Here's "one tiny trick" that will make you an infinity better marketer, creator, and person:
Optimize your content for humans, not search engines.
Good SEO vs. Bad SEO
I'm not against SEO. I think that it is misunderstood, however.
I've noticed that when many people think "SEO", they think "ways to make my web pages rank higher in search results" and not "making my content the best it possibly can be".
... when in fact, it should be all about the latter.
It all comes down to this: good SEO is something that makes your content easier better or your end user, and consequently helps you rank better in search engines.
This is exactly what SEO is meant to be. It should be the only kind of SEO that exists...
But in a dark, damp, dirty, ugly corner of the world wide web... there exists a evil side of SEO: "bad SEO"... bad SEO is something that is bad for your end user, but helps your page rank better in search engines.
Examples of Good SEO
These things are great for your end-users, and will help you rank better in search engines:
- Properly formatting your content (headings, paragraphs, bolding/highlighting important portions of content).
- Organizing your content sensically (page and content hierarchies that make sense).
- Providing helpful metadata (e.g. via JSON-LD in a webpage's head element)
Examples of Bad SEO
These things are bad for your end users, but might help you rank better in search engines:
- Putting up hundreds of bogus websites with crap content that link to each other.
- Jamming keywords into your content even though they don't actually make sense there.
- Using tons of AI-generated content that seems to be sensical for a second, but if you actually try reading it, it may as well be lorem ipsum.
News Flash: Search Engines are Optimizing for Humans, not SEO Tricks
If you'd pay attention to what the source itself, Google, says in practically every single guide or article about SEO, you'd know that they are making their crawlers and algorithms find and favor content that is good for the end user... not content that is filled with tricks that make it look like it's good for end users...
If you've found some trick that helps you rank better in search engines, not because it actually makes your content better, but because an error or inefficiency in search engine algorithms is propping it up... good for you!
You've tricked the system! Whoody doo. But is your content actually any good?
How much time or money did you spend finding that trick? What if you had just spend that on making better content? Or finding other creators to collaborate with? Or improving your product? Or finding more customers?
Make SEO Your Last Priority.
I'm not saying SEO is not important and that you should completely ignore it.
I am saying that unless you have dedicated people that can do SEO for you (and do so wisely), you should put it at the bottom of your priority list.
If you're a one-man/woman show... you definitely should be just focusing on making great content, not SEO.
Because ultimately... "making great content" is equivalent to "search engine optimization"!!
Instead of trying to finds ways to take advantage of inefficiencies in search engine algorithms that won't last... optimize your content for what
But SEO Has A High ROI...
I get it. A lot of times, it just comes down to money.
We all have bills to pay and mouths to feed...
And unfortunately, bad SEO oftentimes has a better ROI than many other forms of marketing...
But if you want to be around for a long time, you can't rely on tricks. You actually have to make good things and do good things.
Google (and other search engines) are getting better every day. Less and less SEO "hacks" and "tricks" are working every day.
Conclusion
My friends... please: first and foremost, just focus on your end user. They're the ones that are actually going to use your website and/or consume your content.
Thank you so much for reading this post. Have a wonderful day ❤️
