What's changed in the SEO world in two years?

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by Ticktockman, May 18, 2009.

  1. #1
    So, for reasons too complex to go into here, I have been completely out of the SEO/SEM world for two years.

    The gist of my question is, what has changed? Where should I go to catch up?

    I'm not looking for specifics...that would take waaaaay too long or too many posts, but is there some seminal article that came out recently? Some new website with great new tools? What have the "big picture" changes been?

    Or is it business as usual? :)

    Thanks everyone!
     
    Ticktockman, May 18, 2009 IP
  2. sultanofseo

    sultanofseo Notable Member

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    #2
    things on SEO world change often. what worked 2 years ago, lot of them either dont work or not as much effective as it has been before. i do not know of any specific article that would point out the differences of before and after but you can read few popular webmaster forums to get a feeling what people are talking about now
     
    sultanofseo, May 18, 2009 IP
  3. vansterdam

    vansterdam Notable Member

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    #3
    Welcome back to the seo industry Ticktockman. These days the search engines are getting smarter and producing more complex algorithms. So it is more important than ever to make your marketing look natural....gradual link building pace, varied link anchor text, links from multiple sources, etc.

    One somewhat recent development is the introduction of the nofollow link attribute. Google introduced this to allow website owners to link to sites without passing PR. So you have to be aware of which sites use this nofollow attribute on external links. This tag can also be useful for controlling where internal PR is sent on a site. Many sites add nofollow to links to terms & conditions, privacy policy and other pages that don't need PR.

    Social bookmarking is another trend that has taken off in the last little while. It works quite well for buzz worthy sites, but is not very effective for regular websites.

    Also in the last 2 years, Google has further built on their dominance of the search industry. So it is even more important to rank well on Google now.

    You may also want to look into the canonical link attribute.

    There hasn't been many other developments. Just start participating in a few good seo forums/blogs and you should catch up in no time at all. Most of what worked 2 years ago does still work today.
     
    vansterdam, May 18, 2009 IP
  4. jg123

    jg123 Notable Member

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    #4
    Everyone these days is an 'SEO',

    -1000 directory submissions for $1.29 = SEO
    -5000 spam comments in poor English = SEO
    -Cut and pasted or spun article submitted to 300 article sites for $1.49 = SEO
    -Your site submitted to 400 top search engines for $.99 = SEO

    I could go on and on but it just gets more painful
     
    jg123, May 18, 2009 IP
  5. Shazz

    Shazz Prominent Member

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    #5
    The compitition!
     
    Shazz, May 18, 2009 IP
  6. Cheap SEO Services

    Cheap SEO Services <------DoFollow Backlinks

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    #6
    I would have thought it would be "The competition" :D
     
    Cheap SEO Services, May 18, 2009 IP
  7. aamirkhan

    aamirkhan Peon

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    #7
    SEO is changed a lot frequently depending on the new trends on the web. You need to keep reading all the famous SEO forums top update your knowledge. We can't just write another SEO book in a single post.
     
    aamirkhan, May 18, 2009 IP
  8. letsnurture

    letsnurture Peon

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    #8
    people are just spiting every where and expressing themselves as a seo experts.
     
    letsnurture, May 18, 2009 IP
  9. JagoHarry

    JagoHarry Well-Known Member

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    #9
    It just makes a good SEO's job much more difficult. Particularly if the client has had a poor experience in the past.

    Dan
     
    JagoHarry, May 19, 2009 IP
  10. Ticktockman

    Ticktockman Peon

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    #10
    Thanks for the responses everyone! Yeah - it looks like not a whole lot has changed. Spammy SEO is still spammy SEO.

    What HAS changed is all my great bookmarks for SEO tools have gone dead. A lot of the great backlink tools and such are behind paywalls now...I guess people realized they could be making money?

    It looks like the Overture keyword volume tool is finally dead....what are people using as a substitute? Is the Google Adwords Keyword suggestion the best option available now?
     
    Ticktockman, May 22, 2009 IP
  11. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #11
    Google Insights is pretty cool for keyword ideas.
     
    dcristo, May 22, 2009 IP
  12. Media Precision

    Media Precision Peon

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    #12
    I think one of the main changes is that search engines have got smart and now quality out weighs quantity
     
    Media Precision, May 22, 2009 IP
  13. Skech

    Skech Peon

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    #13
    Great new website with great new tools. SpiderLoop.com has probably changed in the last two years.
     
    Skech, May 22, 2009 IP
  14. praetserge

    praetserge Notable Member

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    #14
    nothing changed... even spam filters do still exist for people like you...
     
    praetserge, May 22, 2009 IP
  15. bethennyengland

    bethennyengland Peon

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    #15
    I think you are doing the right thing. A lot may have changed but by looking at forums like these and interacting with other webmasters will let you know what people are pursuing now in the SEO world.
     
    bethennyengland, May 22, 2009 IP
  16. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #16
    Wild guess but I reckon SpiderLoop.com is your own website. :rolleyes:
     
    dcristo, May 23, 2009 IP
  17. The Villa

    The Villa Peon

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    #17
    I have been a content writer for exactly two years and two months. Two years ago, I used to get orders for 500 word articles with keyword densities of 15% or more. That was pretty much part of clients' SEO strategies. Now real SEO experts know better than to use the same keyword in the same paragraph. Oh, and yeah, I'm getting fewer requests for articles with keywords that just don't make sense to a human being.
     
    The Villa, May 23, 2009 IP
  18. sultanofseo

    sultanofseo Notable Member

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    #18
    you missed an important element here. this should be:

    1000 manual directory submissions for $1.29 = SEO :D

    for an experienced submitter, it would take good 10 hours to submit to 1000 direectories. so anyone who believes that they would get manual work for the cost of dime an hour is surely living in fool's heaven
     
    sultanofseo, May 23, 2009 IP
  19. jg123

    jg123 Notable Member

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    #19
    I was doing a slight bit of exaggerating (but not by much). Here is the post I made a couple of weeks ago on the topic: Directory Submission for Less than $1 an Hour

    I talk about the new type of SEO offered on DP....Stupid Egghead Option
     
    jg123, May 24, 2009 IP
  20. manofwar

    manofwar Active Member

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    #20
    SEO per se is dead, in the sense of the oldschool SEO firms. These days, too many guys are doing "SEO" for just about anything you can imagine. It's become a cliche of bad marketing and waste of money.

    IMO, these days, CONTENT is king - and fresh content is KING x 100 :)
     
    manofwar, May 24, 2009 IP