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Make Content for People, not Search Engines
Creating content for people, not search engines, means prioritizing user experience, answering specific questions, and providing genuine value, which in turn boosts search rankings. Focus onfirst-hand expertise, readability, and solving problems rather than keyword stuffing, ensuring content feels human and trustworthy.
I was at a conference recently and heard a story from a seasoned-SEO pro about how he ranked a website using only Lorem Ipsum text.
That’s right. He ranked a website using fake words.
The entire room chuckled in disbelief and immediately began to ask him how.
I sat quietly in the back listening and taking it all in. I do a bit of SEO and get the importance of it, but ranking a site using only keywords seemed…pointless.
The site is still out there, ranking on Google. People actually click on it. It’s almost like a hilarious inside joke that only digital marketers understand.
After talking about the “how” for a good hour, someone finally asked him, “why?”
The answer: To prove that you don’t need good content to rank on Google. You just need good SEO.
Now…feel free to tell me to get down off of my high horse, but something about creating things with the sole purpose of ranking it on Google, without considering the people who will see it, feels icky to me.
Because real marketing is not defined by keywords and rankings. It’s defined by your audience. And there are no shortcuts when it comes to building trust and adding value to the people who support your brand.
A lot of internet marketing has become about beating an algorithm. It’s feeling less about connecting with an audience and adding value to people. There is always value to give, no matter the industry. Someone resonates with you about something and would benefit from things you have to say, when you’re making an effort to solve a problem.
When you create good content, that’s thoughtful and valuable, even if it’s SEO-driven, it ranks itself. People will like it, share it, and take action on it. Your audience will recognize the effort you’ve put forth to create something specifically for them, to make their lives easier.
But I understand that you can’t ignore the algorithm. You just can’t pledge your allegiance to it and ignore your audience.
A study by SEMRush looked closely at 600,000 keyword phrases and how they rank on Google. The results revealed that 18% of sites that ranked in position 20 or higher on Google.
