WRITING FOR SEO VS WRITING FOR HUMANS

[Franklin]

As a commercial copywriter, I believe that writing web copy is more than just about search engine optimization. SEO is very important, but the craft of writing for humans is the bottom line.

As I look around the web, I see so many web sites writing for Google and stuffing keywords, or using variations of keywords to get good SEO listing; Personally I am appalled at the loss of quality, and I think it’s because of the focus on SEO rather than writing well.

Writing copy is about the art of conversation and engaging the reader, and selling with the written word.

Using authentic words to characterize and advertise a client’s product is more important than worrying about placement in search engines. What do you think? Am I way off track with this?

[Franklin]

I emphatically agree with you, Franklin.

Although, I suppose it depends on the intent of the website owner. If their idea is to simply prove they can rank high in the SERPs (so maybe they can sell their SEO services to other, unsuspecting website owners?) then I guess ranking “is” the mission.

But for any other purpose, writing solely for SEO just doesn’t make any sense.

SEO writing is not inherently wrong. It only becomes wrong (or stupid?) when people write pages ONLY for search engines, without regard for one obvious fact… Search engines don’t buy anything. And a boring, or confusing keyword stuffed article won’t build trust, interest, or credibility with your visitors.

It seems many SEO fanatics never ask themselves a simple math question…

Would you rather have a page 1 listing, with 1000 visitors a day, and a 0% conversion rate? – or – A page 2 listing, with only 100 visitors a day, and a 10% conversion rate?

(Hint: 10 sales is more than zero )

So absolutely, spread some keywords throughout your copy, and optimize it so the search engines know how to index it, but always write for your human visitors.

[Rhonda]

I just want to add my two cents to this topic

I think it’s possible to do both. Write artfully and write for the search engines.
If you know how to write “into” your keywords, combining the two becomes very doable.
Plus, a lot of times writing towards certain keywords gets me to think up unique ways of getting the message across, and it makes less exciting tasks more enjoyable for me. Readers always come first, and search engines come second, but they don’t need to be mutually exclusive.

-Rhonda

[ErnieRomero]

Writing for readers is good but search engines must find us or who will see it?