The algorithms kinda suck — could poets help?

The way that Google search algorithms have inspired writing to become less effective is so frustrating to me. Search for any crowd sourced information and you will recognize the same thing; Writing that is unappealing for the reader. 

One clearly visible specific issue is that to be found, articles need to use particular key words (I am using key words with a space to describe parts of the content that are key to understanding the topic, then keywords without a space as the term of art for folks who consider SEO). The algorithm predicts that keywords signal significance. As a result, key words define sentence and paragraph structure more than meaning does. For instance, where once we could use a pronoun or synonym, we now always use the same word. To be found, an article about the Atlantic Ocean is going to avoid poetic flair like “that deep blue neighbor” or even “it.” It will say “Atlantic Ocean” in most every available place.

One might say that this makes the writing more accurate, but that is untrue. Replacement words are tools to expand understanding of a topic, not just pretty sounds. If the Atlantic is called “the sailor killer” or “the food basket” or “the apparent mystery” we expand our understanding of what the author is getting at. However, the author has reduced the likelihood that we would find the article in our current way of discovery; Google-style search.

We can appreciate that searching for information has improved dramatically in our lifetimes, then look to the eons of past work with information for inspiration to improve the future.

Does this affect commercial writing? Yes. The work of advertising, marketing, and public relations is instilling meaning using the gelatinous tool that is language. When the writing gets to a human repeating the one word over and over weakens rather than strengthens audience understanding. It is an age old game to chant any word until it is washed of meaning. Is our writing doing that to our readers?

So what is to be done? We do need ways to find, and to be found. The Google algorithm is center of the information discovery conversation today, and it could be a good partner going forward. Google search is incentivized to be useful, so it is interested in changing to be better (see the already infamous March 2024 updates which deeply upset a lot of SEO-centric marketers and site owners. Search around and you will find some hefty rants.). However, the fundamental keyword strategy is still central to how the algorithm drives discovery – and by extension drives writing.

Just throwing it out there: hire poets.

I don’t know that Google or other algorithm shops hire poets or listen to them, which is tragic; the poet has made hard use of the language and knows better than others its shifting limits. Perhaps Google or other search offices should be staffed with a few folks who have a hard-wrought relationship with the language.

I am hopeful that we innovate our way through this moment. My suspicion is that we need to rethink the all-algorithm model of internet-finding. We have leaned on it for the last 20 years or so, but it continues to be an experiment, not a certain institution. 

Quality information delivery and discovery is a problem that affects us all, whether you are currently functioning as a marketer, artist, student, scientist, buyer, or curious reader. 

It would be interesting to bring some masterful poets into the room at Google search and see what they can introduce.

Full disclosure: I am a poet as well as a creative director for B2B content. My perspective is biased as well as informed!