Norm Vogele, the Onsite Content Strategist for Page One Power, opines on philosophical concepts with Erin Sparks about the inherent dangers of personifying Google. It’s understandable why it happens, but it can lead to false assumptions that get in the way of creating good content, the purpose of which is to help real people find the information they seek. When the sole purpose of content creation and SEO is to satisfy Google, then the crucial starting point of empathy for a human audience with real needs is subverted and long-term success may remain elusive. Google isn’t a person, nor a deity where SEOs serve as priestly intermediaries between it and clients trying to appease a jealous god. The antidote is a better mix of what is ethical and pragmatic.

Why do we anthropomorphize Google? As marketers, we have even more of a challenge to steer away from ascribing humanistic traits to the search engine. Marketers can easily fall into being seen as the “bishops” of Google, revealing the will of the almighty “G” by our clients if we’re not careful.

The challenge is the continual rewards of ranking and traffic. Writing to win in favor of Google doesn’t always mesh with writing to solve the problem the searcher may have. Writing content that meets the need of the searcher must be the principle we hold.

Norm encourages SEOs, and people in general, to stop anthropomorphizing brands and look deeper.

Let’s see how many analogies and metaphors we can fit in… on the EDGE!

Key Segments:

[00:07:38] Why do we personify Google?

[00:12:11] Looking for Patterns

[00:16:46] Replicating the Process of Human Reading

[00:19:31] Marketers as High School Guidance Counselors

[00:23:33] EDGE of the Web Title Sponsor: Page One Power

[00:25:10] Writing Like Wikipedia

[00:30:04] Engineering the Best Possible User Experience

[00:33:46] Standing on the Shoulders of the Original Google

[00:35:58] SEOs are Not Priests of the Temple Google

555 | Why Do We See Google as a Person?