A decade ago, the Search Engine Optimization industry was at its peak. Many online marketing companies emerged providing 3rd-party SEO services to increase the website's visibility and search engine ranking with natural and unpaid links. It was easy for everybody to do a press release and gain thousands of links in one shot. Link sharing and link purchase to gain maximum links were the critical processes of SEO at that time.
Doing SEO was a significant thought after just building a preliminary website. Content writers were busy as they had to develop content in maximum quantity. The word ‘SEO' was in everybody's mouth, and online marketing companies were gaining success like they knew how Google algorithms were working and focused. Every web admin was looking to follow Matt Cutts, head of Google's Webspam team at that time. The statements on forums, YouTube, Blogs were considered de-facto for any website's success. Almost every SEO professional was following him, as they claim that Mr. Matt Cutts has said this & that in this scenario.
With the changes in the Google algorithm, new factors got added to the SEO, as website speed, mobile-friendly, and website load. The website is now opening in the blink of an eye. It leads to the emergence of Content Delivery Networks, faster web hosts, image optimization services, and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to reduce the web pages size. The ISP's (Internet Service Provider) also start serving better download speed. Various tools emerged to measure the website speed, like Google Webmaster Tools.
A decade ago was the time when web admin used to say, “Content is the King,” but as Google further changed its policy, this phrase changed as “Quality Content is the King.” The websites serving quality content that value the visitors now appear at the top of Google searches. Creative content is leading now, and web admins are looking for short pages, sweat, fast loading, and providing valuable content.