This article talks about my experience with SEO over the last 20 years, a perception I have not only about SEO techniques but much more about how the market has changed.
What inspired this article was a question someone asked me a few days ago about my experience with SEO...
At that moment, I kind of froze 🥶 and words failed me; normally this doesn't happen. But I reflected on it and decided to share my perspective here with you...
Early Days
My first encounter with SEO was around 2004~2005 (it's been a while), back when I worked for a group of companies, each with a portfolio of different websites.
Google was still the only search source on the internet, and the infamous Google PageRank bar existed.
Back then, we did everything to improve this PageRank. Some techniques I remember include (1) stuffing keywords into hidden tags on the page, (2) being meticulous about the site's description and header, (3) paying attention to H1 tags, (4) considering the relationship between words throughout the text versus indexing keywords—this was part of the techniques, but there were others, and I confess I don't remember them all.
But there was a cool side: we quickly saw results improving the PageRank.
SEO vs Ads
Here's where the whole shift began.
Google Ads was launched in Brazil around the 2000's, but I started dealing with it around 2006~2007.
At that time, our focus began to change, and it was very rapid—I'll tell you why. I remember we had meetings with the Marketing director to discuss keywords, keyword strategies, and competitors in searches—meaning the focus that was previously on PageRank quickly changed, all thanks to one word: MONEY 💸.
The company started spending about R$ 1,000 per month on Ads, which was good money for them at that time, especially in an investment they hadn't made before, and you know why?
Even though it was still a simple tool compared to what exists today, it was infinitely better than PageRank and organic search results.
Evolution
Since then, I've worked on B2B and a lot of B2C projects, especially between 2015 and 2022. And do you know the importance of SEO in these projects?
The only concern is to write a good HEAD and its meta tags, and nothing more.
No one cares about SEO on a day-to-day basis anymore; I haven't seen a dedicated team for it, never heard any UX designer talk about it.
But the Ads market became massive; Facebook, TikTok, and Google came in, and the algorithms became so advanced that SEO became a distant past. Now, the delivery of results is focused on the user and profile, not just keywords.
This could be a pub conversation; obviously, the title is just a provocation, but there it is for reflection.
I hope I've helped you; until next time!
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