Do not forget!
[This is part of the The Blogger’s Essential Guide to Search Engine Optimization Series.]
It’s friday and so I don’t want to drop anything too heavy on you this morning in regards to SEO – heck, we all deserve a good break now and again to just relax, enjoy our blogs, and not worry about optimizing this, enhancing that, and generally hacking away at our blogs.
Trust me – you’ll be fine and your blog will be fine as well!
But, I did want to make sure that I mention something very important when it comes to your search engine optimization efforts as it relates to your blog. In fact, this is one of the most important elements of SEO, both natively and technically, that you must always remember:
Write your blog posts for people, not for search engines.
You see, at the end of the day it’s the people that’s going to read your content and who you are going to engage with. In fact, they won’t engage with you or your content if it’s written in a way for robots - sheesh, let’s just start right there, shall we?
Fact: Your blog readers are not robots.
The challenge is that all of this knowledge of SEO as we walk through this series is going to give you great insight into how a search engine operates, how it indexes your content, and presents the very best for those that are searching for it. The problem is when people forget that search engines created their algorithms and queries based on how people browse and search and then translate that into operating code to spit back information.
You run the risk of doing serious damage to your content, blog, and ultimately your SEO rankings if you simply think too much about the robots and algorithms and forget about the actual people that need your content. I see this happen way too often and I think it’s tragic, and it doesn’t surprise me when their traffic numbers start plummeting and subscribers start leaving for other more meaningful (and understandable) blogs.
Don't let your blog traffic get owned by bad form and writing!
If you blog for search engines then that’s all that you’ll get and that’s a shame – that’s not why you started your blog and that’s not why you blog. You blog for people who need your content and you blog for the impact that it can make for you, your business, and the world.
I shall repeat this often and it’s just because we all tend to forget! Please pass this most-valuable lesson and reminder to someone that you know for all of our sakes!
[This is part of the The Blogger’s Essential Guide to Search Engine Optimization Series. Image via Flickr Creative Commons, slushey, reyes.]
I love that second image man!
Great tips.
pretty much made me ROFL.
Ryukin!
hadoken!
I thought the same too!
my daughter’s favorite video game.
Blogging for purpose is the key! Great post, man. Absolutely true. Often bloggers get side tracked and forget the goal and purpose of a blog.
Have a great weekend! You deserve it too
yup yup, agreed! Roger out Junhax and John!
thank jun! also, do you have a gravatar? http://tentblogger.com/gravatar/
Thanks for this. I think that it is all to true. I have run across sites in the past that, for me at least, where downright boring. The people who were managing them seemed to have forgotten there was a person on the other end of the internet. It bugs me, and I generally don’t spend much time on the site. Definitely something we have to remember.
this is typical – if you see someone writing for search only it’s just like… “WHAT ARE YOU DOING..?!” and then you leave.
This reminds me of a Merlin Mann-ism I heard once. This is not the exact wording, but it was something to the effect of:
“SEO: Write stuff people will want to link to.”
Heh. That’s a good quote – and a good reminder of how this human-based approach to SEO is quite powerful.
#winning!
this is a very true quote as well…!
Amen!
and amen!
Thanks for the reminder to keep a balance!
i’d say opt for more of people than robots… and so not necessarily a balance but priority!
It’s the Planes, Trains and Automobiles approach that’s often needed. “Have a point, it makes it so much more interesting for the listener (reader).” Simple. Funny. True. Thanks, John (as always).
sure thing randy!
have a point… gosh, this is truth.
As a new blogger, I can get overwhelmed by all the tips and advice available to me. When I’m tempted to give up because there are too many elements to consider, this is what I come back to. I love to write. I love my readers. I am passionate about my content. Thank you for affirming that I’ve got the most important part of blogging down! =)
But don’t worry. I also love to learn! I won’t stop listening to your valuable advice! I will simply be patient with myself as I take it all in.
thanks for joining us here carrie! i do appreciate your support!
Yup every blogger needs to remember this always and it is a good reminder. Thanks John.
Jane.
thanks jane!
also, sidenote… has anyone ever thought to mention how your gravatar has a shadow? it’s hard to see your face.
Awesome post – great to see someone write about this. I see so much lately posts focussing on SEO, etc. without mention of the end audience – the PEOPLE whom you (should have) started blogging for in the first place.
seo is a hot-ticket item these days… i hope to clear a lot of clutter from it here.
The art of combining SEO with good writing is just that – an art. I look forward to learning more about your approach to SEO.
thanks loren! hopefully releasing a few more posts this weekend.
Amen!
and……… amen!
True dat! Be real, fo real yo! Word!
… you just went gangsta on me.
Funtastic photo!
It’s certainly refreshing to hear this advice instead of the usual keyword placement stuff.
For the past two years on my travel blog I’ve been writing from passion without any regard to SEO structure. Now I’m getting ready to start monetizing my site and figuring out how to get some real traffic. I’d like to strike the right balance so I don’t have to feel like an SEO parrot as I write my posts.
I’d be interested to hear more about how you write your posts. Do you think about keywords during the first draft? Or do you say what you want to say regardless of whether it can be groomed to hit all the right SEO points?
no, i do not.
in fact, i’m going to share my workflow for writing in this series…
thanks for the great reminder!
That will be a post to look forward to. Thanks, John.
John, I’ve fallen behind with my blog reading. Did you ever write the post about how you write your posts? (in regards to writing for your audience vs. the search engines) If yes, please let me know the title of that post as I’m still keen to read it.
Thanks! ~ Milli
milli,
i’m not sure if i addressed it that directly… but perhaps i have in my content series…?
http://tentblogger.com/blog-content/ …?
Thanks for the link, John. I’ll read the series.
sure thing!
I think this is the most important advice for bloggers out there. But I also think bloggers who are not that educated in SEO blogs for their readers since they don’t have any idea or doesn’t care about SE rankings. Like myself I am new to blogging and I have little idea about SEO. So lucky for me I blog for my reader’s sake but then again, I should also consider my blog’s optimization for my own advantages.
Thanks John for the advice!
sure thing googler!