[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"BlogPosting","timeRequired":"P0Y0M0DT0H2M59S","articleBody":"20 Years of Top Of The List: Looking Back (and Celebrating!) September 14, 2026 by Beverly Mapes Time to read:  4 minutes Top of the List team members Nicole Vesota, Beverly Mapes, Mandie Alietta, and Rachel Eager Top of the List core team: Nicole Vesota, Beverly Mapes, Mandie Allietta, Rachel Eager Two decades in digital marketing is practically a lifetime. When Top Of The List first started 20 years ago in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the web was a bit like the Wild West. SEO meant cramming keywords into title, meta tags, and on-page content, submitting websites to every directory imaginable, and gathering backlinks wherever we could. Tracking keyword search engine rankings on early tools was also a lot more challenging then. We even built our own custom rank tracking software called SearchRank back in the day!  Popular browsers in 2006 included Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer,  Opera, and Netscape Navigator. Google Chrome did not even exist yet! Popular browsers in 2006 included Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Netscape Navigator. Google Chrome did not even exist yet! Fast forward to today, and the search landscape has completely transformed. Here\u2019s a quick walk down memory lane and a look at how we\u2019re celebrating this major milestone.  How the Web (and We) Have Grown Over the last 20 years, we\u2019ve watched browsers and devices evolve, seen search engines come and go, and witnessed algorithms get a whole lot smarter. We\u2019ve adapted right alongside those changes\u2014expanding from core search engine optimization into full-spectrum digital strategy. Today, our team handles everything from Google Ads and social campaigns to web development, schema, and AI.  collage of search engine logos past and present - Lycos, AOL, Yahoo!, Ask, Google, Altavista, DuckDuckGo, Bing, Dogpile Through all of the algorithm updates\u2014from PageRank to Mobilegeddon to today\u2019s E-E-A-T guidelines\u2014learning has always been hands-on for the Top of the List team. We\u2019ve hit search conferences across the country, from SMX to Pubcon. We\u2019ve learned directly from industry pioneers like Matt Cutts, Gary Illyes, and Danny Sullivan (and snapping a few photos with them along the way!)  collage with photos taken at search conferences: Bev & Matt Cutts \/ Bev & Gary Illyes \/ Nicole & Bev in front of Yahoo booth \/ Danny Sullivan & Matt Cutts Collage with photos taken at search conferences: Bev & Matt Cutts \/ Nicole & Bev in front of Yahoo booth \/ Bev & Gary Illyes \/ Bev at SMX \/ Bev and Nicole at Pubcon Austin Deep Roots in the Community From day one, connecting locally has been just as important as keeping up with Google. In the early years, you could find us speaking at events and presenting to leadership groups like the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce. Owner Bev Mapes also served on boards for the Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE \u2013 now part of GROW)  and XP Grand Rapids, an extreme programming software group.  We also loved connecting at Ladies Leads (still in existence today) and Local First events, and making two guest appearances on Shelley Irwin\u2019s Business Happens in Heels, produced by WGVU public radio. If you were around in our early days, you might remember our original green-and-black magnifying glass logo shown below. Or may have even played our custom beanbag toss game at the Local First Street Fair, where you had to land your throw in the correct search engine hole to answer a trivia question!  Top Of The List logos from 2006 and 2026 How We\u2019re Celebrating 20 Years We couldn\u2019t have reached this milestone without our amazing employees, clients, partners, and community supporters. To say thank you, we\u2019re celebrating with:  Custom 20th Anniversary Logo: You\u2019re only 20 once! We designed a custom anniversary logo to mark two decades in business. Giving Back: We\u2019re donating 20 hours of web development and design work to build a fresh website for a local non-profit, Selah Empowers.  20th Anniversary Coloring Book and Contest! We\u2019ve put together a custom Top Of The List adult coloring book featuring fun, digital marketing-themed pages. Grab a copy, break out the colored pencils, and enter the contest. The prizes? Gift cards valued at, you guessed it, $20 each. (Contest details coming soon!) Custom Designed 20th Anniversary Track Jackets: We surprised key team members with custom 20th anniversary track jacekts to say a big thanks for all their hard work. The front cover and an internal page of the Top Of The List 20th anniversary coloring book I\u2019d like to extend a very sincere thank you to Top Of The List\u2019s employees (both past and present) for helping build this organization. Their passion, flexibility in a constantly shifting industry, willingness to learn new skills,  and desire to help our clients succeed are all a big part of our success. Also, a special thank you to SCORE for their business mentoring through our journey. Here\u2019s to 20 years of navigating the ever-changing web together\u2014and to many more ahead!","image":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/top-of-the-list-staff-768x513.png","description":"As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we look back on what the online marketing industry was like in 2006 - and how far we've come since then.","headline":"Celebrating 20 Years of Digital Marketing in Grand Rapids","name":"20 Years of Top Of The List: Looking Back (and Celebrating!)","wordCount":"823","about":["http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q1062856",{"@type":["AboutPage","Organization"],"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/wp-content\/themes\/totl\/graphics\/totl-logo.png","license":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/wp-content\/themes\/totl\/graphics\/totl-logo.png#WebPage","name":"Top Of The List transparent logo","height":"108","width":"225","creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/about-us\/"},"copyrightNotice":"Copyright 2015 Top Of The List","acquireLicensePage":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/contact-us\/","creditText":"Logo graphic created by Top Of The List","@id":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/wp-content\/themes\/totl\/graphics\/totl-logo.png"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/wp-content\/themes\/totl\/graphics\/totl-logo.png"},"address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","name":"TOTL Address","addressCountry":"US","addressLocality":"Grand Rapids","addressRegion":"Michigan","postalCode":"49506","streetAddress":"2513 Lake Dr SE","@id":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/#PostalAddress"},"url":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/","alternateName":"TOTL","name":"Top Of The List","headline":"About Us","description":"We are a full service digital marketing agency based in Grand Rapids, MI. A complete suite of internet marketing services includes SEO, PPC management, local SEO, consulting, and more to help you reach the top of the list!","telephone":"+1 616-940-1174","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/TopOfTheList\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/TopOfTheListLLC","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TopOfTheListSEO\/"],"contactPoint":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/#ContactPoint","legalName":"Top Of The List","foundingDate":"2006-01-01","areaServed":"https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q30#Country","numberOfEmployees":"4","@id":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/about-us\/"}],"isFamilyFriendly":"true","dateModified":"2026-09-14T04:00:00+0000","datePublished":"2026-09-14T04:00:00+0000","author":{"@type":"Person","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/bev-1-240x300.png","license":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/terms-conditions\/","name":"Bev Mapes","height":"300","width":"240","acquireLicensePage":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/contact-us\/","@id":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/bev-1-240x300.png"},"url":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/about-us\/our-team\/beverly\/","name":"Beverly Mapes","description":"Bev founded Top Of The List in 2006 and has over 25 years of experience working with technology. In her free time, she competes in dog agility competitions with her Golden Retrievers, Cosmo and Finn.","sameAs":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beverly.mapes","workLocation":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/#GrandRapids","worksFor":{"@id":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/about-us\/"},"@id":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/about-us\/our-team\/beverly\/#Person"},"inLanguage":{"@type":"Language","name":"English","sameAs":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/English_language","@id":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/#English"},"@id":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/blog\/20-years-of-top-of-the-list\/"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/blog\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"20 Years of Top Of The List: Looking Back (and Celebrating!)","item":"https:\/\/topofthelist.net\/blog\/20-years-of-top-of-the-list\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]