This Is Marketing: You Cant Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Search engine optimization and the salt mines
The Google ecosystem is based on a myth. The myth is that millions and
millions of businesses, all grooming themselves for the search engine, will
be found by people who seek them.
Dating sites offer the same promise. As do the social networks.
Simply fit in all the way, follow all the rules, and when we search for
“tire store” or “restaurant” or “freelance copy editor” or “fun weekend
date,” we will find you.
The math can’t support this.
There are a thousand pages of results. What delusion we must be under
to imagine we will be the first match.
The path isn’t to be found when someone types in a generic term.

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The path is to have someone care enough about you and what you create
that they’ll type in your name. That they’ll be looking for you, not a generic
alternative.
Yes, you can find my blog by searching for “blog” in Google.
But I’d rather have you search for “Seth” instead.
SEO is the practice of ranking high in the search results for a generic
term. A locksmith or a hotel or a doctor who wins their generic search will
earn a huge profit. But everyone else is left to spend money on consultants
and trickery to somehow rank higher. The math can’t support this pyramid
scheme.
On the other hand, a smart marketer can build a product or service that’s
worth searching for. Not the generic term, but to find you, the thing you
built, the specific. When you do that, Google’s on your side. They actually
want you to be found when someone searches for you.
Step one is to make a product or service that people care enough to
search for specifically. You cannot win in a generic search, but you’ll
always win if the search is specific enough.
And then step two is easy to understand: to be the one they want to find
when they go looking.

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