Story told by: Anthony Ragland - Celebrating 25 Years in SEO (1999-2024)
Loren Baker at Search Engine Journal says that “John Audette of Multimedia Marketing Group was using the term SEO as early as February 15, 1997.”
Google was founded on September 4, 1998, by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while at Stanford University: original dissertation paper.
Anthony Ragland, Head of SEO at BeGreat! Agency, earned a Computer Science degree, and was hired to be the Webmaster for the heavy boxing champ.
Anthony discovered Bruce Clay’s SEOToolSet® at a coffee shop. Bruce Clay is one of the first people to popularize the term SEO and have SEO tools.
Danny Sullivan and his website Search Engine Watch become the source for SEO and search engine marketing (SEM) news, best practices, and events.
Anthony applies SEO + SEM tactics to grow online traffic, eCommerce orders, and fan club subscriptions for EvanderHolyfield.com.
Aaron Wall wrote “SEO Book” and launched SEOBook.com. His book, website, and tools instantly became popular within the SEO industry.
Google goes public with about 44% market share of all internet searches. If you invested $1 in Google’s IPO then, it would be worth $55 today.
Google launches two algorithm updates: (1) Jagger Update and (2) Big Daddy Update to crack down on unnatural link building, paid links, and spam.
Google Analytics & Google Webmaster Tools launched, two SEO tools that are foundational to technical SEO as we know it today.
Anthony grows in the field of SEO. By 2007, he’s compiled over 15,000 hours of technical SEO service on 100s of B2B & eCommerce web sites.
The Obama Campaign’s New Media team masterfully executes Web 2.0 & SEO strategies across the Internet to help win the U.S. presidency.
Google launches two algorithm updates: (1) Vince Update and (2) Caffeine Update. Also in 2009, Microsoft Live Search changed to Bing.
Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are becoming popular. A new set of SEO skills become required to include social.
Google launched a year-long algorithm update: the Panda Update (1.0 – 3.1). Also in 2011,
Schema markup & structured data was released.
Anthony achieved top search engine rankings for keyword clusters of “Credit Card Debt” generating hundreds of thousands in SEO traffic.
Google launches algorithm updates to reward better content: the (1) Panda, (2) Payday Loan, (3) Hummingbird, and (4) Penguin updates.
Anthony achieved top search engine rankings for keyword clusters of “How to Stop Snoring” generating hundreds of thousands in SEO traffic.
Mobile searches on Google overtook desktop searches for the first time. Mobile-friendly websites are rewarded with better search rankings.
Google releases Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to help news media and publishers quickly adopt to mobile. Machine learning & AI emerge.
Google announced page speed will be a ranking factor for mobile search. Google CEO declares they are a machine learning-first company.
In 2018, WordPress had 32% market share of the CMS industry. Today, 63.1% of websites with a CMS use WordPress (43% of all websites).
Google and Bing both launched significant algorithm updates called, BERT, to better understand the intent behind users’ search queries.
Anthony launched a local search engine & eCommerce marketplace in Tennessee. The platform was impacted & dissolved by COVID.
The SEO services industry becomes saturated after COVID, with a reported 51% of SEO professionals today having less than 4 years experience.
Anthony launched BeGreat! Agency – an integrated marketing communications & advertising agency. BeGreat acquired it’s first few clients.
One of biggest years of change in SEO history. The year of AI-powered and personalized Google Search. And the end of Universal Analytics (UA).
BeGreat! pivots to become a revenue marketing agency. The agency launches it’s flagship technical SEO solution for WordPress websites.
$10,000 in pro bono consulting time with BeGreat! Agency + a FREE ticket to The Right Strategy™ 4 day workshop on Nov. 18 – 21, 2024.
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