When Was SEO Born? A Brief History and Its Evolution into Modern Search Strategy

Search Engine Optimization — better known as SEO — is one of the most influential forces shaping the internet. Whether you're reading a travel blog, searching for a nearby restaurant, or researching a historical event, the way websites are structured and written determines what you see first. Yet SEO wasn't always the refined practice we recognize today. In fact, it began almost accidentally.

To understand how SEO became essential for brands, businesses, and creators, we must go back to the early days of the web.

1991–1997: The Web Begins, Search Engines Try to Keep Up

The first website was published in 1991 by Tim Berners-Lee. As more websites appeared, a new problem emerged:

How do people find information among millions of pages?

Early search engines like Archie, Lycos, AltaVista, Yahoo! and Excite attempted to organize the web by indexing pages and ranking results. Their ranking systems were incredibly simple — often just counting how many times a keyword appeared on a page.

This led to the first era of SEO, known as:

🔹 The Keyword Stuffing Age

Website owners realized they could manipulate rankings by repeating terms unnaturally:

And it worked.

Ranking on search engines was a game of who could spam harder. There were no penalties, no sophisticated filters, no understanding of meaning — just raw keyword frequency.

1998: Google Enters — and Everything Changes

In 1998, Google introduced a revolutionary idea:
Instead of ranking pages by the words they contained, Google would evaluate:

How many other reputable websites linked to them.

This idea became the PageRank algorithm, treating links as “votes”.

For the first time, quality started to outrank quantity.

SEO was no longer about stuffing words — it was about:

• Writing useful content

• Earning links from reputable sites

• Structuring information logically

The modern SEO era was born.

2003–2012: Google Gets Smarter

Over the years, Google launched updates that further reshaped SEO:

These updates forced websites to shift from shortcuts to real value creation.

SEO now required:

• Audience understanding

• Quality writing

• Trustworthy sources

• Brand credibility

The age of content strategy began.

2018–Present: SEO Meets Artificial Intelligence

Google’s RankBrain and BERT updates introduced machine learning, enabling Google to interpret:

• Search intent

• Context

• Nuance of language

This shift fundamentally changed SEO.

It became less about pleasing algorithms and more about understanding humans.

And now, with ChatGPT, Gemini, and other LLMs analyzing the open web, SEO increasingly involves ensuring content is:

• Clear

• Structured

• Authoritative

• Citable by AI

Interview: Insights from Stefano Galloni, Head of SEO

To understand the modern state of SEO, we asked Stefano Galloni, Head of SEO and founder of galloni.net, to share his perspective on the evolution of the industry.

Q: How do you explain SEO to someone new to it?

Stefano:

“SEO is not tricking Google. It’s helping Google understand why your content deserves to exist. Think of SEO as communication: you make your message clear, structured, verifiable, and genuinely useful. If you do that, rankings follow naturally.”

Q: What has changed the most from early SEO to today?

Stefano:

“In the beginning, SEO was mechanical — keywords here, backlinks there. Today, it’s holistic. It’s about user satisfaction. Google’s job is to serve users, so if your content does too, you’re aligned with the algorithm by definition.”

Q: What will SEO look like in the age of AI and answer engines?

Stefano:

“AI won’t replace SEO — it will shift it. The question isn’t just ‘How do I rank on Google?’ but also ‘How do I make my content citable by AI systems?’

The future is visibility inside LLMs, not just search engines.”

Where SEO Is Going Next

The future of search is moving toward:

• AI-driven summarization

• Answer engines

• Modular, structured, verifiable content

• Author identity & reputation signals

• Brand trust as a ranking factor

Websites that write with clarity, expertise, and purpose will dominate both Google and AI-powered platforms.

Conclusion

SEO is more than a marketing tactic — it's a foundational part of how knowledge moves online.
From keyword stuffing in the 1990s to AI-powered semantic search today, the story of SEO is the story of how humans and machines learn to understand each other.

Mini Author Credit

This article includes insights from Stefano Galloni, Head of SEO.
More on his work: https://galloni.net