Your website isn’t Neighbours

Cheryl Mathews

Neighbours… everybody may need good neighbours, but not every website needs to get in on the Aussie soap opera’s act.

The Australian drama, set in the fictional neighbourhood of Ramsay Street, manages to turn the most mundane happenings into nail-bitingly intense viewing – at least, for a certain percentage of the population. On Neighbours, everything from a missing dog to a casual conversation over a fence seems to be jaw-droppingly interesting.

When looked at from outside the point of view of the show, however, none of the happenings on Ramsay Street are really that interesting. A fan trying to regale their friends of the latest plot twist will soon be faced with a blank stare. This is because anyone uninvolved in the neighbourhood just isn’t interested at all.

Some websites, though, feel the need to indulge in a little soap opera drama for the purposes of SEO. You’ll often see bloggers insert some kind of controversy into their posts to cash in on the shock factor. Other websites try to plump up their content by relating every little thing their owner has experienced throughout the day, regardless of its relevance to the subject at hand.

Talking about the many happenings of your day should not be one of your SEO jobs. Although it can be good to drift away from your subject and inject a little personality and humour at times, it is not good to let go of your anchor completely. Always remember the guiding rule of search engine optimisation: if the site user doesn’t benefit, then you might as well not be doing it.

Now, about yesterday’s goings on in Ramsay Street…