Reality Check - What SEO Is For

[Dr. J]

Okay, Start from the Beginning: a bunch of nerds, practically 'underground' (ranging from army-bunkers to mothers' basements) & 'philosophizing' with the information they found-in books & -on the news etc. The Internet gave them a way to pass that information to other nerds & receive some in return.

The Information Exchange got so tangled that some nerds thought it would be good to organize the information to make it easier to connect info-seekers with the information they needed. That's the long-&-short of the history of search-engines.

Search-Engine Optimization (SEO) is basically 'openly indicating why people would need the information you distribute.' People get over-involved, thinking it's about 'how many people try to find the information you distribute'; but that's only an after-effect.

The point is: you're not looking for 'what people want,' but rather for 'a way to a) get the information you have to more of the people who-are looking for it -need it and/or b) more of the information that they-&-you need.'

How does that fit with how things are currently going?

 

[beachdesign]

So basically it's best that you focus keywords on the content of the site, more-so than a marketing approach towards new clientele. Giving your content clear & easy to understand descriptions is important to your overall success with SEO, as well as general descriptive keywords (1-3 words max). SEO is one of the most competitive fields online, and plan on focusing more towards an SEO oriented career, rather than basic web-design.

 

[jjmyles]

I have been recently becoming better informed about SEO and the use of keywords. I have used Keywords as a freelance writer and found that It has helped with boosting business for me. I am interested in learning more about optimizing the tools and techniques that will enable to produce high quality content for clients.

 

[SimplySidy]

The jinx is - that even if you have a diamond with you but no one knows about it, no one is interested. Beat your own trumpet and things should start falling in place, if not in the short term, they will in the long run. But consider this - if no one is interested to read about say the Primitive Man, and your content is only about that Primitive Man, you will not find any takers to hop on wherever you might be writing.

There always has to be a balance between what you publish - the readers' interest is preferred as despite the competition it might have, there are still chances (higher) of becoming known, and if you write about things that do not interest me, I will not show at your place, no matter how great the content might be.

 

[jjmyles]

I agree with Bashful that you must produce content that is of interest to the potential readers if you want to build. It is important to know who the target "audience" is and to provide content that will interest them. To do otherwise is simply like shooting your self in the foot so to speak.

 

[Dr. J]

jjmyles ... No. First of all, no one's name here is 'Bashful,' that's simply an indicator of how much we each participate in the forum (a note above our names ... honest mistake )

Secondly, I don't believe any of us are writing to 'reading-machines'---we're writing to regular people, who file our writing in with their junk-mail or their Bible-tracts or whatever might be today's 'reading-list' (email? digital, unanswered text-messages? I dunno).

Most writers online are--I suspect--partly members of 'the Underground' (no coup-planning conspiracy, just a bunch of people who happen to be 'underground' ... i.e. I don't expect we're writing 'aggressively'--as in 'you must read this everyday or else--but it's more like we are 'trees that produce very good fruit,' and our smart friends pick it up and share it among their smart friends and so-on) and they are partly Above-Grounders---picking up stuff they found underground & sharing it like we hope our smart friends will.

And our smart friends will share what we find if we share it in the same spirit as they would (i.e. not 'in order to get ourselves more readers,' but 'in order to make everybody better-informed')!

 

[jjmyles]

@ Dr. J Sorry about confusing The name. Thanks for the correction. I certainly hope we are not writing to reading machines. That would be disappointing. I do hope as a writer that my content is interesting enough that it doesn't just get filed away. But If it does hopefully someone reads it before hitting the delete key. I like your reference to producing fruit. I do believe that as writers we do want to produce good fruit with the information we share.

 

[Nymph]

I believe that SEO is for just that; optimizing webpages on your site for search engines, hence the term "search engine optimization". Nothing more, nothing less. I think you are trying too look to deeply into it when when the reality is that not everyone shares the same views about it as you do. Quite a few people do SEO for profit, which one of the more driving motivations to do it, while schools, governments and other non profit organizations will do SEO to have their information seen. Arguably, some schools do it to "show off" their achievements in order to make a better profit through new students and student loans. It's just easier to say that the entire business of search engines and search engine optimization is based mostly off of profit.

If you are someone who shares something to your "smart friends", there is no guarantee they will share the information in the same faith. Like SimplySidy so eloquently put it, if no one is interested in a topic or niche, then the person writing about it will not see any traffic except from any friends who visit as a courtesy. Given this, just because someone is very, very interested in something doesn't mean that someone else will feel the same way. However, only the people interested in a certain topic at any period of time will search for information on that topic, obviously, so people with varying intentions vie to get the brunt of that traffic, and then it all boils down to who has been marketed the best. That is SEO.

 

[alpac]

That is why, it is very important to use keywords in the articles if you want the right visitors to come to your site; ones who are interested in what you offer. There is always a purpose when one decides to put up a website, and the contents will show it. As it is, a website with practically no traffic is useless. It is like a person who keeps on discussing interesting topics but there are no listeners.

 

[Dr. J]

That may be how some of the Bible's prophets felt, alpac I guess the purpose of SEO is to skip the whole 'being buried in a cave in Africa for thousands of years' before people read what you have to say. :cool-44:

That inspires aNOTHER way of thinking about SEO: like it's 'optimizing your content for future archaeologists' (i.e. bringing out the signs of the 'treasure' so they don't have to dig too deep for them...)

because it seems that--after school--many people don't really 'learn' information unless they find it out for themselves ... Example: Heaven. I know things about Heaven, things different from what people think they know (that they've been duped into believing because it's "what everybody says"); but--when I tell people about it in Bible-study--they forget it as soon as they fall asleep that night (if not before because coming from me it sounds like some :geek: nerd trying to tell them to 'add the silent "e"' :x3.

 

[jjmyles]

That may be how some of the Bible's prophets felt, alpac I guess the purpose of SEO is to skip the whole 'being buried in a cave in Africa for thousands of years' before people read what you have to say. :cool-44:

That inspires aNOTHER way of thinking about SEO: like it's 'optimizing your content for future archaeologists' (i.e. bringing out the signs of the 'treasure' so they don't have to dig too deep for them...)

because it seems that--after school--many people don't really 'learn' information unless they find it out for themselves ... Example: Heaven. I know things about Heaven, things different from what people think they know (that they've been duped into believing because it's "what everybody says"); but--when I tell people about it in Bible-study--they forget it as soon as they fall asleep that night (if not before because coming from me it sounds like some :geek: nerd trying to tell them to 'add the silent "e"' :x3.

I 'm pretty sure that is exactly how some of the Bible Prophets felt. Basically nobody wanted to pay attention if the message wasn't what they wanted to hear. Can you imagine when they told folks about the coming Messiah and it took soooooo long for him to get here? I bet they died wondering themselves if they had somehow missed it.

 

[Dr. J]

I 'm pretty sure that is exactly how some of the Bible Prophets felt. Basically nobody wanted to pay attention if the message wasn't what they wanted to hear. Can you imagine when they told folks about the coming Messiah and it took soooooo long for him to get here? I bet they died wondering themselves if they had somehow missed it.

Going off on this tangent I started St. Peter talked about that---about false prophets steering people away from the church by piping-up with "Well, He promised He was coming soon, but He's not here! Is He slackin` off or was He just lyin`?"

I guess that leads to the advertising-secret that holds true throughout the Bible - though it's better to give the people what they need rather than what they "want," they're not going to 'heed your message' (listen carefully & follow-through on it) unless there's clearly "something they want" attached!

Take for example the Prosperity Gospel. The truth isn't as 'Quid pro Quo'-simple as "faith in God, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will always increase one's material wealth," but that idea is the base of the reason why so many people (including myself) support such ministries

 

[jjmyles]

Going off on this tangent I started St. Peter talked about that---about false prophets steering people away from the church by piping-up with "Well, He promised He was coming soon, but He's not here! Is He slackin` off or was He just lyin`?"

I guess that leads to the advertising-secret that holds true throughout the Bible - though it's better to give the people what they need rather than what they "want," they're not going to 'heed your message' (listen carefully & follow-through on it) unless there's clearly "something they want" attached!

Take for example the Prosperity Gospel. The truth isn't as 'Quid pro Quo'-simple as "faith in God, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will always increase one's material wealth," but that idea is the base of the reason why so many people (including myself) support such ministries

People want what they want and so many believe that if they want something it automatically becomes a need. Greed is a powerful force.

 

[Dr. J]

People want what they want and so many believe that if they want something it automatically becomes a need. Greed is a powerful force.

So SEO is really 'disguising your content as "information that will feed people's desires"'?

 

[jjmyles]

So SEO is really 'disguising your content as "information that will feed people's desires"'?

I was responding to your prior statement that used the example of the Prosperity Gospel. People like to have their ears tickled with what they want to hear.

 

[Dr. J]

I was responding to your prior statement that used the example of the Prosperity Gospel. People like to have their ears tickled with what they want to hear.

And I'm noting the similarity between the Prosperity Gospel & 'attracting audiences' in general (which is why most people are interested in SEO). You use SEO to make people believe that the ways to accomplish their goals are found at your site (just like I found the way to accomplish one of my goals at PostLoop

 

[jjmyles]

And I'm noting the similarity between the Prosperity Gospel & 'attracting audiences' in general (which is why most people are interested in SEO). You use SEO to make people believe that the ways to accomplish their goals are found at your site (just like I found the way to accomplish one of my goals at PostLoop

I totally agree with that point. That is certainly the main purpose that I use SEO in the content I post.

 

[jean]

Every product. service, story, advertisement, or a content has something to offer to some people who are spread all over the world. SEO helps them find your product or service, story or advertisement, or the content on your website. Good SEO strategy and its implementation will help them get the thing easily, because the thing ranks much higher in the SERPs.

 

[jjmyles]

Every product. service, story, advertisement, or a content has something to offer to some people who are spread all over the world. SEO helps them find your product or service, story or advertisement, or the content on your website. Good SEO strategy and its implementation will help them get the thing easily, because the thing ranks much higher in the SERPs.

I know that SEO brings a lot more viewership to the articles I post on the sites I contribute to.