Changes to the SEO industry are greeted with despair by SEO commentators. Every time Google makes a major change, altering the game for optimisers, a lot of the SEO community react like it’s the end of the world. Floods of ‘how to cope’ articles follow. All of this adds up to a very negative image of search engine change, which is the exact opposite of what search engine change actually means. The development of the search engines provides room for SEO growth.

It’s undoubtedly hard when you have to alter your optimisation plan due to a change by the search engines. You can talk to us at SEO Consult about how to cope with changes. Historically, changes aren’t a bad thing for the average site.

The roots of SEO

Most of the initial attention for SEO came in around 1998. The internet, while far from new, was still an unexplored frontier for many companies. Businesses suddenly found themselves in a world where their experience really didn’t count for much. They needed a way to build an awareness of their products and services. Enter search engine optimisation.

Most of the clients for SEO firms at this stage were the businesses who realised that their website was just an expensive business card without search engine attention. There are some businesses who haven’t realised that to this day. Individual internet experts, most of whom had yet to call themselves SEO specialists, tried to figure out what had gone wrong. In examining the way search engines behaved, the experts found ways to attract search engine attention. These were the first SEO techniques.

Early search engine optimisation was full of traps for the unwary. Some companies charged their clients for submission to search engines but did little to improve sites. The SEO pros who concentrated on improving certain factors of their clients’ sites were the ones who still operate today.

As websites grow, SEO does too

The types of websites that are using SEO has changed over the last ten or so years. Initially it was only the internet-savvy and big companies who bothered to optimise. These days, all sorts of sites are seeing the benefit of SEO. As different industries require different SEO tactics, this means that the SEO knowledge pool is expanding. This expansion means good things for all businesses.

Specific search results are a positive change

The increased specificity of search engine results has made things a lot harder for the SEO community. On the other hand, specific search results are good for individual businesses. They help your target market find you more easily.

For example, if you have any local business appeal, it’s more likely these days that your local customers will find you through the search engines. At one time, there was no motivation for a local business to promote itself on the net because search results weren’t specific enough.

Search engine optimisation may struggle to keep up with the search engines at times, but this struggle pays off because search engine improvements increase individual business visibility. That doesn’t mean that SEO pros don’t reserve the right to complain.

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