What are your strategies for SEO?
SEO.
Three little letters that can make perfectly sensible people start talking as though they’ve discovered the secret machinery of the universe.
Keywords. Backlinks. Algorithms. Metadata.
And apparently, if you arrange all the pieces correctly, the internet will deliver an audience straight to your doorstep.
Wouldn’t that be lovely?
I’ve never been entirely convinced that writing should begin with trying to please a machine.
Perhaps that’s because I’m a columnist rather than a marketing department.
When I sit down to write, I start with a thought. Something I’ve noticed, something that has made me laugh, or something that has left me wondering why we humans behave the way we do.
Then I try to put it into words that another person might enjoy reading.
That’s my first strategy.
Write something worth finding.
Because getting somebody to click on a headline is one thing. Giving them a reason to stay is another.
My second strategy would be to know who you’re talking to.
Not in the sense of reducing people to demographic boxes and marketing categories, darling. I mean understanding the sort of person who might appreciate what you have to say.
What makes them curious? What makes them smile? What questions might they be asking themselves?
If you understand your readers, you have a much better chance of choosing words they’ll actually recognise and search for.
Third: give your work a clear title.
A beautifully mysterious title might appeal to your artistic soul, but if nobody can tell what the article is about, you’ve made it rather difficult for them to find it.
There is a balance between inviting curiosity and making your subject clear.
And fourth, I’d say, be consistent.
Not necessarily publishing three times a day until your fingers fall off. Good heavens, we have lives to lead!
But give people a reason to return. Develop a recognisable voice. Build something that feels as though it belongs together, rather than a collection of unrelated attempts to attract attention.
Finally, remember that SEO isn’t the only way people discover you.
They might arrive through a search engine, certainly. But they might also follow a recommendation, discover a shared post, or meet you through a conversation with somebody else.
Sometimes a reader finds you because another reader thought your words were worth sharing.
And no keyword can manufacture that kind of genuine connection.
Do I think SEO matters? Of course.
I’m simply not interested in becoming so obsessed with being found that I forget why I started writing in the first place.
The algorithm might introduce us, darling. But the words have to give you a reason to stay.
Stay Fabulous,
Luce 💋
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