SEO: How to Begin and Win
SEO – search engine optimization – is one of those dread topics that won’t go away. It’s like deep snow on a peak, perched above your sunny log cabin. You want to spend the winter in idyllic ease, yet there it sits, just aching to slide, and if you don’t face the issue, it may sweep you away. On the one hand, it’s only SEO; on the other, we need to inject drama where we can. That accomplished, let’s consider the practical.
We admit that SEO is a confounding mix of artistry and science, ever changing and avoiding firm definition. Yet the principles are clear, and you should emblazon them on your memory. Repeat after me: to attract the eye of searchers, your content must be three things: comprehensive, cogent and actionable.
The observant are snickering, because these form the motto of Quartet Communications. Cease your jaded laughter. We chose those words with care, with the assistance of experts, to express the authentic ingredients of appealing and effective writing. It isn’t so because it’s our slogan; we chose it, this scrivener’s truth, because it is so.
We shall demonstrate, using the history of photography – in particular street photography, my hobby – to talk about SEO. Consider this paragraph:
“From the early days of photography, practitioners longed to capture the vitality of everyday life. At first, technology let them down, but over time, advances in film, cameras and lenses allowed them to roam the streets of our world and capture life as it happens, in all of its mundane glory.”
Not too bad, but nothing here really grabs a Google result, to say nothing of a critical reader. Let’s try this:
“From the earliest days of photography, artists demanded cameras to capture the vitality of everyday life. Inventors responded: Edison’s laboratory with 35mm film in 1891; the mathematicians with formulas for fast, sharp lenses, before century’s end; at long last, Oskar Barnack dealt an ace with his Leica at the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1926. The photographic world was ablaze. Bright competitors appeared: Contax and Rolleiflex, soon Nikon and Canon, and technology opened up art. Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa; Winograd and Meyerowitz; Vivian Meyer and Weegee; and countless more, revealed the poetry and beauty on the mundane streets where we live, enlivening eyes and inspiring artists to this day.”
The second paragraph is better SEO’d. First, it’s comprehensive: a detailed timeline, with the words invention, technology and artistry all included; second, it’s cogent: the writing has verve, tells a livelier story; finally, it’s actionable: if you want to dig deeper, it names the key names. You’ve somewhere to start, clear and specific.
Whatever you write, bring it to life – and the readers will soon start to find you.