Do you write just to please Google? Stop!
Sometimes we get too caught up in our keywords research or SEO techniques, forgetting that we are engaging living, breathing human beings. That results in text written in a robotic way as if it comes out of companies addressing a faceless crowd.
We should put the human voice back to our writing. We should put the focus back to helping our readers, rather than to impressing them with our knowledge and writing skills.
We should try to stop pleasing Google!
I recently read this article in a newsletter from Yoast:
https://yoast.com/stop-pleasin...
The author is nudging us to make our websites for humans, not Google. To start focusing on our visitors, who are ultimately the ones that will actually buy our products or services.
"All the developments in Google that took place in the last years focus on one thing: quality websites for your users. That goes for Panda, but also for UX, responsiveness, speed optimization, etc.
Mobile-first? Yes. And equally important; user-first as well".
Specific things Online Marketers should incorporate in 2018:
- Include the right rich snippets.
- Avoid duplicate content at all costs.
- Don't stuff your footer with a bunch of irrelevant links.
- Realize that Google doesn't use meta keywords.
- Stop buying links - they only lead to low quality traffic. Write quality content instead, trust humans to find it and have them link to your pages because you are worth it.
- Avoid keyword stuffing in your posts.
- Don't scrape feeds to create automated content for your website in order to lure Google to it - either for affiliate promotions or simply to create more content for your site, this type of content is plain stupid.
Some extra tips to write in a more engaging way:
- Finish your posts with a question - it's a great way to slow your readers' attention down and make them think about an answer. Questions give your posts that conversational tone.
- Change the tone of your writing between paragraphs - create a flowing rhythm. If you want to stimulate your readers' minds, try shorter sentences with verbs in active voice. If you want a calmer reception of your words, use longer sentences with more descriptive adjectives and passive voice.
- Use "we” and not "he/she/they" so that readers feel included in a group of people that have experienced the same trials and difficulties. This conveys compassion and creates warm, comforting feelings. Show your readers that they are not alone in whatever problem/situation you are discussing. They are more likely to take action on whatever solution you are suggesting if they feel that you've gone through the same.
Conclusion:
In the upcoming year, lets pause after finishing a blog post and lets consider who we are writing for and if our writing style has fallen into traps. Is our focus on having a virtual conversation with our readers, with the intent to help them? Or has our style become dry, robotic, impersonal and too SEO oriented?
Have a great blogging year everyone!
Thanks for reading.
Recent Comments
17
I really appreciate this article. I have been feeling so pressured lately that it has pretty much shut me down as far as motivation to finish my website. Sooo many things being touted that one "needs" to do that it certainly was feeling "Robotic, impersonal and totally SEO oriented". In other words, un-natural to me.
Although I understand there are certain things we have to do, still, if it doesn't feel natural to me, then I really don't think it will feel natural to my audience.
That's the worst thing that can happen... lose your inspiration and get a writer's block because you feel you should oppress your personal style and writing begins to feel like a chore!
Thank you so much for fuelling my engines Nicky!
It's really filled with valuable tips. I'll glue these tips to my mind!
As you say, me too believe if we focus on our visitors and write content which is helpful and serious, then we'll have a website of value and the visitors will honor us with more visits, which will help us to get a better Google ranking in the end.
Have great fun blogging you too!
:-)
Thank you for the insights, Pernilla!
Yes we should write with the reader in mind, and the only way to keep the readers coming back is keep offering great value! And this is easier when we write from the heart without being too attached to guidelines that seem stifling sometimes.
I hope all is going well with you,
have a great week!
Awesome, thanks, besides being an Astrophysicist, you are having great knowledge about writing blogs.
The Joker ツ
Thanks for sharing this Nicky. I agree. I like to be as engaging with the reader as possible by asking thought provoking questions in my text. For example:
When was the last time you....?
How often have you....?
Have you ever thought...?
Etc.
I believe it makes the reader feel that you are engaging them and making them feel as though you are having a conversation with them.
Have a great week,
Dave
Thank you Dave, good points! I will try to incorporate your question examples into my next posts :)
I have also seen that asking questions gives a post an interactive tone and the engagement grows.
Have a great week too!
Great post.
Write for the reader should be our motto for 2018.
Sadly we have to please Google some as well or there will be no readers to write for :)
Thank you for taking the time to comment, yes it's true that in order to grow our audience we need to make Google happy too! Lets try to keep it reasonable and not lose our individual voice that attracts the readers in the first place.
Have a great week :)
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All good points. We have to remember we are writing for people, not robots.
Debbie