The Most Dreaded Keyword Phrase

By Shari Thurow


In website usability, one of the hardest obstacles to overcome is the mentality of “This is what I would do.” Whenever we hear Person A (or B or C or D) say this phrase, it means that Person A is not focused on users. It means that Person A is superimposing his or her personal beliefs and characteristics onto users. Alan Cooper developed the concept of personas to get the team to focus on user archetypes and not the opinions of individuals.

In search usability, we also dread hearing this phrase. Whenever we hear, “Well, this is what I would do,” then we know that Person A (or B or C or D) is not focused on searchers.

However, if you tell Person A that he /she is not focused on searchers, the immediate response is typically denial or defiance. Of course Person A is focused on searchers! If Person A were not focused on searchers, then he would not be implementing search engine optimization (SEO) strategies in the first place. Search usability professionals must deal with these preconceived notions about search all of the time. Here are some guidelines to help other SEO professionals effectively respond to this somewhat misguided mentality.

Focusing on the searcher persona
Whenever you design, write, code, and program a website, you always have to remember that you are doing those things for people other than yourself. Person A is not going to spend thousands or millions of dollars on his own products and services. But his target audience will. Therefore, Person A should always design, write, code… and optimize… his site to accommodate searcher goals and expectations. Person A should understand searcher goals and expectations before he even creates or redesigns his website.

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