Once upon a time, good communication was simple. You wanted an engaging web page, so you wrote as interestingly and concisely as possible what you wanted your reader to know. 100 words maybe? 150 perhaps? 200 tops.
Once you’d got it right, you could leave it there for ever, knowing the people you directed there would get your message.
Then along came Google.
A ‘serious’ web page, the geeks decided, was obviously one which had 500 words plus on it. And to be considered a ‘serious’ website, clearly it needed to change every day. No serious website would just leave the same old words there, surely?
So, if you wanted Google to direct searches to your site, you had better follow the advice above, and fill your website daily with meaningless blather.
And so, in the blink of an eye, the internet was brimming with crap.
And clearly, it’s getting fuller by the second. Mostly with articles about content marketing, many of which provide illuminating tips about writing good content – you know, choose an interesting headline, check the spelling, the most effective form of content is something called an “article” (yup, really).
Still, it’s amazing what you can learn from them. How did we ever manage before?
Thank you for this.
The internet has been murdered. It no longer about the value of content, but control of content. Books have gone the same way via death camp Amazon.