Writing for the Search Engines Vs Writing for Real People

Ever wonder what happens when you have a website that’s written for search engines instead of real people? Well, last week I had the opportunity to find out first hand.

I was researching a topic of personal interest and I stumbled across a website which ranked well for this topic. I clicked on the various links within the website, hungrily searching for the answers to all my questions, when I realized that this website would not have the complete answers I was looking for. Not because they aren’t experts on the subject, but because the copy on the website is so “keyword rich” and “search engine-friendly”, that they forgot to tell me, the visitor, what I came to find out about. Ouch! I found myself becoming increasingly annoyed as I delved deeper into the site, because I found that they used these inane phrases over and over throughout each page instead of intelligent, well structured copy which ANSWERED my questions.

I have a whole chapter in my seo book dedicated to editing and writing copy for the best possible search engine placement, however, I do point out that it is important to write for people and I do remind the reader that it is still a marketing piece that needs to create a desire for the product or service. Yet, here I was, a victim of my profession’s circumstances. Weird. Especially because the pages were so “keyword, search engine perfect”, obviously – considering that I had found them at the top of the search engines. In fact, I could probably use that website as a case study for good search engine copy – but as a visitor seeking information, it kind of sucked. Even worse, I found myself wondering if the copy was more gibberish than facts. I started wondering if the content was valid or just some “SEO firm’s” interpretation and editing of the original facts, because that’s what we do in SEO!

Then I wondered what I would do as a professional if I had to manage this particular website and their SEO as well. After all, their SEO guy is getting the job done. At least the website ranks well. But I am absolutely their prime target market, yet I was left with unanswered questions and so not impressed.

So, how does a website owner (or designer) balance these points? The website should create a demand for the product or service, yet if it doesn’t rank well, how do people find it? And if it ranks well, but the copy sucks and creates no demand, then how is that any better?

First of all, I would take the core services and/or information and I would get a GOOD copywriter to write the copy so that it explained them succinctly and created a demand. I would do that without bothering with keywords at all – at first.

Then I would take that same copy and edit it to include the correct keyword phases. I would replace words as applicable, but I would retain the integrity of the copy so that it still fulfilled the primary purpose (to create a demand). Another alternative would be to have links on these pages of pseudo-information which go to pages with the full information within the website. Either way, the website still accomplishes the purpose intended (creating a demand for the product or service), and still has the potential to rank high in the search engines.

So I guess the answer is to write for people first, then make it work for the search engines without ever losing sight of the primary purpose of the website.