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Ξ July 14th, 2008 | → | ∇ Uncategorized |

Linguistics and SEO

Posted by rhaden

There’s been talk here and there about the right kind of preparation for SEO professionals. My degrees are in linguistics, and I want to be the first to suggest that this is good preparation for SEO. For one thing, hardly anyone knows what it is. I spent all those years having conversations like this:

“What’s your major?” “Linguistics.” Pause. “Oh.” Further pause. “What’s that?”

I am therefore completely prepared for conversations beginning with “What do you do?” “SEO.”

Beyond that, though, I’d say that being able to analyze language is an enormous help in SEO. That’s what linguistics is, by the way: the scientific study of language. Linguists study language just as botanists study plants. You might find that it is useful to learn to be a little bit of linguist yourself, and I’m prepared to help you do that.

When do you need to be able to analyze language?

When you’re blogging for hire, for one thing. I blog for several clients. Last week, they gave me the following topics:

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Obviously, we need different tones for each of these posts. Unless that comes naturally, though, recognizing that fact may not be enough to cause you to end up with different and appropriate tones for each.

It’s not just blogging. The content of entire web sites has to fit the intended message and recipient, too. One web site I worked with had graphics with a very clear message: the scuffed rowboat on the sand, a worn leather bound book splayed open on the seat, a pair of old but expensive loafers lying nearby. These images say old money, relaxed, and self-confident. The words said, “We’re great! We’re great!”

This is not an old money confident message. They seriously needed a rewrite.

But your clients don’t want it to be obvious where their content ended and the pro’s began. You have to analyze what they already have, as well as what they want to accomplish, and provide a smooth transition.

Even link requests should involve linguistic analysis. Is the web master you’re writing to a breezy, perky writer? Then your request should be breezy and perky, too. Writing to someone serious and academic? Back off on the slang and match the tone of the web site.

There’s that phrase again. We talk about matching tone as though it were as easy as matching a pitch or a color – and let’s face it, those aren’t easy tasks for everyone either.

What does it mean to talk about tone in language? Find a paragraph to practice on, and take some time to study it. Here are some things to look at:

syntax

I could have said “grammar” here – both terms refer to the way you string words together to make sentences. But I know that for many people, the word “grammar” brings up memories of nerve-wracking tests or worries about “lie” and “lay,” so I’m going to talk about syntax instead.

Read the paragraph you’re going to analyze. Does the writer use sentence fragments? Do the sentences usually have just one verb, or do they froth with complex clauses, embedding multiple verbs and subjects in their convoluted depths? Readers won’t think about this as they read, but it has an effect on their reaction to the text.

This carries on beyond single sentences, too. One of the sites I blog for had an unintentional pattern in all the previous blog posts: a brief story followed by a rhetorical question. The rest of the post answered the question and carried the main message of the post. I follow the same pattern, and the transition has been seamless.

vocabulary

Advice on requesting links often says to point out how similar you are to your target. Well, you know, anyone can say, “I’m an educator myself…” while courting those .edu sites, but the ability to throw around terms like “differentiated instruction” and “activating schemas” is far more convincing. And yes, “schemas” is what they say; “schemata” brands you as an outsider.

Equally, using jargon from a group your target doesn’t belong to says, “You aren’t welcome here.” I have several therapist clients. I’m still trying to persuade them that saying “persons” is only appropriate when they’re talking to fellow therapists. It’s the same with marine biologists: they, and only they, say “fishes.” For search engines, the general populace, and people who might actually want to hire a therapist – none of them will be looking for “persons.”

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