Content should not be a math problem. It should not be about percentages. It must never be about a special word or options. But today`s content world is getting to be all of that, and then some.

Algorithm-filled computer programs are in the process of compartmentalizing the world. Content cannot escape. That`s how statistics got connected to writing. But we are all too aware of the fact that there can seldom be a direct connect between the Arts and the Sciences.

A search engine is the new sommelier of the content word. The greed to get your piece of work be “discovered” and “surfaced” by Web search engines so that the “maximum” number of humans read it has started to negatively affect content and content providers. Content providers, not all but a bunch, are writing for machines. Commerce and not calling is forcing them to. But conscious avarice comes with a price tag always.

What this lot fails to grasp is that the machine is only a facilitator. Algorithm-filled computer programs are not the real audience. Like the wine taster, the bot`s only job is to match values - pair a piece of work to the correct set of readers. At the end, it is humans who read your content, analyze it, and conclude.

Content providers and content clients, here`s the thing - there`s no such thing as SEO writing, or writing for SEO. There’s nothing called an SEO writer, too, so don`t go looking for one.

SEO is not content, it is about content.

Subscribe to this newsletter

It is a hybrid craft, born out of compulsion, that makes a computer program “understand” what a particular piece of content is all about by using a combination of stats and words. That is the settings of Search Engine Optimization or SEO for you.

For the content world, there was never a “chicken and egg” situation so far as SEO is concerned. Content was, and will always be, first, followed by search engine optimization.

The SEO professional, “expert” or “specialist” is that human who is qualified to act as an intermediary between your content and the machine.

The question is - why should there be any SEO at all? The answer is - the computer programs for search are not savvy enough. Over the last 20 years or so since its birth, it`s gotten cleverer but is nowhere near the capacity of the human brain yet.

The biggest drawback of search engine algorithms is their lack of understanding of human intent. How often have we all searched for a keyword only to be served up a brand name instead? Search algorithms are still evolving. Till such time that algorithms driven by artificial intelligence and natural language processing do not become “brainy enough” to comprehend intent, such optimization specialists have to be around. Once they are able to, I predict SEO shall be done and dusted.