Ways content marketing and SEO have changed since Brafton launched its content services in 2008 (in GIFs!)

 We’ve been in the content game for a long time, and we’ve seen firsthand how it has evolved.

When Brafton launched its content services in 2008, we were all about short, keyword-based news articles. They were a success at the time – but as the market grew – so did our offerings.

We spoke with the teammates who have been with Brafton since the “good old days.” Check out the ways the industry has changed, told in GIFs:

Then: Strategically placed keywords are extremely important. We add keywords wherever they fit

Now: Must NOT overuse keywords

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Then: Must be in #1 search result spot

Now: Must get in Knowledge Graph

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Then: Must set up Authorship  

Now: Google killed ANOTHER feature I invested time in?!

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Then: Automate ALL the headlines to keep the social Pages fresh

Now: Do not use automation. All social media posts must be unique, creative and fresh

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Then: Facebook is the “go to” social media marketing network

Now: Without paid advertising, brands can expect about .01% of their audience to see posts.

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Then: Guest blogging was the cool thing to do

Now: Webmaster Guidelines call out most guest blogging as bad content marketing

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Then: Corporate blogs were serious. (Using second person? Think again.) 

Now: Voice is everything. More puns, more personality, more impact.

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Then: *Marketing* videos? Testimonials at best. Some brands were employee birthday clips…

Now:  Yea, we’ve got a studio. And videos targeting our different buyer personas. NBD.

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Then: We thought GooglePlus would be huge! Google owns it…

Now:  We think GooglePlus could be huge? Google owns it …

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Then: Caffeine was the fast, new content indexing system.

Now:  Humming bird is the fast, new SMART content indexing system.

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Then: We loved creating great content.

Now:  We LOVE creating great content.

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Need more GIFs in your life? Check out these posts:

Molly Buccini is Brafton's community manager. She joined the team with a background in digital journalism and social media. She's a theatre nerd, pop culture junkie and lover of summertime.