Keys Are for Cars: SEO & SEM Headlines Are for Lemmings
Posted by matt on February 23, 2007 at 12:05 PM
Okay, it’s been a while since we’ve had a good, cleansing rant on Straight Up Search, so I thought I’d put on the gloves and take a couple swings at the sickening plethora of vapid SEO/M columnists who regularly contrive to mask lazy journalism (or blatant content theft) with flashy & irrelevant headline copy. The chief offenders typically drag out the old, hackneyed bit about “The key to online marketing success isâ€â€Ž
Puh-leeeze! Will somebody make this stop?
Do you really expect anyone to believe that something as complex and involved as an online marketing strategy or plan can simply be boiled down to one little pearl of your supposed wisdom, or the wisdom of the author whose content you’re scraping, and likely taking out of context?
As in the publishing world, it does ultimately boil down to readership, but I feel compelled to issue this warning to the consumers of the SEO/M zeitgeist:
Reader beware! The quality of our industry’s news is slowly being eroded by writers concerned more about dishing up ads for their services than creating quality news and technical literature for professionals.
There are, of course, several great spots out there for excellent, thought provoking analysis, commentary & news for our little corner of the marketing universe. Hat’s off to those who shun the National Inquirer stylebook in favor of original thinking, and high quality, technical journalism.
To those who perpetuate the backslide of quality let me offer you this: The key to the success of your insipid marketing columns is simply this – get a clue.
Posted on February 23, 2007 01:22 PM
And I'll through a little fuel on your fire ... keeping our fingers on the pulse of this industry, I'm amazed at the headline bait that qualifies for expertise. "Can you ignore xyz? followed by paragraphs of uninteresting ways to say "it depends ..." Can marketers be fooled by the search version of, "These aren't the droids you're looking for ..." Do they leave the dribble behind after the first paragraph of incoherent jargon? We work so hard to provide meaningful, results-oriented advice for readers. I worry these hacks with the headlines will taint the audience for the rest of us.