I’ve been in the SEO industry since 1998. At that time, it was called Web positioning.

Why was it called “Web positioning”? Because of WebPosition Analyzer software, which was the earliest version of Web Position Gold, first created by Brent Winters of FirstPlace Software. Brent called it “Web positioning,” and so did the rest of the very small “search engine” world.

The name morphed into search engine positioning, then different variations as the industry tried to settle in to actually becoming an “industry.”

I was the very first trainer in the Web positioning industry. I created the first training courses, either online or offline. I certified the first students. My courses were taught in conjunction with First Place Software, but I didn’t teach my students how to use the software. I taught them Web positioning.  

We’re taking a trip down memory lane here.

I created a six-week beginning course in 1998, then went on to create a six-week advanced course.

I wrote the first three print books on the topic of search engine marketing. My first book was actually published without my knowledge by my “boss” at the time.

The name “search engine positioning” morphed into search engine optimization or SEO for short, or search engine marketing when referring to the marketing efforts done across an entire Web site.  

For the average bear, none of those names actually means anything. None of them gets to the nitty gritty of what an SEO should do for a Web site.

Needless to say, most SEOs optimize Web pages and provide some sort of other services, whether those services are good, bad, or very ugly. They may perform research based on real Web sites, or they may base their research on test sites or forum gossip. I don’t know which is worse.

As the very first person to ever teach anyone in the industry, and as the one person who has trained more people than anyone else, I can honestly say that I’ve seen more scam artists masquerading as SEOs than you can imagine. Some of the so-called leading SEO companies are spam geniuses. My students come in with horrendous problems, and when they tell me who their SEOs are, I shudder.

What is search engine optimization? It’s a profession made up of professionals. The “experts” who slam others in forums need to go home. The “experts” who talk about others in public to make themselves look good should go home.

If we can’t look like professionals and act like professionals, what are we doing in a professional industry?

What is search engine optimization?

Tracy Fredrychowski, Owner of the Search Engine Academy of South Carolina, created a YouTube post answering that very question in a just a few seconds in language that anyone can understand.

Good for you, Tracy. Most techies couldn’t do what you did.

Hats off to Tracy, a phenomenally creative person and a superb SEO who is a search engine marketing trainer.

Robin