In 2012, search engine optimization (SEO) reached a major turning point. Google, the world’s largest search engine, rolled out its Penguin algorithm update, which heavily penalized websites and webmasters for trying to manipulate rankings with spammy link building tactics. This update was part of an overall trend in SEO towards rewarding quality content and penalizing tactics that attempted to game the system. As a result of this shift, SEO in 2012 focused heavily on creating content that was optimized for search engine users, rather than trying to manipulate search engine algorithms. This meant that websites had to pay attention to…