ABOUT SEOPHIA

I'm a former SEO strategist and current freelance SEO writer. This website is my research playground. 

 

It will probably end up as a compilation of rough drafts, rambling rants, and questions that don’t yet have answers. Maybe there will be some useful information too. 

 

Originally, this domain was supposed to be SEO writing tips for freelancers. But despite freelance SEO writing being my literal job, I found that topic so unbelievably boring that I couldn’t bring myself to create a whole website about it.

 

Now I’m obsessed with the history of SEO and Google and how it impacts how we access and understand information online.

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I think my core question is: how did Google become the dominant search engine out of dozens of options throughout the 90s?

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There are some easy answers to that question — Google prioritizes user experience, it has a link-based model of ranking websites, etc — but it also begs a lot of more complex questions, like how the heck did they market search engines to the general public? At what point did “googling” become a term everyone used? SO MANY QUESTIONS. 

 

I could keep going (and have — there are pages and pages of notes and questions scattered across my devices) but that’s what this blog is for. 

 

These are some major topics I’m interested in and will likely pop up here: 

 

  • Basic information about how Google works, translated for your average internet user

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  • The history of Google and how it went from just another late 90s search engine to the behemoth it is today

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  • The history and cultural impact of Silicon Valley as a whole

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  • How search engines made the internet as we know it possible

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  • How Google incentivizes the entire SEO industry and whether or not that contradicts its entire business philosophy

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  • The general evolution and cultural migration of technology, specifically computers and the internet, but also radio, TV, even books and newspapers