Whilst I have turned my hand to SEO, when I started out more than 20 years ago – yes, I am THAT old – I was, first and foremost, a writer. As such, I have a burning hatred reserved for content that is written specifically with Google in mind.

You know that sort I mean, the stuff that is so full of key words and H2s that the phrasing stinks, the insights are all engineered to fit search terms and it makes no sense aesthetically. Infuriating.

If you are writing for the needs of a robot, rather than a human, stop writing.

No-bots

Obviously, SEO matters (I mean, I have a whole business built around it). But people matter more.

After all, if your meticulously-crafted post swindles its way onto page one of the search results, you can bet your arse it won’t stick around there for long if nobody engages with it. And they won’t if it’s clunky and downright nasty to read. And, quelle shockeur, Google realises if people are bouncing away from your content double quick, slaps you with a low engagement red flag and you’re bumped down the listings.

Which makes the whole thing an exercise in wasted time, and effort.

What’s the answer?

The search engines are desperate to be useful. They live to serve (much like a Marketing Consultant)!

What they’re looking for isn’t keyword-stuffed blandness, it’s content that delivers something of use to searchers. Something that’s actually worth reading.

You don’t need millions of hits for that to push you up the ratings, you just need to tailor your content to your niche, and address the issues that impact them.

For example, I have just pushed out a blog on maximising your ROI following a rail exhibition. My clients work within the rail sector, many of them were at Rail Live, and all of them will be wanting to get the biggest bang for their buck from the show. Will it get the biggest hits of anything I have ever written? No, of course not. But will the people clicking on it be the exact people I want driving to my site? Yup! And will it help my SEO as a Rail Marketing Consultant. You betcha.

Being helpful, engaging, and original ticks SEO boxes. Optimisation via keyword stuffing and technical trickery should deliver the extra glitter, not be the reason the piece exists.

Don’t be bleugh, be you

You may have noted that my content isn’t particularly corporate. I’m ok with that, because frankly neither am I. If you expect a grey suit and briefcase from me, you may be terribly disappointed.

That said, what my content does do is reflect me, my brand and my personality. Making sure your brand is represented in a way that you are happy with is important, and that the tone of voice used in communications resonates with your audience and not just search engines… after all they are just lines of code, are you really going to trust their taste in literature?

TL:DR

• Write for your audience, don’t write to outwit the algorithms
• Provide useful content, and your audience will thank you with engagement
• Technical SEO (all the backend trickery) has its place, but you can’t polish a… crap article
• If your content is dull, people won’t read it, no matter how SEO’d it is
• Keep your brand voice consistent