I spent 6 months in Denver writing blog posts for a client before I realized they wanted answers not stories.

I was always trying to hook readers with a narrative about mountain biking gear when the client finally sent me a search query their CEO typed in. It was just 'best bike helmet under 100 bucks' and I realized I had been burying the actual answer under three paragraphs of fluff. How do you balance telling a good story with just giving the straight answer in SEO?

3 comments

3 Comments

maryr4322d ago

Oh man, that CEO's search query is a wake-up call! I started front-loading the straight answer in the first paragraph and just sprinkled one short story sentence in the intro to grab attention.

waderamirez22d ago

My first year in SEO I wrote a 2000 word guide on "how to tie your shoes" that opened with a paragraph about a marathon runner's childhood. The client finally asked why I needed three paragraphs to explain the bunny ears method. Have you tried writing the answer first and then adding just one sentence of story to make it interesting?

schmidt.iris22d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, and it's not just about length, it's about intent. Like @maryr43 said, you front-load the answer, but that one story sentence has to actually serve the reader's goal, not just fill a word count. The marathon runner bit only works if you're writing for runners about performance lacing. Otherwise you're just decorating a simple answer with noise, and people feel tricked. The client's question proves they felt the friction.