MediaWhiz's Adam Riff details how SEO has evolved since the commercial Internet came to force in the mid-1990s and the impact this evolution has on digital marketers today.

1. DON’T JUST PAY FOR PERFORMANCE.
IMPROVE PERFORMANCE.
The Evolution of SEO
Adam Riff
Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy
MediaWhiz
ariff@mediawhiz.com
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2. TIMELINE OF SEO EVOLUTION
CONTENT – TECHNICAL – LINKING
Timeline of SEO Evolution
Content – Technical – Linking
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3. o Back in 2000 - 2001 a little company out of Mountain View California figured out a better way
to rank sites through linking and content. You may have heard of them Google.
o Co-founders Larry Page, president of products, and Sergey Brin, president of
technology, brought Google to life in September 1998. Google started to revolutionize the way
sites were indexed to present users with the most relevant search results.
Sergey Brin Larry Page
President of Technology President of Products
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4. REALITY
4 Source: SEOMOZ

5. TIMELINE OF SEO EVOLUTION
CONTENT – TECHNICAL – LINKING
• Content And Content Only
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6. TIMELINE OF SEO EVOLUTION
CONTENT – TECHNICAL – LINKING
• Content And Content Only
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• Content + Optimization Content + Number Links Pointing To Site (Votes)
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7. TIMELINE OF SEO EVOLUTION
CONTENT – TECHNICAL – LINKING
• Content And Content Only
1
• Content + Optimization Content + Number Links Pointing To Site (Votes)
2
• Content + Optimization Content + Number Links Pointing To Site + Anchor Text (Keyword) +Value Of
3 Link
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8. TIMELINE OF SEO EVOLUTION
CONTENT – TECHNICAL – LINKING
• Content And Content Only
1
• Content + Optimization Content + Number Links Pointing To Site (Votes)
2
• Content + Optimization Content + Number Links Pointing To Site + Anchor Text (Keyword) +Value Of
3 Link
• Content + Optimization Content + Number Links Pointing To Site + Anchor Text (Keyword) +Value Of
4 Link Who Was Linking – How They Were Linking – And Who Was Linking To Them
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9. TIMELINE OF SEO EVOLUTION
CONTENT – TECHNICAL – LINKING
• Content And Content Only
1
• Content + Optimization Content + Number Links Pointing To Site (Votes)
2
• Content + Optimization Content + Number Links Pointing To Site + Anchor Text (Keyword) +Value Of
3 Link
• Content + Optimization Content + Number Links Pointing To Site + Anchor Text (Keyword) +Value Of
4 Link Who Was Linking – How They Were Linking – And Who Was Linking To Them
• Content + Optimization Content + Number Links Pointing To Site + Anchor Text +Value Of Link Who Was Linking – How
They Were Linking – And Who Was Linking To Them + Diversity Of Links: (Branded & Non-Branded)
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10. TIMELINE OF SEO EVOLUTION
CONTENT – TECHNICAL – LINKING
• Content And Content Only
1996
• Optimized Content + Number Links Pointing To Site (Votes)
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• Optimized Content+ Number Links Pointing To Site + Anchor Text (Keyword)
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• Optimized Content + Number Links Pointing To Site + Anchor Text (Keyword) +Value Of Link (position
4 on linking site like above the fold, relevancy of linking site and # of links pointing to linking site)
• Optimized content + Number Links Pointing To Site + Anchor Text +Value Of Link + Diversity Of Links: (Branded & Non-
Branded)
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• Optimized Content + Number Links Pointing To Site + Anchor Text +Value Of Link + Diversity Of Links (Branded & Non-
Branded) + Social Signals (Facebook – Twitter – YouTube) + Diversity of Anchor Text + Quality of Content on and off-site
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