Visibility

The very nature of search engine optimization means that is a constantly evolving discipline. There is a cat and mouse element between regularly tweaked search engine algorithms and the SEO professionals who are trying to keep up. There are developments technologically which have an impact, the major search engines striving to bring ever more relevant results and the SEOs trying to make sure their sites ARE those results. Plus probably the most changeable element of all – the human users who utilise search engines.

If we think about how internet use has changed over the years since it became available to the majority of the developed world in some form in the mid-to-late 1990s, the transformation into what we have today is incredible in many ways.  Back in these early times, the marketplace was fairly open. Most businesses or organisations didn’t have a web presence at all, or if they did, it was rudimentary and offered little besides company information and maybe a contact form. Dial-up Internet access meant that most people only logged on to try and find what they wanted, rather than spending hours browsing sites without real purpose.  Search engines are of course vital when speed is of the essence. Get in, find what you need, then get out. As the marketplace grew, with more commercial websites being created every day, the need for more accurate search results became a bigger and bigger issue.

When I first started using the Internet at home in the mid 1990s, finding what I needed online was my primary problem.  I started with a URL that I knew and followed links from that site or navigated through my Netscape browser’s homepage. If I did use a homepage search function, it didn’t occur to me to consider how it found, categorised or delivered my results.  It certainly wasn’t a flawless user experience, and I remember being constantly frustrated that I couldn’t find what I wanted at the first few attempts.

These days the Internet forms a major part of my day-to-day activities. From work and non-work emails to how I keep up with all kinds of news, social networking, contributing to and moderating forums, shopping for virtually everything, paying bills, banking, looking for a new house, watching videos, listening to music and dozens more uses, there isn’t a day that goes by without some of my time being spent using the Internet in some way, whether on computer, tablet or smartphone. Internet use goes hand in hand with search engines and now they have seamlessly become part of the Internet experience for most users. I wonder how many people worldwide have their favourite search engine as their browser’s home or start page?

I take it for granted these days that I can find out anything I ever need to know simply by typing a few words into Google.  A far cry from the irrelevant or spammy results from the early days, the major search engines of 2010 are truly great at what they do. However I am loathe to give them absolutely all of the credit. Websites too have had to seriously step up their game to meet increasing demands from customers if they want to grab their piece of the market and be successful, and SEO holds a role in this.

The easier a website is for search engines to find and truly understand, the better it is for the engines and users.  The days of trying to manipulate search engines into thinking your site is better than it really is are surely gone? True and accurate representation of a site is the key to ethical SEO, with the user experience a top priority. When done well, SEO brings a number of mutual benefits. It is no coincidence that search engines look for the same things in a great website that people do – and as Internet users have become more discerning over the years, so too, of course, have the search engines. Taking Google as the example, not only does it now search for multiple categories of results at the same time (everything, news, blogs, images, videos, maps etc) but it can link search results to your Google account and take things like your search history into consideration when choosing which results to display.

Real time search adds another dimension to the ever more comprehensive results that search engines are equipped to offer.  Rather than waiting for hours, or even days or weeks for a new blog on your site to be indexed and processed by Google, your tweets and updates could be shown just moments after publication.  Can you optimize your tweets for search engines so they can be found more easily? Of course you can. Make sure you use a relevant keyword, offer something useful and away you go. This relates as much to businesses as to purely social tweeting. Social Media Marketing is a viable off page SEO technique, and can work in conjunction with your overall optimization efforts to help build links, spread brand awareness and most importantly, connect with customers and offer them a way to connect with you.

So with every new Internet trend which really takes off, the search engines adapt, and therefore so does SEO. Despite a wave of search industry blogs claiming that every new algorithm tweak or Caffiene roll out spells the end of SEO, the reality is that search marketing does and will continue to evolve as needed, which is one thing that makes this industry so exciting to be part of.