Maybe we’re a little different. We recognize the value of important words. And yes, we understand how search engines work.
We also know this: Making a priority of cramming certain words into copy, just so search engines will pick up on them, tends to lead to terrible, cringeworthy, unreadable content. It can happen this way with video as well. You can tell audiences about your clients’ value proposition in a lively, engaging manner. Or you can recite market-tested words and phrases and figure you checked that box.
We think there’s value to having search engines find your content. We have no problem keeping in mind the words people tend to search that pertain to our clients. But we have also seen people try to change excellent copy into a mishmash of keywords that leave the intended message entirely undelivered – because no one could possibly get through such mind-numbing prose. If SEO optimization is your top priority, you can always make better use of meta tags and similar tools.
And look, chances are a well-written piece about a topic is going to contain the words people are looking for anyway. But we’ve reached the point where, if people are going to reject well-constructed copy in favor of a menagerie of SEO words, we’d rather find different clients. We do not fundamentally believe clients get value from bad writing that happens to have certain words sprinkled throughout. Even if people find the page on which such copy is located, they’re going to think, “What kind of company publishes garbage like this?”
We can’t be the only content marketing company that feels this way. But just in case we are, you know where to find us.