It’s true! Search Engine Optimization (SEO) started off pretty ugly. In fact, the black hat practices of early SEO zealots are the reason that SEO algorithms have been incrementally changed, so that these sorts of practices could be eliminated.

Do you remember the days when people would duplicate their key words over and over at the bottom of a website so they’d get listed on page 1 of the search results? Practices like this manipulation of search engine results by spammy websites certainly didn’t serve readers and often turned up incorrect results. However, if this is what you imagine when you hear the words Search Engine Optimization then you haven’t seen the real beauty and potential of well done SEO practices.

In the past, SEO specialists and gurus touted the benefits of incoming links (link sharing) from websites with a high page rank. Even if they had to buy them or leave spammy comments to accomplish those ends.

There was a time when you “knew” that the first few results on a Google search would be garbage. Getting to the top of the search engine results pages (SERPS) was the only goal of search engine optimization just a few short years ago. Marketers sometimes made a living creating terrible websites that would rank first in search results. Have you ever clicked on an ad just to get away from one of those obnoxious pages and realized, a moment too late, that the obnoxious site owner probable made money because you were annoyed? Thank goodness those ugly days are coming to a close.

Google’s Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird updates have all but destroyed the effectiveness of malicious attempts to manipulate search engine results. Because of this, SEO has come into its own as a valuable online skill.

SEO, as is currently practiced, is all about making sure that search engines know what your website is about. The Search engines are proud to lead readers to websites that:

1. Load quickly
2. Are linked from outside sources
3. Meet the specified keywords requested
4. Are shared on social networks
5. Don’t contain malicious scripts
6. Don’t link to sites that contain pornography or malicious scripts

Interestingly, these are the same things readers are looking for! Even though each search engine writes their own algorithms, so that what you find in a Bing, Yahoo or Google search might not be identical, as a reader what you’re generally looking for is a site that’s relevant to your search and not full of spam.

“The more spammy the better” used to be the general consensus of developers who were using black hat techniques. Thankfully those days are all but over. Modern SEO has a whole new definition.

Contact us to learn more about how modern SEO practices differ from the old days. It took a Panda, a Penguin and a Hummingbird to turn the ugly duckling that used to be SEO into the swan it is today.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also want to check out these others:

Stay Connected: Simple Steps for Managing a Remote Team
5 Ways to Use LinkedIn to Grow Your Business
How To Amp Up Your Visibility With Facebook
A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Sales: Using Pinterest for Business
Ideas for Growing Your Business When the Going Gets Tough
Why Should You Care About Starting A Blog?
Email Marketing: How to Keep Your Messages Out of Your Customer’s Spam Box
Combining Blogging and Social Media into a Truly Effective Strategy

This article is published by Will Sherwood | The Sherwood Group |Website Design | Graphic Design | Marketing Communications: The Sherwood Group has over 30 years of experience working with all sorts of companies, small and large. Our clients range from entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 firms, in nearly every business sector, from across the street to around the world (and yes, even Europe, China, and South America). Our goal is to create advertising,  graphic design, website design, and marketing communication that still looks fresh and relevant 10-15 years later. Our mission is to stir your imagination and leave your competition shaken and wondering,  Now what do we do?”  We are located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

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