The “death” of SEO rings about as hollow as the death of Superman… SEO doesn’t die. It simply changes. It’s the SEOs who fail to change with it—they’re the ones with limited lifespans. Digital marketing is an ever-changing industry, and to avoid closing your coffin and ending up buried deep in search engines, consider looking back on some past SEOs. From the infamous Panda Update to local listings preferences, we present our latest infographic: the many "deaths" of SEOs.

1. 1992–2015
Here Lies
Terrible SEO
He probably could
have tried harder
“
“
Jimmy McStuffins
(?)–2003
“Gone, but not forgotten are the low-value,
late-90s SEO tactics.”
Blown Away by the Florida and Cassandra Updates
The “death” of SEO rings about as
hollow as the death of Superman.
Sure in 1992 we all collectively shipped our pants, but he
was back a year later.
And so it seems to go with the search engine optimization
(SEO) industry. SEO doesn’t die (and it won’t any time
soon.) It simply changes; evolves. It’s the SEOs who fail to
adapt. They’re the ones with limited life expectancies.
THE BIG PENGUIN
CRACKDOWN OF 2012
Google cans the SPAM
Penguin cracked down on webspam, focusing on
the quality of a website’s links. Penguin affected:
» Spam factors, such as the number of poor-
quality backlinks
» Keyword stuffing
» Thin sites using fluff content to rise to the top
MEET THE DEPARTED
A.P. (AFTER PANDA)
Uniqua Bolt
2003–2005
“The effect was small at first, but
then became significant over time.”
Done-in by The 2005 Personalized Search Update
Old Man Mills
2005–2011
“He lived by thin content, he died by heavy panda.”
Squashed by the 2011 Panda Update
MOBILEGEDDON
The most recent update, Google
started actively pushing down
sites that were not mobile-friendly.
The major implications of this
are yet to be known…
ENDANGERED SEOs
Some algorithm updates—like the personalized search ones—took time before making
noticeable/significant impacts (read: drops in site traffic.)
» VINCE February 2009
Update meant to help brands stand out. In Google
then-CEO Eric Schmidt’s words: “Brands are the
solution, not the problem. Brands are how you sort
out the cesspool.”
» LOCAL SEARCH UPDATES 2005–Present
Google continues to tailor itself to individuals and
their personalized, local networks.
» “NOT PROVIDED” October 2011
While this didn’t affect SERP rankings, it impacted
the way and relative ease of how SEOs “do” SEO.
» KNOWLEDGE GRAPH May 2012
This indirectly affected website rankings as Google
began to provide information (birthdays, deaths,
statistics/scientific factoids, weather, etc.) directly
on the SERP, making clicking through to a website
less necessary.
2005–(?)
Local Search
Updates
2012–(?)
Knowledge
Graph2011–(?)
Not Provided
2009–(?)
Vince
• Content farms took the
brunt of this update
• Google cracked down on
sites with fluffy, practically-
worthless content
• Massive linking from
co-owned domains
• Hidden text;
hidden links
• Doorway
pages
• Keyword
stuffing
• No longer a race to the
top of the SERP
• Individual’s past searches
and social signals began
affecting results
2015–(?)
Who’s Next?
Not you—as long as you
keep following best practices
and remember to adjust
and adapt…
SOURCES:
https://moz.com/google-algorithm-change#2002
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/many-deaths-seo-2015/123311/2/
THE MANY
OF SEOs
Is Your SEO at Risk?
Oneupweb is ready to help you keep on track with the latest
optimization changes, updates, and impending mass extinctions.
INFO@ONEUPWEB.COM
PIGEON PREFERED LOCAL
In 2014 Google continued to narrow its focus on
local search results.
Google continues to focus on hyper-local results. SEOs who
failed to pay heed to the importance of location-accuracy and
local signals, storefront or service-area clients felt the hurt.
Phantom Updates
Google makes three- to four-hundred
updates a year—barely any of them
actually get named. Phantom SEOs
tend to chase after these updates, to
little avail. Producing good, quality
content is the way.