SEOs Under Attack

A new hit piece dunks on the industry

As the public begins to believe Google isn’t as useful anymore, what happens to the cottage industry of search engine optimization experts who struck content oil and smeared it all over the web? Well, they find a new way to get rich and keep the party going.

When an article starts like this you know you’re about to read a hit piece.

This time SEOs (aka you and me) are on the chopping block.

The article is riddled with one-liners describing us as “the people turning online life into what one tech writer recently called a “search-optimized hellhole” and “these people making money off of everyone else’s misery”.

The gist of the article is: Google search results suck and SEOs are to blame for ruining the internet for everyone.

So who ends up with a career in SEO? The stereotype is that of a hustler: a content goblin willing to eschew rules, morals, and good taste in exchange for eyeballs and mountains of cash.

Greetings fellow content goblins.

The writer is using an outdated snarky early 2010’s internet hit piece writing voice that’s VERY grating to read. These articles are basically templates at this point.

1. Describe a scene of in-person degeneracy to make you hate [insert type of rich person here]

2. State how these partying degenerates are ruining the world for regular people

3. Interview someone you portray as a scumbag from within the industry

4. Interview someone who is one of “the good guys” who’s trying to reform the industry

5. Describe random scenes from the party in between interviews

6. Keep mentioning that the evil villains are making tons of money to inspire max jealousy from the reader

7. Talk about the history of how the industry developed and ultimately destroyed the world

8. Close with another interview from the most stereotypical scumbag in the industry you can find to end on a bad note

That’s the format of basically every industry hit piece article in existence.

But beyond that, are the claims accurate or is it just more BS from the already-irrelevant MSM?

Let’s take a look.