The Evolution of SEO – A Story of Then vs Now

If you were around during the early 2010s, you’d remember SEO as a keyword game. Pages were optimized for phrases like “best running shoes under $50” — repeated at least a dozen times across the title, the headers, the body, the meta, and sometimes even hidden in white text on a white background. (Yeah… that was a thing.)

Back then, the goal was simple: rank at the top of Google. Didn’t matter if users actually stayed on your site or found what they needed. You got the click — that was the win.

But of course, it didn’t last. People started gaming the system. So Google adapted.

Somewhere around the mid-2010s, Google started asking tougher questions. Not literally — but the algorithm did. Things like:

1. “Does this content actually help people?
2. “Are users spending time here or bouncing back to the search results?”
3. “Is this page really the best answer, or just the loudest one?”

Suddenly, SEO wasn't just about keywords — it was about intent. About context. About structure. And if your content wasn’t aligned with what the user meant, not just what they typed, you were out.

This shift meant that content creators had to start thinking beyond rankings. We had to think like our audience — map their journey, answer their follow-up questions before they even asked, and design content that kept them around.

Fast forward to now, and we’re entering a whole new chapter: AI-driven search.

Tools like Google’s AI Overviews and answer engines like Perplexity are changing the very purpose of search. A lot of the time, users don’t even need to click on a site to get an answer anymore — it’s handed to them, summarized, right at the top of the results.

For someone used to measuring SEO success in clicks, this is terrifying. But here’s the twist: the game hasn’t ended — it’s just shifted again.

Now, SEO is about:

1. Being the source that AI pulls from.
2. Structuring your content so that your answer is the one featured.
3. Using schema markup, clean design, and clear answers to stand out.

In short, we’re optimizing not just for people — but also for machines that explain stuff to people.

Alongside AI, another trend quietly gained power: trust.

Google doesn’t just want good content — it wants to know who it’s coming from. That’s where E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust) comes in.

And honestly, I love this part. Because this is where websites stop being faceless and start feeling human.

It’s about showing that the person writing has actually done the thing they’re talking about. That they’ve been in the trenches. That their opinion is worth something.

It’s also about branding — not in the logo-and-color-scheme way, but in the consistency-of-voice, credibility, and presence kind of way.

The behind-the-scenes stuff? Oh, it matters now — more than ever.

1. Your Core Web Vitals need to be solid.
2. Mobile performance can make or break you.
3. Crawlability, canonical tags, clean sitemaps — all must-haves.

But here’s the real change: technical SEO is now part of UX. If your site loads slowly, or if buttons shift around while the page loads, Google notices. And users leave.

So SEO isn’t just for your “SEO guy” anymore — it’s a team sport involving content, design, and devs.

Google is still the giant, but people now discover content in new ways — via Reddit threads, Quora answers, YouTube shorts, LinkedIn discussions, even TikTok.

This means if your “SEO strategy” is only about blog posts and meta descriptions, you’re missing a huge chunk of your audience.

Today, SEO includes:

1. Being active in your niche communities
2. Repurposing content across platforms
3. Building visibility and backlinks through genuine interaction

You don’t need a complete SEO overhaul — just a mindset shift. Think of SEO as an ongoing loop, not a one-time checklist. Here’s how I’m approaching it now:

1. Start with content: Answer questions clearly. One pillar topic, several supporting posts.
2. Focus on intent: Who’s coming to your page, and what exactly do they want?
3. Show you’re real: Author pages, bylines, contact info, and trust signals matter.
4. Fix the backend: Core Web Vitals, page speed, structured data — keep them clean.
5. Expand the playing field: Be visible where your audience already hangs out.

SEO today feels a lot more like building a reputation than gaming an algorithm. And honestly? That’s a good thing.

NOTE: All the content is written by me, images generated by Gemini Nano Banana and the website you are looking at is optimized for web crawlers and AI summary. (Feels so good to say this after all the work I had to put towards making this website AI friendly)