If you ask ten SEO professionals to define Search Engine Optimization, you’ll probably get ten different answers. Some will focus on rankings, others will talk about technical SEO, backlinks, content marketing, AI Visibility or structured data. None of those answers are necessarily wrong, but on their own they are incomplete.
Recently, I came across an SEO training course I wrote in 2007. Originally, it was created for my very first SEO client, A2Z PC Repair. Later, I adapted it for internal training when I joined Direct Energy in my first full-time SEO position.
I expected it to be painfully outdated. Some of it was. The examples referenced Google PageRank, the keyword tools have disappeared, and the screenshots belong in a museum. What surprised me was that the core philosophy had not changed much at all.
Back then I wrote
The goal of SEO is to bring targeted search engine visitors to your website and ideally convert them to take some action.
The goal of the searcher is to have their problems solved, needs filled, or questions answered,
The goal of the search engine is to show the best, most relevant website to its users.
Those three ideas still describe SEO better than any technical checklist ever could.
This may sound strange coming from someone who has spent nearly two decades in SEO, but I have never believed SEO is primarily about search engines. It is about people. Every search begins with a person trying to accomplish something. They have a question, a problem, a need, or a decision to make. Google’s job is to find the page that best satisfies that need.
Today, AI assistants, AI Overviews, and other discovery tools are trying to accomplish much the same thing. The technology has evolved, but the underlying human behaviour has not. People still want useful answers, trustworthy information, and clear next steps.
That is why I spend as much time today thinking about AI Visibility as I do traditional SEO. The way people discover information is changing. Sometimes they click a Google result. Sometimes they receive an AI-generated overview. Sometimes they ask an AI assistant directly. In each case, the objective is still to create content that is helpful, accurate, well organized, easy to understand, and built around real consumer questions.
Over the years, I have refined the language I use. Today I rarely say, “Optimize for keywords.” Instead, I say, “Optimize for consumer intent.” Keywords tell us what someone typed. Consumer intent tells us why they typed it.
That difference matters. Instead of asking, “How do I rank for this keyword?” the better question is, “What is this person actually trying to accomplish?” When you answer that question well, rankings often follow.
Almost everything about SEO has changed since 2008. We have gone from PageRank to machine learning, from desktop-first to mobile-first, from ten blue links to AI Overviews, and from search engines alone to conversational AI. The tools have evolved dramatically, but the principles have not.
After more than 18 years in SEO, I am even more convinced that sustainable success does not come from chasing algorithms. Algorithms change. People still need help solving problems, making decisions, comparing options, and finding trustworthy information.
If your website consistently helps real people solve real problems, you are building something that has a much better chance of performing regardless of how search technology evolves. Whether someone discovers your business through Google Search, an AI Overview, ChatGPT, or the next technology we have not imagined yet, the objective remains the same.
Be the best answer.
That is what I believed in 2008. It is what I believe today.