Why I don’t care about SEO keywords

You need words to express what you do in a way that resonates with your people.

Oh, mama. You just might want to sit down for this one. It’s time for Stella to attack one of the interweb’s most popular darlings.

Search Engine Optimization.

The way SEO works is that you pump a webpage full of keywords that people are searching for, in the hopes that it will bump you up in the search engine rankings on google.

Now, to be clear – if you do SEO for a living, that’s great. I think you provide a valuable service to your customers.

But if you are a business owner growing a personality brand online, and your main bread and butter is a service…

… I don’t think SEO is the magic bullet to your traffic woes.

I realize this may make me very unpopular in certain circles. But I’m willing to take that risk. Because I’m tired of talking to business owners who are so damn focused on building traffic to their website… while their actual “service” or offering is so underdeveloped, it’s not worth buying.

Even for $27 or $47 or some other bargain basement price.

The thing about SEO is that it’s all about writing for robots. If you’ve ever visited a site that’s stuffed with keywords, you know what I’m talking about.

The pleasure, the delight of reading is gone.

And you’re just left with what feels like – well, writing for robots.

Look, for some businesses, that’s absolutely fine. If you’re selling plumbing fixtures or lampshades, you may just need a bunch of targeted traffic and cheap prices to get customers.

But if you are an intuitive, financial planner, nutrition nerd, or business coach, your SEO won’t save you. And it certainly won’t win you clients.

Here’s why – when you write for robots, you lose the humans. You get all that traffic to your site, but once someone hits your site, you fail to connect with them. You fail to delight them. And you fail to say something real.

You sound canned, forced, and like everyone else, selling something.

While I’ve got my ranty panties on… this is how I feel about most stock photos, too. If I see one more smiling 25 year old model in a navy blue suit gripping a fistfust of cash, why, I just might scream.

Again, if you are selling wheelbarrows online, fine. Use the stock photos of the family and the dog on the green grass.

But if you want to attract more sophisticated clientele, you’ve really got to watch your photos… and your language.

If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that there is a group of really smart people out there in the marketplace, who need what you do and are willing to pay for it.

But they are so media savvy – they are such sophisticated producers and consumers of culture – that they CAN’T STAND anything that feels fake, forced, or smacks of dumb advertising.

(They actually love a smart ad – almost as much as they love no ads at all).

And if you’re saying “ah, yep, that sounds like me and my clients and customers,” then you can’t just market your business like everyone else.

You actually have to find your voice and figure out how to transmit an actual message. About what you stand for. And what you’re fighting against.

And you need words to express what you do in a way that resonates with your people.

Resonance requires some bravery, by the way.

SEO, not so much.

So, thank you internet, but you can keep your SEO keywords. I’d rather make something that my sliver of the world delights to discover and tells their friends about. I’m going to stick with the old-fashioned magic of making something cool, making a connection and resonating with human beings, and extending an invitation to join me in a new possibility.

Mighty thanks to johngreenaway flickr photostream for the robot. Has SEO helped your service business grow? Post your experience in the comments below.

Want to write a homepage that connects, inspires and resonates? Check out my 5 week Write Your Website lab: https://stellaorange.com/write-your-website Starts May 20.