Search Engine Optimization: A Brief History and its Importance to Small Businesses

During the period when SEO has yet to achieve its popularity, competing with bigger corporations and more established corporations was impossible for small business owners. Utilizing traditional media, such as TV, radio, prints ads, was never an option, not just that it was costly but because this large-scale type of advertising was not ideal for small businesses that cater only to their localities and small followings. Even if launching a TV ad was possible and achievable, there was no solid market for small businesses then.

Today, the growth of the local market would seem incomprehensible if you look back to the days when SEO was not yet introduced to wider audiences. It is true that SEO has been around since the early 90’s, but its service was only for bigger companies who could afford it. Internet was not as popular during that time, and only big businesses had access (or had reasons to access) the Internet.

Without any doubt, SEO is the primary reason behind the current local business boom. Since SEO is a cheap way of promoting a business, even startup local companies have the chance and opportunity to compete with bigger companies.

SEO’s success falls on one important factor- the Internet popularity, which ignited people’s overreliance on the Web. It was in the year 2000 when people started to get too involved on the Web; this was the decade when everything was done online. When Internet had reached its success during that decade, the TV, radio, and newspapers lost their popularity, mainly due to the fact that all the information people needed was on the Web. This major market dilemma was followed by the traditional media’s massive decline in popularity, as TV watchers and newspaper readers had declined in number as well. Subsequently, marketers saw the popularity of the Web as a channel for cheaper advertising and promotion strategies. At that time, corporations had started to minimize their traditional media expenses and began shifting to then-booming Internet advertising. First, email marketing and PPC dominated the Web and the online advertising, and then Search Engine Optimization came in and gradually wiped them out of the market.

SEO became more popular that any Internet marketing and advertising process because it was the only method experts embraced for a longer period, not just because it was a new thing, but also because it showed the highest ROI and productivity results among others as well.

Over the years, the customary search engine-reliant process gave birth to different sub-industries like SEO Reselling (that introduced the middlemen-type of fair agreement Private Label SEO to the public), SEO Web Designing, and SEO writing.

Now, SEO isn’t only for small businesses and big corporations. It is now a regular way of promoting anything on the Web. It is now used to promote recording artists, personal blogs, reputation campaigns, and other non-marketing related matters.

Joseph writes about SEO, Blogging, and Web Development. He works for Endless Rise as a professional writer. Endless Rise provides SEO services to SEO Resellers Exclusively. You can become an SEO Reseller today. No cost or obligation to find out how you can have an SEO company without doing all the work yourself.