This article is not optimized. At least not for search engines. This article is written by a human for humans. That’s why maybe no one is reading this.
SEO makes every blog the same
Perhaps you have noticed, that most blogs are pretty similar. Even if they have different topics, the structure is often the same.
That’s because these structures, like listicles or how to’s, have proven to work well with search engines or more specific, Google.
This is called search engine optimization (SEO). I won’t go into depth here because I don’t have a technical blog. I have an over-thinker blog, and that’s why you are here. At least that’s what the statistics say.
No, they don’t. I don’t have these kinds of statistics. But I am digressing, something I can only do because I am not optimizing this article. Otherwise, it must be streamlined. But back to the topic.
SEO means more or less you have a keyword that people hopefully search for. You write a blog article and put this keyword in it. Preferably in the headline, subheadlines, URL, excerpt, text, image description and image caption.
If it is done well you as reader won’t necessarily notice it, that the article is optimized for Google and not for you.
Books get judged by their cover
The saying is, the search engines nowadays are so good, they know if the text is readable for humans. And it judges the text for readability. I don’t know if that’s true. Surfing through the blogosphere, I doubt it.
Nevertheless, a well-written piece that is not optimized for Google will never been read by anybody.
Texts and their packaging has always been optimized to catch people’s attention. Think about pretty book covers, catchy titles or blurb.
But it was always optimized for people, not for machines.
Machines first, humans second
On the internet nowadays, everything is optimized for machines. We serve them, like they should serve us. We learned their language, we create content they like, we make it as easy as possible for them.
It’s machines first, humans second.
What am I complaining about
And no, this is not a piece of complaining about that I am not found on the internet. I know that I need to do better, and I am working on it.
I am also not complaining about that you have to play the game to be found. There is so much content around, there needs to be a system, that filters it.
I am complaining that people are not writing for people anymore. They write for machines. And now with AI, machines write for machines.
The internet, once a place to connect people, will be more and more humanless.
And it is getting boring.
SEO makes the internet mediocre
Because we are getting mostly mediocrity. That’s what is working for most people and the machines.
No creative masterpieces, no weird new thoughts and no bad stuff.
If the machine-optimized Internet doesn’t drive people away, then it’s boredom.
The more mediocre content, the easier it should be to stand out with a unique voice. But nobody will hear this voice, if it does not fit into the scheme of the search engines.
In the real world also, most of the content is mediocre. I would even say most of the content is bad. It doesn’t matter whether it’s books, movies, series or pictures, most stuff is bad.
Masterpieces are a rare species
Only a few good pieces of work come out every year. Real masterpieces are even rarer.
On the internet, it is more extreme. Because there is nearly infinite content available. Google tries to find the ok stuff, the things that sell, and presents it to you.
It’s like the bookstore, where books need to match certain criteria to be put on the shelf.
But if you want to find the excellent stuff, you rely on critics or word-of-mouth-recommendation or a giddy salesman who sells it to you under the counter
Make the internet human again
This is what the internet needs too. Not the giddy salesman, there are more than enough on the internet. But people you can trust, that recommend you content you really like, although you wouldn’t have consumed it, without the recommendation. However, it has a small detail you love and that an algorithm would have never noticed.
Make the internet human again.
Yet, you need to find these people, so hopefully, they have optimized their site, or they play the algorithm of social media well.
I believe with AI we will see something comparable to what happened to music. It’s now available everywhere for cheap.
But people went back to vinyl and concerts for the good stuff. For musicians and bands they love.
There will be sites that will only present handmade content. Well, it is not really handmade because it is digital, but it will be thought of and created by humans.
AI is a tool that fools us
I do not damn AI. Overall, it is a tool. A tool that creatives can use to create phenomenal art and uncreative people make something too.
It’s like a drill. Talented people can build beautiful things with the help of it. I would end up in the hospital.
The problem with AI is that it is in the hand of a few. A group of already mighty and rich companies, that will now become even more powerful and rich.
This time, it is more than obvious, that they gained wealth and power by stealing from us. That’s what always happens. People get incredibly wealthy because they exploit the work of other people, their money or even their lives.
With AI, we can see how these companies steal from all of us, ignoring laws and then sell this tool back to us.
If AI were open sources, used Creative Commons and supported the open web instead of building fenced platforms it would a better tool.
But Google will make its search AI. You won’t have to leave the platform anymore. They want yo to spend all your time on their site and spend all your money there. This will destroy the internet as we know it.
It will be harder to verify information. People who make their living out of content creation will have a much harder time to survive. So they produce less content, AI has less to steal from, the quality of search results will get worse.
That’s what I predict, but what do I know. I am not a tech blogger.
What do I want to say?
We have to democratize the internet. Get rid of all the Facebooks, Googles and Amazons. Create an open, public and human internet.
Because to create good content or art even we need the human element.
What great pieces makes so exceptional is that we know a human made it. The same species we are.
And we find it fascinating that someone could think of something crazy, weird or beautiful like that and even create it. We can relate to it.
We are interested in the artist, the human being. Want to know about their life, who they are.
AI will never have that. It will make good art, but it will always lack the human factor.
Therefore, it will never be great.
The challenge
Before you go, I have a challenge for you. I want to test if we as mankind can beat Google. Send this article to people you know. People who might be interested in this kind of topic.
Let’s find out if I can reach more people word-of-mouth or via Google.
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