What Has Changed in Digital Marketing in the Last 10 Years?

Kusuma Lakshmi
4 min readJan 22, 2022

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Is that Worthy?

Things were lot simpler ten years ago; consider the fact that there were only a few smartphones to select from and the internet wasn’t nearly as large or connected as it is now.

The reservoir of information was nowhere near as large as it is now. Because the possibilities for acquiring a product or service were so restricted, making a selection was not as difficult.

Now fast forward to 2022, and you have literally thousands of website options to help you choose a product or service.

Let’s take a look at how digital marketing has evolved since 2012.

The key elements in digital marketing:

Social Media

Individuals create, distribute, and exchange material on social media networks, which are interactive platforms. “A series of Internet-based applications that build on the conceptual and technological roots of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content,” said ESCP European Business School professors Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein. Users can create and exchange user-generated content on social media websites and applications, such as blogs and social networking sites, where individuals can speak, share information, contribute, and network. In the previous ten years, social media has evolved into one of the most effective platforms for news, cooperation, networking, viral marketing, and entertainment.

Companies and businesses have also posted some of the most popular tweets. Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, for example, have Facebook accounts with millions of followers. Companies must ensure that their internet exposure links directly to their brand image and messaging as a result of social media, particularly social networks. Social media, like television, radio, and print, is part of a communications ecosystem that works together to provide a pleasant and consistent consumer experience across numerous channels. Similarly, to reach consumers on the web and on mobile devices, integrated marketing communications is rapidly incorporating social media into the promotional mix.

Search Engine Optimization has Grown

SEO was a radically different business a decade ago than it is now. There was nothing that Google could do ten years ago to prevent keyword stuffing. Things changed in 2011 with Google’s Panda update, which finally identified Black Hat SEO techniques.

Companies who deliver value to their audiences have been rewarded since the Panda upgrade. SEO has become all about content, with organisations who publish the greatest content achieving the highest Google rankings.

Google, as the industry leader in search engine optimization, updates its algorithm on a regular basis. These adjustments will benefit businesses who do SEO correctly and weed out black hat SEO practitioners.

Local searches have also become a major SEO priority during the previous ten years. Local search was moulded and modified with Google’s Pigeon update in 2014. In local SERPs, Google began rewarding well-optimized websites with a competitive advantage over their competitors. This also helped with location-specific searches and mobile browsing.

Google’s algorithms began prioritising HTTPS websites in 2014. HTTPS became a positive nexus with greater search ranks on Google’s SERPs since encryption ensures data integrity and the user’s sensitive information.

Today, a safer website implies that users will trust you, and Google will give you a higher ranking, which will improve your SEO.

Mobile-First and Gen Z

In 2018, Google began using mobile-first indexing, which implies that Google now considers a website’s mobile version to be its primary version. Businesses had to adapt to these developments in order to stay competitive.

Google began to rank optimised websites that provide a well-balanced UX for mobile users with the mobile-friendly improvements.

Generation Z is the first generation to have grown up with smartphones. Personalization and engagement with data-dependent smart gadgets become extremely important as a result.

The people who are now joining the workforce are known as Gen Z. This is a large number of consumers, which is important in any digital marketing strategy for a business because these are the people you want to target and attract.

Big data has emerged as one of the most important differentiators in today’s digital marketing landscape. It is used in marketing to provide unique consumer experiences as well as user-generated content that attracts new customers.

‍The 10 finest digital marketing trends for 2022 are outlined below to help you stay ahead of the curve.

  • 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

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