The Yahoo! Style Guide Resources Section

I often wonder why much of my writing seems to disappear in the vast virtual void of the internet. Many times I will write something, hoping only for some performance payments to help pad my PayPal account for those random Ebay purchases I make when I'm bored. And though I don't expect hordes of readers to devour my video game review, I would like enough traffic to pay for that out of production, unopened six-pack of Romulan Ale. Surely there must be a way to increase traffic without spending more time on shameless self-promotion than is worth?

Introducing the Yahoo! Style Guide. As soon as I downloaded the page, the word 'Resources' caught my eye. Now, I love resources. I practically grew up in a library, and remember how important the Reference desk and card catalog were. Yes, card catalog. If it offers me the ability to learn and improve, or save time and work, I will make use of it. Which is why I was so glad when the library finally replaced the card catalogs with computers. The people at Yahoo! Style Guide seem to realize the importance of computers to writers, as the Resources section is filled with useful information on subjects such as basic HTML and coding, research and editing tools, and something that immediately caught my eye; Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

There it was, staring me in the face, practically screaming, "Romulan Ale!" A quick read through the SEO Basics section made me realize that I had been ignorant of not only the way search engines work, but how people tend to conduct their searches. It turns out that search engines analyze data in a more intelligent way than I had thought. I had assumed they just count words, and emphasize those that are repeated most. This does happen, but a search engine actually analyzes the words and gives priority to words that are somehow emphasized, such as the words in the title, words in bold print, and words in links. Simply repeating keywords over and over is not the way to go when trying to rank up on the search pages. Instead, common sense and strategic placement might be the answer.

Let's say I want to learn how to build a better mousetrap. I would never perform a search for "the proper procedure for manufacturing a device to safely capture and eliminate rodents, which is superior to such devices that currently exist". So why on earth would I write an article on how to build a better mousetrap, and give it that title? Or why would I use such language in the article unless I was writing to Mousetrap Engineering Today, or some other technical publication? If I want to optimize my search results, I would think about what people are likely to search for, and just title my piece, How to Build a Better Mousetrap. Of course, if I did happen to be writing a technical piece meant for a professional audience, I would try to use the jargon that the audience uses and expects. The key is to think about the way people perform searches. Write information-rich pieces that contain the words your target audience is likely to search for, and make the title as descriptive as possible, in natural language that they are most likely to use.

What I really like about the Yahoo! Style Guide is that it not only gives you many hints on what to do, it also tells you what not to do. For instance, did you know poor writing is a big factor when it comes to search engine optimization? It makes sense that if I write an article about mousetraps, and misspell mousetrap as "moosetrap", very few of the people who are searching for mousetraps are going to find my article. So check your spelling! It is also a bad idea to stick to one word form. For instance, a mousetrap article might include "mousetrap", "mousetraps", "mouse trapping", etc. People search for specifics, so your article should include the keywords they might use. This was my problem, as a writer, I tend to use words many people don't, and I need to remember to use the more common language in order to maximize my search results.

Altogether, I found the Resources section of the Yahoo! Style Guide to be a helpful tool when it came to getting information on how to draw more traffic to my writing. I will immediately start practicing what I learned, knowing that the good folks at Yahoo! know a thing or two about search engines. And I am looking forward to seeing that sixer of Romulan Ale in my Star Trek collection very soon!