Remember when blogs were raw, unfiltered windows into someone’s mind?
Yeah, those days are long gone.
Now we’re drowning in an ocean of SEO-optimized garbage. Every “blog post” reads like it was written by the same soulless AI, regurgitating keywords to climb Google’s rankings.
What we used to write in a few sentences now gets dragged out over many paragraphs so that you scroll through 16 banner ads (I am talking about you, WebMD).
It’s a tragedy, really.
The SEO game
What happened? Simple:
- Google became the gatekeeper of the internet
- Marketers realized they could game the system
- Content farms sprouted like weeds
Now, instead of passionate creators sharing their thoughts, we have armies of underpaid writers churning out “10 Ways to Boost Your Productivity (You Won’t Believe #7!)”
The death of authenticity
High-quality blogs exist, but they are impossible to find in the sea of “personal” blogs trying to sell you something.
- Affiliate links? Check.
- Pop-up newsletter signup? Check.
- Carefully curated personal brand? Double check.
It’s exhausting.
Want to stand out in this wasteland of mediocrity? Here’s a radical idea: Write like a human being.
Will you top Google’s search results? Probably not.
But you might just create something worth reading. That is more impactful than $0.01 per impression.
Some of my personal favorites are: