Journal: News & Comment

Why you don't need search engine optimization (SEO)

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I wrote a slightly controversial and rather popular article called "Boosting your search engine ranking: it's no trick" almost exactly a year and a half ago. My thesis was:

I'm not in the business of search engine optimization, and don't have much expertise in it. The reason is that, on the modern Internet, well-built and well-maintained websites do not require search engine optimization.

There's no trick to it: make a good website, and your search rankings will improve. Any site that is built logically, with valid, well-structured code and good content is already as easy as possible for search engines to index, and for other sites to link to.

Here's the latest evidence—the website for Lip Gloss and Laptops, the health, cosmetics, and beauty podcast that my wife and her friend are starting. If you search Google for beauty podcast, it's already on page 1 of the results, at #10. Even better, try cosmetics podcast. Top of the list!

And get this: they haven't yet recorded a single episode. They only registered the domain a little over a week ago, and the site has appeared in dribs and drabs since then. A few days ago your lovely hosts recorded an audio promo, and the first actual podcast goes out March 1. They've had some visitors, a few subscribers, and links here and there (such as the ones in this journal entry).

But all we did was build a well-constructed website, with useful information on it—even before the podcast goes live—and made sure that search engines, podcast directories, and other podcasters know about it. And there you have it.

Oh, go subscribe, will you? Thanks!

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