Blog Search Optimization: Intuitive or Scientific?

Shari Thurow writes a very knowledgeable article for clickz.com about Optimizing Blogs for the Search Engines . Now I'm am far from understanding all this, so I'm throwing it out for you readers and asking you what you think.

Here is her general guideline for optimizing blog sites for search engines:

"Keyword research: With blog sites, it almost seems as if the keyword research process is nonexistent. Before you categorize and headline blog content, use the keyword research tools offered at Yahoo, Google, and MSN Live to get a clearer idea of the terminology your site visitors might use. I understand that a Web log is just that -- a Web log. However, if you are using a blog for business reasons or want others to read your blog, you should make it easy for site visitors to find information. Using keywords is a part of this process."

Read her article to learn more about this whole process, but I think Ms. Thurow complicates the issues for most professionals who write a blog to drive traffic and generate business.

Maybe it is because she actually knows a lot about SEO; maybe she knows too much about it, and all those details cloud the issues. To me, spending time using a keyword search tool is unnecessary if you know your clients and know your subject.

It is my opinion that when a blog author is clear about who his targeted audience of readers are, and what their challenges are, then writing on those topics will naturally generate a lot of keywords that the readers would use to find the blog posts on those topics.

Maybe I'm naive, but I think a blog author is better off spending time writing good content, and using keywords intuitively, rather than using a keyword search tool and trying to adapt a particular phrase to the post.

Is it just me? Or is this really more complicated than I dreamed of, and I should be doing keyword searches and then working those phrases into my writing?

Can't I get the same results by writing about a particular topic that I know my readers are interested in? Isn't that the natural way to go about this?

You tell me.

Comments

[Steve Mertz]

Hi Patsi, My experience has been that keywords are damned important. It's not enough to know your audience and write great content. If you are using a blog for business you need to understand basic SEO. For example, if you are writing a post about blue widgets and you don't have it in the title or maybe only once in a post-Google is not going to consider this post/blog as authorative on the subject. It's also critical to use Technorati tags to give you aaaan additional edge. Just my opinion, but my blog is coming up #1 in Google search and I'm sure it's becasue I pay attention to keywords and have a great domian name.

[Mary]

Patsi - I'm with you and I have worked in the SEO arena. Can you optimize a blog? Sure, but is that where you want to put your head time? Optimise your website, understand that you will want to "name drop" key words, just like you name drop names - to get associated with the right crowd - then just write. I feel it's more imporant to say what's on your mind than to try to manipulate search engines. Your personality shouldn't be tampered with.

[Patsi M. Krakoff]

Thanks, Mary, you reassure me. There's always that nagging feeling that tech people know insider secrets, and that I should be applying them. Steve, I guess it wouldn't hurt to check out the keyword search tools, but more to see if you are missing anything obvious about how people type in words in searches.

My feeling is that if you are writing about 'blue widgets' you would naturally have this in your title and several times in your post. This flows from being focused in your writing more than SEO tactics, but of course awareness of both is good.

[Shari Thurow]

Hi Patsi-

You emailed me and asked if I thought your comments about my article were naive. Well, to use your own words - yes, I think your comments are very naive. And shame on you for thinking my knowledge of "search" is limited to technical knowledge.

As a grad student in library science AND as a Web site usability professional, I see on a daily basis how important navigation labels and other items are on all types of Web sites, including blogs. Providing both a sense of place and a scent of information (a Jared Spool term) is crucial to the success of any type of Web site.

People do not naturally write (or tag) in keywords. People are not naturally good at categorization (librarians are, but not necessarily in the users' language). People tend to be very self centered, writing and categorizing in a way that makes sense to them. Usability and search optimization, which is a part of the usability process, is about understanding your target audience. It's about understanding others and trying to communicate to them.

Blogs, by their very nature, are self centered because, well, they are blogs. There are many ways to make them less self centered, ways that cannot possibly be fully addressed in an 800-word article.

BTW, domain/file names have very little to do with rankings. Most of the time, domain/file names have nothing to do with rankings.

Personally, what I really dislike about the SEO industry is the amazing ignorance about the subject. Chasing rankings is a very narrow-minded view, perhaps a naive one. I know of only 2 blogs where categorization, labeling, and cross-linking are done extremely well. And believe me, the 2 gentleman who created the respective blogs understand keywords and how to use them appropriately.

[Patsi M. Krakoff]

Thanks, Shari, for responding and further clarifying the issues of SEO for blogs.

I am sorry you seemed to take offense at my questions and don't really understand the "shame on you" comment. But I'll not take it personally.

While you make some good points that further clarify your point of view, I am not sure that I could agree with your classification of blogs and blog writers as being self-centered and not focused on the reader.

While that may be true for the majority, I'd like to think we and our colleagues adhere to a higher standard by writing on business blogs with a focus on what's in it for the readers.

And I still believe that keywords can be natural and intuitive, with a little dash of science and analysis thrown in. Most of us will not be hiring SEO experts to do this for us, so we must learn what we can, where we can, and apply common sense.

Thanks for contributing to the discussion.

[Denise aka The Blog Squad]

"I know of only 2 blogs where categorization, labeling, and cross-linking are done extremely well. And believe me, the 2 gentleman who created the respective blogs understand keywords and how to use them appropriately."

Personally, I'd like to know which blogs Shari is referring to so we can all learn from the gentlemen who understand and know how to use keywords.

[JS]

Great blog, keep it going !

JS