SEO is a lot like football, with major rule changes against you every few months. If you don’t follow me on this note, then let me explain.

SEO in the Mid 1990’s

Imagine that you are an offensive coordinator for a NFL team. Now consider that you are playing against a 11 on 3.

This was SEO back in the mid ’90’s. Come to think of it, the industry also parallels with the video games of the same era. Remember finding that one play that the computer couldn’t stop? You know the one that you felt bad about using, until you had to get the first down? Well, in SEO at this point in time the equivalent was just stuffing keywords into your copy. If you were ahead of the herd, you just cloaked your keywords at the bottom of the page because the search engines hadn’t quite figured out the keyword saturation/content relevance portion of the algorithm yet.

The Late 1990’s

So one day you were looking down the field and suddenly the defense has 7.

You ask yourself why in the hell do links matter? After going through the acceptance stage about links now being a part of your life, you find the loophole. You do some research and find hundreds of equally frustrated webmasters. With your combined power, you guys learn that all you need to do is fire off as many remote sites as possible and link to your new friends, with them returning the favor. Now, you have your SERPS back!

The Early 2000’s

Well, it looks like the sides are equaled up at 11 to 11. Good luck coach.

So you are trying to tell me that my 56,000 links don’t mean anything! What is link relevancy and who do these “google kids” think that they are? You spend hours and hours finding people within your niche with who to trade links. If you were a hard worker, you created an industry directory. You submitted your site to every possible directory out there. Finally, you have regained your SERPS. The future of SEO has came to you in a dream…

The Mid 2000’s

What happened to a fair game! How can my 11 man offense compete against a team of 25 defensive players!

Yeah, you knew that the user agreements for the search engines preached about quality content. I found holes in the algorithms over the years that the search engines didn’t compensate for very quickly. Know the anti-spam teams have destroyed all of my old techniques. It looks like my opposition has finally outworked me and know what my next moves maybe. You go through your website and remove any questionable elements. You scrub your links and get rid of the trash. I create some unique content and scrap even more. I am back up in the SERPS again!

‘07 Through Today

Great. Have you ever been a quarterback and tried to read a secondary with 50 DB’s!

The Take Away

In today’s SEO landscape, we have even more obstacles and challenges to deal with now more than ever. From universal search to unique content overtaking high PR links in the algorithm, the game is now more difficult than ever. The fact of the matter is that had early webmasters looked ahead at the landscape in front of their faces, they would own the market. The “short term investor” mentality of trying to beat the system has not only made people like Matt Cutts famous in certain circles, but has also created an economic crisis in America. The quick, easy, and short road may work well for some, but for the vast majority of the population, doing things the right way will pay off in the end. 

To End This on the Words of a Wiser Man Than Me:

“I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.”
-Warren Burret