SEO Changes: Inbound Marketing is Taking Over

SEO management used to be a much simpler process. Get listed in Yahoo’s once-omnipotent directory, get listed in the DMOZ.org directory, and you were all set. Then, Google decided to become Google, and the SEO game changed. It quickly became all about links -- building links from anywhere, as many as you could possibly get. 

It was around this time that the Internet truly became the Internet as we know it today. Businesses recognized that to get ahead of their competition, they needed a huge presence in search engines, and were willing to do whatever it took to do it.

 

Once the SEOs figured out the secret to early versions of Google’s algorithm, the search engine rankings essentially became a free-for-all. Links were spammed onto any site possible, regardless of how relevant they may have been to a given company’s website. 

Cheap, spammy websites were easily ranking over established and relevant businesses just because they had more links. Google’s seemingly “impossible-to-crack” algorithm was being figured out by just about everybody. Over time, Google realized that to serve up the best search results, changes would have to take place.

 

 

Now we fast-forward to today. The organic search landscape has seen almost a complete upheaval of sorts, an absolute improvement over just a few years ago. With what Google codenamed Panda, a brand new algorithm was rolled out that focused on much more than the number of links a website had. 

No longer are the spammy websites ranking. In fact, many of them have been de-indexed from Google all together. However, when Panda came, so did a large amount of SEO changes.

SEO changes actually occur all the time. With over 500 updates per year to Google’s algorithms, the SEO world is constantly trying to stay on top of things. Within the past few years, these algorithm changes have been vastly different than previous updates. 

Now, instead of focusing on just a few keywords to rank for, a shift is being made towards what is known as “inbound marketing.”

Inbound marketing is not about simply optimizing your website for Google. It is actually a much larger strategy – a mix of SEO, PR, social media, and online marketing in general. 

Basically, it means getting your company out on the Internet by any relevant means possible, and thus, establishing your company as a given industry’s expert and increasing overall traffic to your site.

 

In this graphic from SEOmoz, we see many great ways that inbound marketing can be done. Some of them are absolute essentials, no matter what industry you may be in. Such methods like blogging, content marketing, press releases, social media, and link building (still an important piece to the puzzle) are now pillars of any inbound marketing campaign. 

Other methods, like webinars, videos, forums, and apps are also great traffic-driving means in a wide array of industries. At the end of the day, it is all about getting your company out there that sheds as much positive light as possible to your business.