The romance that can spark through using SEO tactics

My friend raised a very good theory to me the other day which I felt deserved expanding further. He proposed that the rules for good SEO can be utilised for winning the heart of someone you desire.

After five minutes of thinking this through and perhaps one too many alcoholic beverages, the true genius of this theory began to shine through. After all, Search Engine Optimisation is all about getting your site to appear on your audience’s internet searches as often as possible and in the most prominent position. Let’s face it, the early days of dating is all about trying to stay on someone’s mind as much as possible, (but, you know, in a good way, not in a “I’m creeped out because this person’s in my head, kind-of-way”).

So, below I have taken this general idea and listed the five key rules to effective SEO and posed the question, does this also apply to the art of ‘making a move’.

1) Keyword search is the first step

For SEO purposes this is vital. You must know the keywords that your audience use to search the topic you are discussing. That way you can build your site and tag your posts to ensure you are appearing on the correct searches and start building upon your ranking.

For dating this is just as important. You need to do some research into what words gain the interest of different types of people. For instance, if they’re from the Shoreditch/Hoxton area then you’ll know that certain words will catch their interest. Use words like ‘dub’ or ‘retro’ in one of your first sentences and you’ll notice an increase in attention. I’d also recommend dropping in something about some form of art or design degree or at least the name of a DJ best friend you have (or have just made up) who’s latest work can be heard on Soundcloud. Similarly, if they’re from the lovely southern countryside, then try vocalising a hatred for the 50% tax bracket and suggest that foxes are actually a true scourge on our wonderful woodland regions. This will almost certainly peak their interest.

2) Build an easy navigation

When trying to make your site SEO friendly it is important to link between pages. Search engines like sites to be easily navigated.

When trying to stay on the mind of a “seed waiting to blossom” (as the same friend calls it) it’s important that they can get to you easily. Facebook, Twitter and general ‘social research’ are all there to ensure you keep popping up on her mind. Facebook and Twitter can also give you some good indications on keywords – for instance they may have have ‘liked’ TOWIE, suggesting that your opening conversation should almost certainly be about vajazzles and definitely avoid any classical literature (Charles Dickens will mean nothing to them).

3) Give good links

When it comes to SEO, each link you have facing your site is like a vote. It’s people saying that they found your topic interesting and others might too. Search engines take this into consideration and it’s the quickest way to boost your position.

One of the keys to successful dating is friend approval. Similarly to getting links from relevant sites, you want to create links from the person’s friends to yourself. If they see that their friends like you then they will think “oh…well they must be a nice person because I trust my friends opinions” – the beauty of this is that it works even if you aren’t.

4) Content is vital/it’s what’s inside that counts

Search engines like sites with regularly updated content. With that in mind, it’s important to build good content and use the correct keywords to tag each page. Also, let’s face it, there is no point boosting your SEO if nobody wants to read what’s actually on the site.

With dating, good content translates to good personality – I am not sure why this matters to people but from my understanding it does.  On the plus side, this does mean that anyone with a good personality can be attractive – it’s all about emphasising your best attributes. I’m not talking about dominating your date with a massive personality, but you need to try to impress. Looks can only get you so far, but if there’s nothing beyond a glossy front page, you’re not going to retain much attention after an initial look.

5) Own your domain

To reach the top of Google rankings you must hire a good hosting service with fast and stable servers. Search engines will not wait too long to load your page. Worse yet, they hate it when your page is off the air and if it is repeated many times you fall in rank with certainty.

We all know which domain really counts when courting and if you want to impress you best start owning it! There is nothing worse than putting all that time and effort into getting the person into your domain and then letting yourself down on the final hurdle – and if it is repeated let downs you will drop down their rankings with certainty.

To summarise…

The same tactics that will take your webpage to the top of Bing and Google will also help you land the object of your affection. Which, in my mind, one hundred per cent disproves the theory that none of us techie geeks can land a date on a Friday night, and instead spend it on Warcraft until the early hours.