The Best SEO Strategy: Don’t Do SEO!

Kid hiding his face with his hands on an all black background

Unless you’re here for the first time you know that I’ve often written about SEO without SEO. What I meant was a new approach to search which basically goes beyond it or rather is organic.

You simply build the best possible site for people.

Organic site development means that in the end you can expect a better performance on Google and other search engines. This approach also helps with social media sites. Today I won’t reiterate that.

 

What people do when behind closed doors

Today I will focus on practicing SEO but not telling anybody that you actually do it.

Most webmasters practice SEO behind closed doors.

Webmasters and bloggers routinely

  1. use search friendly software like WordPress
  2. optimize their page titles
  3. add XML sitemaps
  4. use keywords they want to be found for
  5. share their content on social media
  6. use mail to promote their work
  7. create content they want to linked for

In short webmasters and bloggers adhere to SEO and SEO 2.0 best practices. That’s fine.

When asked whether they do SEO though some of them will vehemently deny it. They even get angry at you.

Some even publish the typical “SEO is bullshit” articles after searching on my SEO blog for “why is SEO bullshit”.

Others will simply not acknowledge that they practice SEO and just consider it to be spam.

 

A public example

Once a well known search marketing industry figure was featured on TechCrunch. The TechCrunch article mentioned nowhere whatsoever that he is involved in SEO or search marketing.

He got two links nonetheless, one to a company of his and one to his private cartoon blog.

On Twitter I wrote him that it doesn’t mention the fact he does SEO. He replied in the typical manner of one of the main group of SEO deniers: jokingly.

As it was a private message I won’t disclose what he said. It was evident the he knew what he was doing though.

 

Why do people hide their search engine optimization efforts?

Most such webmasters are fully aware of doing SEO and quite OK with it but unlike me they don’t want get the heat for doing it.

In fact unless you like an occasional fight and do not care for people not liking you by default

the best SEO strategy still is: don’t do SEO! At least do not admit it!

There are several ways to outsmart most people though: You can say things like: “I do”

  • search marketing
  • Internet marketing
  • online marketing
  • Internet consulting
  • Internet business consulting
  • social media consulting

etc.

You only practice SEO and admit it if you really care. Otherwise you stay low-key and don’t explain things.

 

A dark history lesson I learned from

Why do I care for teaching search engine optimization? I’m a Pole living in Germany. You know Poland was the country that was invaded by Hitler to start the WWII.

The Nazis considered Poles to be “subhuman” which was almost as bad as being Jewish. Thus they not only killed off the Polish Jews but millions of Poles too.

Today most Germans don’t even know that 6 millions Poles were killed by the Nazis.

What most Germans know are Polish jokes though, jokes that are not made by Poles but jokes that ridicule Poles among other aspects of prejudice.

Poles are really among the most disrespected foreigners in Germany. Only Turks are more detested according to statistics.

 

How to become invisible

Most Poles who moved to Germany chose the easy way: adapt as much as possible and become invisible. Merge with German population and become invisible.

I on the other hand will never hide who I am or where I come from. Thus I also won’t hide what I do or write about. I’m not ashamed of any part of my identity.

Especially as SEO is practiced by almost everybody unless they’re stuck in 99. There is no rational reason to hate it just like there is no reason to hate Poles.

Last updated: March 16th, 2017.