Socrates and SEO: a match made in heaven

What could Socrates and search engine optimization have in common?

bundles. Let me make my case.

Consider the situation on the Internet today. At last count, there were over 8 billion pages indexed on Google, and there are millions of other websites as well. The Internet has become a true digital world of commerce, education, information exchange, culture and socialization. Standing out from that crowd is at best a formidable task, at worst impossible. But with a good search engine optimization plan, you can significantly improve your website’s ranking.

And here are a few more facts that will blow your mind: In just one year, the number of people using search engines on a daily basis has increased by 38 million to 60 million daily users today, and 41% of search engine users Today’s Internet uses search engines (http://www.dmnews.com, “Search Use Still Soaring Researchers Find”).

Now what the hell does Socrates have to do with any of this? For those of you who don’t know, Socrates is credited with being the father of Western philosophical thought and the creator of the “Socratic method” of learning, which involves gaining truth and knowledge through questions and answers. Okay, haven’t you got the SEO connection yet? How about this? Socrates was also one of the world’s first real rhetoricians. What the hell is a rhetorician? He is someone who practices the art and science of rhetoric, also known as “the art of speaking or writing effectively and convincingly” ([http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/corinthians/glossary.stm]), or also as “language in gala dress” ([http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/humor/TheFoolishDictionary/chap19.html]) Others see rhetoric as the skillful and logical use of language for persuasion.

Socrates had a real problem with the way rhetoric was practiced in his day. Most rhetoricians at the time were more interested in winning their arguments than in practicing ethical rhetoric. (Are you beginning to see the connection?) These language artists were masters of manipulation, of twisting and combining words in ways that didn’t necessarily represent the truth, but made their arguments irrefutable. Socrates did not agree with this and he believed in using argument, not as an end in itself, but as a vehicle to discover the truth.

Okay, I know, you’re getting impatient. So let’s throw overboard from the time of Socrates of 469 B.C. C. until 2006 d. C. You know how many web pages there are in the online world and how many are used by search engines on any given day. So doing the math, getting out of the mire of the masses and into the light of the search engine top 10 will require masterful persuasion in the form of your website design. And this is where the rhetoric comes in, we call it digital rhetoric, and it’s all of those things that make your site valuable and useful to visitors, and make it rated favorably by search engines.

Now, let us think again about Socrates. He was a man of ethics and integrity, a believer in using language honestly and not just for the purpose of winning. He goes into organic SEO. Search engines continually adjust their algorithms to avoid devious and unethical practices such as landing pages, hidden text, and cloaking, those devices that are strictly used to “win” rather than present truthful, “what you see” rich content. “. is-what-you-get” website. In fact, the goal of search engines is to provide users with quality results to prevent them from going elsewhere.

Okay, before we close, let’s review this SEO connection from Socrates. Socrates was an ethical and upright man, a master of rhetoric – art or persuasion – as a means to discover the truth and enrich the collections of knowledge of his time. Similarly, succeeding amid the throng of search engines requires the use of masterful digital rhetoric: rich, truthful content; legitimate use of keywords; and an honest and direct page layout.