SEO Writing Bashing

SEO writing, it’s all the rage for businesses looking to increase visitor traffic to a website. But does it get in the way of language serving its purpose, i.e. to communicate? Does it pull this wonderful tool into service of greed and away from service of truth? Well these are lofty ideas, let's first look at what language is, before any more SEO bashing.

Language developed so we can communicate; our thoughts, our feelings, our different realities, and it comes in many forms - verbal, non-verbal, musical etc. This helps us understand each other. Perhaps one of the most miraculous inventions humanity has ever discovered is ‘the sentence’ - where would society be without the sentence? These strangely complex combinations of words and ideas, with their rules and ever evolving vocabulary. What a miracle that these symbols are carrying thoughts across time and space into your mind!

They can serve the communication of truth when, simply put, they say what is true and not what is not. And they serve greed when they are used with the purpose, simply put, to continuously get more (money, traffic, users, status etc.) at the expense of truth. Not that there's anything wrong with wanting to increase sales on a website using SEO writing, but when the writing itself, the actual content of the writing, becomes irrelevant, when the purpose of the writing is not communication but solely to increase sales, isn’t it like spitting on the graves of all those people who have worked to make language serve the truth? Who tried to move us towards understanding each other's thoughts, feelings and different realities? Not just in English but in any language.

Yet what else can we expect from a world that bases its idea of success on accumulation and not on truth? Look anywhere and you’ll see that success almost always equals ‘lots of’, and ‘more and more of’. You just got a £5,000 raise, that makes you more successful. You just got a thousand more followers on instagram, that makes you more successful. You just got another subscriber to English Burst, that makes me more successful. Or perhaps I just lost one after you reading this, lols.

Yes, on the surface, this post comes across as a ranting, capitalism bashing manifesto, but really it’s throwing a question mark to writers, especially those who focus on optimising writing for search engines more than the actual quality, depth of information, content or usefulness of an article. Does your writing serve your heart’s version of truth or does it serve the world's? Or maybe you just want to pay the bills and couldn’t give a toss about the moral implications of SEO writing.

In either case, ‘SEO writing’ has increased 900% year on year according to my Google ad keyword research. So I should get more traffic with this post.

Language Focus:

Glossary 1

All the rage = very popular during a period of time, at the peak of popularity

Lava lamps were all the rage in the 60’s.

Even though top hats are not worn often nowadays, they were all the rage in the 1800s and early 1900s.

Lofty (ideas or people) = concerning high moral standards, also used to mean - looking down on others as if you are higher/better

I think the professor’s ideas were good but too lofty, I think only a few people in the lecture really understood or cared what he was talking about

Lady Bracknell’s character is a very lofty character, she looks down on other social classes

Bashing (of people/ideas etc.) = saying bad things about, renouncing, strong criticism or disapproval

People like to bash eating a lot of processed fats these days, but I do still like using butter and oil a lot

I’m really tired of her man-bashing, she never stops complaining about how bad men are.

Ever (evolving) = something that happens forever, or for a very long period of time

The ever growing size of cities is a problem to the surrounding rural areas

The ever worsening conflict in that region has caused a great loss of life,.

Glossary 2

at the expense of = when adding/achieving something also takes away, destroys or loses something else

I used a lot of oil and butter in my cooking, it tasted great but at the expense of my health

We’ve managed to build more houses outside the city at the expense of the natural environment in those areas.

Solely, sole = only

I visited Seoul for the sole purpose of trying authentic bibimbap

Did she post that picture on instagram solely to get more likes?

To rant, ranting = to complain a lot, continuously or loudly about something

The teacher went on a rant about how his students never completed their homework

My friend told me it’s healthy to have a bit of a rant sometimes, about the government especially.

To not give a toss (informal) = to not care about, sometimes in a rude way

I don’t give a toss about whether you want me to give you a massage, I’m not doing it!

She doesn’t give a toss about this job, we should fire her immediately.

Exercise 1

Write out two more sentences for each of the new phrases given in the glossary. Remember you can always send them to us for review for a fee, check the services page for more information

Audio/Narration

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