Writing for humans or algorithms?

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”, goes the famous existential question. 

An SEO professional would probably answer that with an emphatic “no”.

In a world where the omniscient algorithm determines your content’s discoverability, it’s understandable why the content must be optimized for SEO. 

A reader can only tread the path lit by the algorithm. Should the algorithm gods be unsated, they can push your content into oblivion. 

However, what happens after we finally succeed in bringing the reader to our asset? What about the human who eventually stumbles on our content? 

We tend to focus on whether the content is:

• Clear
• Organized
• Persuasive

They are all required (in growing order of importance). 

But what we must ask ourselves is whether the content is valuable to the reader.

We’re so occupied with the part that concerns attracting the audience that we tend to miss the last mile. That of providing the reader something useful and valuable. 

Which outcome is preferable?

• Gaming the algorithm so as to attract traffic
• Impressing the readers so that they turn to your website the next time they are spoilt for choices

Ultimately, it’s about “imparting useful consumer information in an executionally brilliant way.”*.

Let’s put the reader back at the center of every content marketing effort. 

*Carl Ally’s agency mission statement.