How Digital Marketing has Changed in the Last 10 Years

10 years ago things were much more simple, just think about the fact that there were only a few smartphones to choose from and the world wide web really wasn't that wide or connected as it is now.

The information pool was nowhere near where it is now. To be able to make a decision about purchasing a product or service was not as hard because the options to do so were so limited.  

Now fast forward to 2020 and you literally have thousands of website options to help you make a decision about any one product or service.

Over the last 10 years the digital marketing industry has had to keep up with the constant state of technology changing and how people are changing with the technology. 

Let’s take a look at what has shaped digital marketing since 2010.

Social Media

10 ten years ago social media was more about keeping in touch with friends and family. It was not complicated and was an excellent way for people to stay connected. Facebook was a baby and the word influencer didn't have meaning in the social media world.

Jump ten years later and it went from a place where you connect with your friends and family to a full-blown media outlet where multi-million dollar businesses are branding themselves. Social media has become a platform where the everyday joe can turn into an influencer and be paid to endorse every single type of product or service to their followers.

We can definitely say that social media changed the world and how people see it. The influence of social media began to compromise elections around the world. It started protests for change in many countries as well as social reform, people on almost every continent were able to watch, read and connect to everything happening globally because of social media. 

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It all started with Facebook then Twitter and so on. Everything from back in the day Vine to today’s TikTok all these and other social media platforms affect how digital marketing functions and provides services to customers globally.

Social media has become an integrated part of digital marketing strategies. With more than 3 billion active monthly social media users worldwide. The opportunity for brands to reach their target audiences and more will only continue to rise and grow.

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Search Engine Optimization has Grown

Only a decade ago, SEO was a completely different operation than the one we are used to today. 10 years ago there wasn’t anything specific that Google could do to eliminate keyword stuffing. Things changed with the Panda update in 2011 when Google finally labeled Black Hat SEO tactics.

The Panda update started rewarding companies that provide value for their audiences. SEO became all about content and companies that publish the best content to win the top rankings on Google.

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Google, as the authority in the search engine industry, regularly changes to their algorithm. These changes are more beneficial for companies that execute SEO properly and filter out black hat SEO practitioners.

Local searches also became one of the main SEO focuses throughout the last 10 years. With Google’s Pigeon update in 2014, local search was changed and reshaped. Google started rewarding well-optimized websites with an advantage over its competitors in local SERPs.  This also improved location-specific searches and location-based mobile browsing.

In 2014, Google algorithms also started to prioritize HTTPS websites. Since encryption guarantees data integrity, and the user’s confidential information, HTTPS became a positive nexus with higher search rankings on Google’s SERPs.

Today a safer website means that users will trust you and Google will rank you better, this boosts your SEO.

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Mobile-First and Gen Z

In 2018, Google started deploying mobile-first indexing, which means that Google now sees the mobile version of any website as the primary version of that site. To stay competitive, businesses had to adapt to these changes.

With the mobile-friendly updates, Google started to rank optimized websites that deliver a well-balanced UX for mobile users.

Generation Z is genuinely the mobile-first generation. This puts tremendous importance on personalization and the interaction with data-dependent smart devices.

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Gen Z is the people now entering the workforce. This is a huge number of consumers and that plays a valuable role in any business digital marketing strategy because these are the people you want to target and attract. 

This is where big data stepped in as one of the biggest differentiation in today’s digital marketing world. In terms of marketing, it is used to create unique experiences for consumers, as well as user-generated content that attracts new customers.

It will be exciting to see how much digital marketing will continue to grow in the next few years. The number of companies with web and social presence has exploded in the last ten years, this means that you need to stay on top of the trends and continuously come up with fresh digital marketing strategies.  

To help you stay ahead of the curve, below we outline the 10 best digital marketing trends 2020.

• Assignment selling
• Predictive lead scoring
• Personalized video in the sales process
• Product-focused videos
• Long-form videos
• The continued importance of local SEO
• Voice search
• Google Discover
• Content was written for user intent
• Mobile SEO