fit in as many keywords into titles as they could possibly manage. These days, though, that is generally frowned upon by Google, so it’s best to keep all of your titles as naturally sounding as possible. These days, titles need to be strategic in other ways. Rather than use them to boost your SEO, you should make them clickable so you get as many readers as possible.

The world of SEO has changed in many ways over the past few years, but the ones listed above are definitely the most notable ones.