Why Being Found is Not Meant to be Easy
Looking for new mediums of exchange
I’m over here on Medium now because I want to be found. SEO is a very important part of my life. Teaching, writing, helping clients, and experimenting with the many ways in which we can be found.
Usually, being found means you are lost. That is one use case, sure. You may be lost accidentally, or on purpose. That would be hiding though.
But back to why I am here after such a very long absence. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is about getting found. Usually by people who want what you have, and perhaps have never heard of you.
Recently, Google and Twitter, both large tech players, made changes to how they share and collect content. That’s interesting to me because tweets and website content are two of the things we use in SEO so that people can find us. Oh, and these are two of the many free ways — or organic ways — as we say in the business. Jargon, right? Gotta love it.
I wrote about this here: https://warrenlainenaida.net/google-and-twitter-changes-effecting-organic-seo/
I’m a real silver-lining kind of person. I hate “no-option” scenarios. I always try to find one. So, at the end of this piece, I’ve written a couple. Silver linings, I mean.
What is the big deal about Twitter and Google?
Twitter is hiding its content behind a membership (albeit free) wall, and Google will be making us work harder so that people can see when we have updated our content. Different things, perhaps, to the non-SEO eye, but in many ways things that will make our work harder to do.
So long story short, I am going to be spending more time here on Medium, sharing my thoughts, so perhaps people find me.
The many ways you can be lost and found
Let’s think about all the ways you can be lost and all the ways you can be found. I’m going to cheat and ask ChatGPT for some quick ideas. Why? because I’m on a bus. Right? It’s all about assistive tech.
Ways in which we can get lost:
- Physical Disorientation
- Lack of Direction
- Emotional or Existential Confusion
- Loss of Connection
- Information Overload
Ways in which we can be found:
- Self-Reflection and Awareness
- Seeking Guidance and Support
- Setting Clear Goals
- Exploring New Paths
- Embracing Mindfulness and Present Moment
It looks like a good start. Honestly, I was just thinking of Hide and Seek, where the object is to not be found. The lengths we go to stay hidden. The frustration we feel if no one bothers looking for us! Right?
You’re starting to babble. Let’s get to the point
Sorry, I thought it was an interesting detour.
Listen, everything happens for a reason. Google has been letting our sitemaps ping them since 2005. Twitter has let our public tweets be available off-platform since they began. 2007? Perhaps it’s a good thing they are shaking the bag.
Silver lining to the SEO-Twitter-pocalypse
From a data protection perspective, it was always a bit odd that content from one website was freely available anywhere we wanted — regardless of if we wanted someone to embed our tweets or not.
I learned, when I learned about Twitter from Bridget Willard all those years ago, that probably only 1 in 100 people even saw what I tweeted on Twitter. Okay. Now I can focus on the other 99 people on Twitter. There are other ways to be found by Google & Co. Like Medium!
Silver lining to ping-free Google and lastmod
Honestly, I was feeling a bit cavalier expecting a free SEO WordPress plugin to do all my submitting for me. I knew it did, but it felt, I don’t know, hard to believe. I’m glad I have more responsibility now to submit content that I want Google to have.
I think it will also get rid of all the automated content that fills Google up. Updates of worthless AI-created content. Updates of images with just another file name and ALT Tag. It means that we will need to think a little harder about our updates and content creation.
Being found shouldn’t be easy
If being found is too easy, and let’s be very honest it has been, the value of being found diminishes. Look at all that content out there. Free content!
Something that is difficult to find, that takes time — or perhaps money which is about the same thing — is worth more.
Great content. Amazing content. Content that stands out from all the other content saying the same thing. That’s worth finding, right?
Love, precious stones, peace of mind, a hamburger that looks the same in your hand as it does on the poster at the checkout when you order it … most of what we really value takes a long time to acquire. If we lost it we would be very sad. Think about poor Nemo.
Let’s value more that which is lost, and work harder at finding it.
