Search engines are not your customers

I have a website, but not a single search engine has sent me a check. How about you?

Let’s not hold our breath, because no matter how much SEO we employ, spiders and algorithms will never whip out a check or credit card and buy from us.

Fortunately, it’s still those organic creatures — customers – who keep our businesses thriving. So, first and foremost, website content has to serve their interests, not the site-crawling bots’.

Yes, yes, a website must tip its hat to the search engines to rank high enough to be visible. For example, writing keyword-rich title tags and headers go a long way in showing Google your site’s purpose and intended audience.

Just resist the urge to overstuff your pages with repetitious and awkward keyword phrases at the expense of clear, readable copy. Studies show that visitors come to your site with a task in mind, a low tolerance for confusion and an itchy finger on the mouse button.