Are we writing for SEO? Or for our readers? Or for ourselves?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Back when Google was researching search engine ranking and recommendation mechanisms, it used many algorithms, such as awarding points based on backlinks and evaluating keyword matching within articles. I remember that in the early days, Google’s search engine algorithms were still publicly available (for example, in academic papers), but later, to prevent people from manipulating rankings, they were no longer disclosed. Subsequently, domestic search engines such as Baidu, 360, and Sogou also adopted this SEO optimization logic. Larry Page and Sergey Brin probably never imagined that the algorithms they developed would evolve into what they are today.

Looking back, more than a decade ago was probably the golden age of domestic websites—a time when there were the most independent webmasters, and all kinds of interesting sites were popping up left and right, many of which had their own business models. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to experience that era. It wasn’t until after I graduated and joined a search engine company that I first learned about SEO while working with my mentor to optimize the company’s website.

I built this website during the final stages of that job—before I was laid off this past March. Back when I was building the site, I was at the height of my enthusiasm. I implemented all kinds of SEO optimizations for my site: from image alt tags to internal and external links, researching core keywords and long-tail keywords. For a while, I even tinkered with Google FAQ structured data (which was a total waste of time, since Google has since discontinued it).

Later, I found a new job. The probationary period was pretty exhausting, so I barely updated the website at all. The main reason was that as soon as I started updating, I’d get bogged down in SEO thinking: first searching for keywords using tools, then figuring out how to structure long-tail and core keywords, then coming up with H1, H2, and H3 headings, and finally agonizing over how to write the article’s Title, Description, and Keywords (TDK). I guess that’s just the “correct” assembly-line approach… but it always left me completely exhausted. So I started to reflect: Was I writing out of genuine interest and for the readers’ experience, or was I just fixated on webmaster tools and analytics dashboards, constantly worrying about click-through rates and impressions?

As a Chinese-language website, search engines like Baidu and 360 currently only index the homepage, while Google has indexed a dozen or so pages. But since the content is in Chinese, there aren’t many visitors to begin with. So I’ve come to the conclusion that, for a site like mine, it’s really not worth the effort to worry about SEO anymore. From now on, I plan to write articles solely for my own enjoyment and the readers’ experience, and no longer for the sake of SEO. I may still keep up with basic optimization, such as adding H1, H2, and H3 tags, even though I personally find this kind of structured formatting quite annoying because it interferes with creative freedom and the reading experience. In short, I won’t be going out of my way to build backlinks or optimize for keywords anymore.

I feel like domestic SEO is basically done for. The impact of social media and AI is only part of the reason; the biggest reason is this: ever since search engine optimization emerged as a technique, webmasters have spent every day figuring out how to outsmart search engines. I can totally understand this situation. I suspect that the same group of people who are now spending their days researching GEO, trying to generate a bunch of data—true or false—to skew the AI, and analyzing recommendation rates within this black box are the very same ones.

Meanwhile, search engine providers aren’t taking their responsibilities seriously enough, and paid search rankings have turned the entire ecosystem into a mess. Whenever I try to find an official website or download software, I’m constantly annoyed by all those fake sites. That’s why I recommend websites on my blog. To be honest, I’m not very good at writing this kind of article—it either ends up sounding like a sponsored post or an encyclopedia entry, and people might even think I’m just trying to market something.

After all, building a website costs money for the server, using a CDN costs money, and running the site in your spare time takes a lot of effort—it’s really difficult without financial backing. Then there’s another group: purely commercial companies that engage in SEO as a business activity.

Over the past few years of working and tinkering with websites, I’ve seen quite a few people running “content farms”—sites filled entirely with content mass-produced by AI—as well as those who run “site networks,” launching sites in bulk; not to mention link farms, spider pools… and even specialized tools for artificially inflating backlinks to high-authority sites. Sometimes I find myself impressed by how resourceful these people are—they’ve managed to devise so many ways to game the system. In short, black-hat, gray-hat, and white-hat SEO tactics keep popping up left and right, all in the name of traffic.

Whatever else you might say, what I hate the most is the kind of person who specializes in creating bridge pages—they set up their own webpage with a “Click here to visit” link that redirects to the actual official site, and that bridge page ranks higher than the official site itself. Basically, it’s the webmaster’s own creative work getting crushed by someone else’s SEO tricks.

I don’t want to be like that anymore. I’ll just write whatever comes to mind and keep a record of my interests. At work, I’m already chasing clicks and inquiries every day, so when I get home from work, I don’t want to feel this exhausted anymore.

As for Google’s EEAT and information increment, I do use certain techniques to add value to websites when I’m working, but when it comes to my own blog, I simply don’t have the energy or the motivation to do that. Articles written using SEO techniques always end up sounding awkward, so I’ll just write whatever comes to mind and forget about SEO techniques altogether.

So, to answer the question in the title—who should we write for?—the order is, of course: ourselves > readers > SEO. We should write to feel joy and pride in the content we create, which will also inspire us to keep creating. Next come the readers, so they can benefit from the value we create. Last are search engines—those recommendation systems built on algorithmic data.

Haha, who knows if everything everyone wrote ended up feeding the AI in the end?