For some time, I’ve had clients email me in desperation, worried about a new Google update that’ll somehow reduce their hard-won ranking to rubble.
Every time Google threaten to change the way they crawl websites - and now more recently every time Instagram or Facebook decide to change their algorithms - it sends content creators and marketing departments into a panicked frenzy. What about our stats?! What about our processes?!
I’m going to say something controversial now: forget your ranking for a minute. Freeing, isn’t it?
Writing with Freedom
For me, thinking about Google rankings and keyword selection feels like handcuffs are being slammed around my wrists, and that doesn’t make it easy to type. In fact, it makes it near impossible.
Thinking about your ranking is important, of course it is, but that’s what you consider at the first stage of your content planning. By the time you get to writing your content, whether it’s social media posts, photo captions or blog posts, all the technical work should be at least 80% done.
By considering what you’re using as keywords well in advance, you have the wonderfully freeing sensation of actually being able to write your content without distractions. Slip those keywords in at will. Make the words speak for themselves.
Or, even more controversially, don’t use keywords at all.
The Lost Art of Keywordless Content
I’m going to put this out there: I’m not entirely convinced keywords are necessary 100% of the time.
For a lot of content, yes, keywords are vital. Active content, like the descriptions of items for sale, needs keywords to enable customers to easily search and find the things they are looking for.
However, on the whole, if you’re writing a blog post or a page of web content, your words need to grab your readers. A thin paragraph of key phrases isn’t going to do that. What does engage your audience is reality, frivolity, sense and diverse, interesting content. People want to read something genuinely gripping, or emotive or amusing.
Google’s updates aren’t designed to make your life harder, they’re actually created with users in mind. They want to steer content away from churned-out robotic writing and into more creative, informative forms.
Essentially, Google will reward you if your content is useful.
Using Natural Speech
How often have you searched ‘shoes 5 black’ recently? Or ‘healthy snack’?
What we search for and how we search for it is changing, and with it so are the keywords we spend so long analysing. More and more, customers are using natural speech to find what they’re looking for. Think about how often you ask Alexa for some help, or tell Siri to find something out for you. You don’t chant ‘cheap holiday Lapland Christmas’ into your phone do you?
If you’re having trouble snapping out of a keyword-focused mindset — I understand, I’ve been there! — just read what you’re written out loud. Does it sound like a person said it? How could you improve the flow so it sounds more natural?
Above all, write your content for your customers, not for search engines. Gaming the system won’t improve your sales figures. Targeting your customers will.
Until next time…