So let me qualify this, I don’t think I’m a Luddite, in fact, I feel I am the opposite. I love technology and the impact it has on my day to day life. I’m a fan of modernity, I constantly marvel at the things our phones, cameras, laptops allow us to do and create, so my next statement is coming from a place of love and respect.
While I marvel at the beauty coders and engineers create to make my life better, I would like to propose a motion that “They are no longer allowed to name their brilliant inventions/ideas”. From angry garden salad to plain old UX they love terms that separate rather than encouraging greater inclusion, My own profession of SEO (search engine optimization) is a brilliant case in point.
Those three little words scare the proverbial S!%$ out of business owners, they conger up images of the scientist in her white coat and men in safety glasses standing around their dying website, all tutting “tricky, tricky” under their breath. Then somebody screams get the magic formula defibrillator or it’s gone forever….
oh, and by the way, it’s going to t……..a lot.
So I propose a new name and I am open to better suggestions but we have to start somewhere. I think we should no longer utter the words SEO but instead change to,
Wait for it,
“Help Finding Stuff” or HFS
Think of it, you sit down with a site owner who has poor traffic to discuss how you can help her as an HFS specialist. Her site is underperforming and she wonders if she has made a terrible error, you explain to her that really there is no secret to HFS it is just good online manners. No different to finding a book in a library of millions ( I am making the assumption now that we all have at least a basic understanding of how to find a book in a library), each product has keyword/s which is in the page title and headings and on down through the HFS checklist we all use.
They will get this, they will relate to our skills in helping their customers find stuff. We have all lost or misplaced things before (I am personally convinced that little pixies follow me around waiting till I put my car keys down and they move them for me, thank you pixies). I think that if we remove the barrier that the title search engine optimization creates it will allow us to better serve our customers. We will no longer be seen as the expensive, indecipherable report generating geek ogre, but they will finally get to see our true helpful natures. And to paraphrase a far greater man than me I have a dream that site owners and HFS specialists will find mutual support and respect in this new dawn to go forth and help customers find the right
Or at least get on a bit better.

Keep moving, producing and good luck out there