Writing for search engines and human users is both easier and harder than you might think.
In an earlier post, we talked about Google’s “helpful content update.” The gist of the update is that Google is prioritizing content that is “written by people, for people.” Why does the search engine giant feel compelled to make that clarification? Because a lot of businesses try to game the SEO system with content written by people (or AI) for search engine bots.
What’s the difference between writing for a search bot and writing for a person?
Search bots love keywords.
Most business owners are aware of SEO keyword strategy. You leave out a trail of keywords for bots to find when they’re searching for content that matches a user’s search terms. Bots love keywords, but modern bots are more sophisticated than their ancestors. They know that keywords need to be in a particular kind of context to be useful to their human users.
Humans love meaning.
When you write content for humans, your words have to do more than flag their attention. They have to come together to say something interesting, engaging, informative, or inspiring. They have to surprise and delight or alarm and appease. They have to explain, entertain, and elevate. In short, they have to mean something or else you’ve wasted your site visitor’s time.
Every time a bot brings a prospect to a pointless page, your business expertise is undermined.
Have you ever followed a search engine result to an article that provided no helpful information at all? Think back to a web search that ended on a page that seemed like a keyword dump, a word salad of long-tail keyword phrases. We’ve all been there. It’s keyword strategy gone wrong. The website owner is trying to lure in bots, forgetting that bots don’t pay the bills – people do.
Writing for search engines and human users is both easier and harder than you might think.
Writing for bots is the easy part so long as you’ve researched effective keywords for your content marketing strategy. Simply use the keywords and long-tail phrases that help bots index your site content accurately. If the keywords you’ve chosen are relevant to your business, it shouldn’t be a problem to think of ways to integrate them into your content. It’ll happen naturally.
Writing for humans can be a little more challenging because humans are much more demanding than bots. They’ve got needs that must be met. They’ve got fears and desires. They want so much – to be smarter, faster, leaner, more confident. Trying to write content that meets at least a few needs, content that speaks to a single desire or calms a single anxiety, requires you to really get to know your prospects. Not just as search engine users but as humans in search of meaning and a whole lot more.
Never fear. You don’t have to write for bots or humans unless you really want to.
Partner with Emery Designs, instead, and access our Content Machine. We’ll keep your web content fresh and deliver up thoughtful monthly blog posts written for humans and bots – but by someone other than you. Ready to make your marketing money count? Get in touch with Emery Designs today.
