Another preposterous claim from Greg Halpern just appeared on his website; “I INVENTED AUTOMATED SEO IN 1997. ALTA VISTA ENGINEERS INTEGRATED THE TECH INTO WHAT GOOGLE ABSORBED IN THE EARLY 2000S.” This incredibly bold and egotistical statement was just added to the Halpern Hoodwinkers and HV websites. The purpose appears to be a way to imply that Halpern was using his own quarter century old invention to now attack Harvey Vechery online, and that’s supposed to be ironic, or representing the Halpernian cycle of life. Who knows? But truth is important when measuring the man. I went searching for the truth online, using Google’s search engine of course.
So, Greg Halpern claims to have invented SEO, which is Search Engine Optimization, in 1997. A quick Google search states the following: “In 1997, the Webstep Marketing Agency was the first group to use the phrase “search engine optimization” in their marketing materials. And around 1998, Danny Sullivan, founder of Search Engine Watch, started popularizing the term and helping clients optimize their content to rank well in search engine results.” However, the origin of SEO goes back further.
“It is believed that SEO was born in 1991. Around this time, the world’s first website was launched, and one quickly turned into many as websites crowded the internet. So, there was a huge need for structure and accessibility, and the world’s first search engines were created. In 1993, Excite revolutionized how information was categorized, and in 1994, Alta Vista, Yahoo, and others joined the scene. However, in 1996, SEO really took off when Sergey Brin and Larry Page began building what would become the biggest, most recognized search engine to date: BackRub. Thought I was going to say Google? Well, you’re right because BackRub eventually became Google and was registered as a domain in 1997.”
“AltaVista was a Web search engine established in 1995. It became one of the most-used early search engines, but lost ground to Google and was purchased by Yahoo! in 2003, which retained the brand, but based all AltaVista searches on its own search engine. On July 8, 2013, the service was shut down by Yahoo!.”
There are numerous links to “the origin of SEO” on the Google page and I followed each one. I then went to the AltaVista link, a Palo Alto, CA company, and read their history. There was never a mention of Greg Halpern’s name appearing anywhere on any of these sites, or in any of my searches. You would think the “inventor” of the concept would at least have a passing mention, or any credit at all to the “idea man.” Once again, without proof, this is nothing more than Greg Halpern attempting to remain relevant and his pathological need to be the center of attention.
Unless Halpern has proof that he invented SEO, and I’m more than happy to read all about it if he provides it, this appears to be nothing more than another wild Halpern claim. If not, point me in the right direction and I’ll post the information.
