Just an OG writer livin’ in an SEO-driven world

One hundred years ago, writing meant physically putting words on paper – usually in a gorgeous script with carefully chosen vocabulary and impeccable grammar. Back when there was such a thing as journalistic integrity, articles were written with the utmost care and newspapers painstakingly printed because any mistake was permanent. Hell, even 15 years ago, kids spent agonizing hours practicing cursive (myself included). Not because there was some financial benefit to it, but because it was considered a proper life skill.

But what does writing mean today?

Like many things, the internet has turned the word “writer” into a contorted beast: an unemotional, capitalist monstrosity that will do or say anything to get “conversions,” Black Mirror style.

Being a writer is harder today than it’s ever been. (Well, except for when women had to publish under male pen names or ‘Anon.’) Freelancing today is a constant balancing act – feeling the pressure to be online 24/7 to market yourself, yet feeling the overload of blue light killing your creative brain cells. I’m bombarded with advice from self-proclaimed writing career “coaches” about how to make seven figures while working four hours a day (I wish, right?!)

We run around like chickens with our heads cut off…

SEO! Conversions! Pain points! Optimize! Key words!

Ahhh, the damned “SEO” – everybody’s favorite new buzzword. It means ‘Search Engine Optimization’; in other words, it’s a strategy to improve your chances of landing on Google’s first page of results when an internet user searches for anything relevant to your business.

These days, people would sell their firstborn to boost their SEO.

I can’t lie, that was me for like two weeks. The tide online is so strong that I got totally swept away. I had sleepless nights wondering how I will ever succeed if I don’t write without first thinking about the kind of words Google will like.

But how do people actually improve their website’s SEO? It’s a bit like working backward. Before writing something a blog post, for example, you think about how your target audience (the person you want to read your post) might find it on Google. What words might they plug into the search bar, and what words should you use to make sure your post pops up on the first page of results?

I think we can all acknowledge that the words we put into Google are most certainly NOT writing. The degenerate way I search the web is embarrassing, and I know I’m not the only one. (i.e., it’s all nouns and no one cares about spelling, etc.)

When it comes to SEO, search engine ranks are prioritized over quality writing. Writing for SEO forces a heightened focused on using keywords and reducing your point to headlines, even at the cost of high-quality, useful and engaging writing.

Imagine a piece of writing being squeezed into a keyword salami machine that churns everything up and spits out a word cloud. Ew.

Prioritizing SEO over good writing can create homogeneity in the content available online. If we’re all chiefly concerned with search engine visibility, we’ll all end up using the same words to write about the same topics. Goodbye, creativity.

Think about it like this: our ancestors wrote for people, and now we write for a machine. Machines are fickle and algorithms are constantly changing. We’re all running to keep up with the breakneck pace of social media’s algorithms, so writing for SEO is no different. What the Google machine wants to prioritize today could change tomorrow. Rather than writing from the heart, writers will be consumed with staying abreast of how to please the machine.

So, is this our goal? We’re willing to stoop to writing the way we search Google?

If so, was it ever really about writing in the first place?

Look, in our capitalist world, it all comes down to money. Hence the need for marketing, SEO, etc, etc.

I get it, I want to make money as much as the next writer. But suddenly it’s as if everything has to be marketed to the highest bidder, no matter what.

I guess it should make sense. In the day of the influencer (some even say we’re ‘post-influencer’ now) we are literally selling ourselves. We are selling our personalities, our values, our character. Whatever the internet wants, we give it.

But I’m not a business person. I’m not in this for a “get rich quick” scheme or to be an Instagram influencer. Writing is my identity.

How can we writers respect and maintain the ancient art of the written word while making a living for ourselves in this world?

I don’t have the answer. I just think that if I’m feeling this, others must be feeling it too.

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