Home

Against SEO

SEO isn't necessary if the content is good.


Content


Philosophy

My interest in exposing this website to more readers has fluctuated over time. At first it was exclusively a place for me to "organize thoughts, interests, and happenings in my life". Eventually I changed mindsets, believing that some select posts may be useful for others (although I never attempted to promote this site anywhere, so my mindset was practically the same). I considered implementing some basic SEO on my site in hopes of attracting more readers, but chose not to for a few reasons.

My mindset has finally settled since then, and unless some money comes my way and I sell out, I expect this to be my final stance: if the content I produce is good enough, readers will eventually find my site without SEO.

The vehicle for spreading blog gospel is almost always the readers themselves. If the content is good enough, it will be shared in one way or another—forums, social media, email, other blogs. If the content is good enough, it will be read in full and its lessons and thoughts discussed and heeded or discussed and opposed. If the content is good enough, readers will desire more. If the content is good enough, readers don't need to be tricked or click-baited into reading it—its reputation will do that. If the content is good enough, the author won't beg the reader to sign up for a mailing list—the reader will search one out, and even ask the author if nothing is found.

My mindset is my goal: to create content that's such high-quality that it promotes itself.

This idea is similar to Zvi's Play in Hard Mode, specifically example IV:

You start a website writing articles devoted to the things you care about. To monetize it, you sell advertising through Google. It does not pay much at first. You keep at it, attracting a small but devoted readership. Some were already your friends, others soon join them. You look at what resonates so you can get feedback, but are careful not to take actions designed to maximize page views. Over time your writing improves and you learn much together. A community of sorts arises. You don’t quit your day job, but you teach others what you have learned.

SEO is a crutch used to mask inability at the expense of awareness and improvement. While I'm sure some SEOers are aware their content is atrocious and the only reason they get readers is because of SEO, I'm also sure others aren't aware of it. They think their content is decent, that it's not just regurgitated, unoriginal garbage designed to get as many page views as possible and line their pockets with that sweet AdSense cash.

This is detrimental to both the producer and consumer. The producer is misled by their bogus traffic stats, choosing to be complacent about their ability and continue with the same quality of content as what's been getting them the traffic. The consumer is again led into a predatory site which offers little of value, but takes advantage of them and their time.


Ethan's Second Law

This leads to what I call Ethan's Second Law, which states that:

The less a website's name sounds like the topic it's devoted to, the better the information it contains and/or produces.

(Of course there are some major exceptions, but it seems to hold true for a large amount of cases.)

In searching for websites detailing prepping, the following websites were Google's first page results after searching "prepping 101":

All were riddled with ads and links to other pages on the same website, and while the information was occasionally good, the vast majority wasn't. I finally stumbled upon lcamtuf's Disaster planning for regular folks, arguably one of the best resources I found discussing all aspects of prepping without pop-up ads or incessant linking. The HTML is concise and offers no evidence of SEO methods, the writing straightforward and organized, and the information self-contained, i.e., no linking to other sites or intra-site.

This is the epitome of against-SEO-ism (whether the author intended it to be or not). The fat has been trimmed, leaving nothing but quality for the lucky reader that stumbles their way onto the practically undocumented site.


Spreading the Gospel

Those who produce high-quality work without implementing SEO deserve to be recognized for their efforts and patience. Share one of their links. Discuss with a friend. Do something that helps them get closer towards the readership numbers they deserve, but don't have. After all, it's not just for the producer, but the unaware readers that don't know what they're missing.


See Also