I almost didn’t write this. Because honestly? I’m tired. Not in a dramatic way. Just… worn out. SEO used to feel like solving a puzzle. Lately, it feels more like fixing a flat tire in the rain—over and over again, while cars zoom past.
But that’s kind of why I decided to write it anyway. Because if you’re here, you probably get it. You’ve probably stared at Google Search Console at 2AM, wondering why the hell a blog post about “best tools for freelancers” suddenly ranked #2. Or why a page you spent three days crafting just vanished into the void.
SEO Used to Feel Simple (It Wasn’t)
There was a time—not long ago—when I thought I had it figured out. Keywords. On-page stuff. A few backlinks. Boom, done. But the more I did this, the more I realized that the “rules” only work until they don’t.
Some guy once told me: “Google doesn’t reward the best content. It rewards the best understanding of what Google thinks good content is.” And I hated how true that felt.
But still, I write. We all do. Because there’s something buried in all this technical sludge that still matters. And that something is… people.
What If We Wrote for People Again?
I know, revolutionary idea, right?
But seriously—what if SEO wasn’t about optimizing for a bot, but for a human who just wants to feel less alone? A new mom searching for how to stop her baby from crying. A kid looking for “how to tell if I’m gay.” A burned-out founder googling “how to let go of a business.”
Real people, typing real things into a box, hoping the answers don’t sound like they were spit out of a content mill.
My Most “Unoptimized” Page Got the Best Response
I once published a blog post with no meta title. I forgot. I literally forgot to fill it in. The content was raw—a kind of emotional brain dump about how SEO was draining me creatively.
It didn’t have structure. Or a CTA. Or internal links. But someone emailed me a week later saying, “This post made me feel human again.”
That meant more than ranking #1 ever did. Still does.
Stuff You Can’t Track on Google Analytics
- The person who saved your blog to Pocket and reads it every week on the train.
- The kid who copied your article into a Word doc to show their professor.
- The startup founder who felt seen for the first time all month.
You can’t measure those things. But they happen. That’s the wild part. Rand Fishkin wrote once about the “invisible influence” of content, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
Let’s Be Honest—Most SEO Writing Is Boring
There, I said it.
It’s not bad. It’s just… beige. It plays by the rules. It has all the right headings and bullet points and FAQs and internal links. But it has no heart. No heat. No friction.
People don’t share content because it’s technically correct. They share it because it made them laugh. Or cry. Or because it said something they were too scared to say themselves.
If SEO wants to survive the rise of AI and auto-generated slop, we’ve got to write messier. Weirder. More human. Less predictable.
The Best Pages I’ve Ever Written Felt Like Risks
They weren’t safe. They didn’t follow a formula. One started with the sentence, “This might be the last thing I write about SEO.” Another used lowercase headers. Another was just a list of things I hate about my own writing process.
But people responded. Because people want to feel something—even when they’re reading about metadata.
SEO Is a Conversation (Not a Checklist)
That’s how I see it now. You’re not filling boxes. You’re starting a dialogue with someone you’ll probably never meet. And they decide, in like four seconds, whether to keep listening.
So make it worth it. Say something weird. Say something real.
Stuff I Try to Remember (When I Forget)
- No one remembers the perfectly structured blog post. They remember the one that made them feel.
- It’s okay if something you wrote doesn’t rank. It might still change someone.
- Your voice matters. Even if it shakes. Especially if it shakes.
Favorite Articles That Feel Like People
If you want to read stuff that sounds like it came from an actual brain, I recommend:
- Why I Write – by Fadeke Adegbuyi
- SEO Copywriting Tips That Actually Work
- Authentic SEO Content, Explained
If You’re Still Reading This, Thank You
I didn’t expect to write 3,000 words about SEO and end up talking about life and loneliness and lowercase headers. But here we are.
If you’re here, reading this line, maybe you’re like me. Maybe SEO never really felt like a job—it felt like a way to reach people without yelling.
And maybe, just maybe, it’s okay if not every page is perfect. Maybe it’s better that way.
Get in touch if you want to make something imperfect with me. Or not. Either way, thanks for being here. That’s enough.
