How My Ongoing Anxiety with Creating SEO Titles Inspired This Poem

yep. It's a poem about SEO.

I really want my substack to do well. I want to be able to have somewhat of a living wage from my substack. I want to make money.¹ And, because of that, I stress over things that don’t need to be a big deal. One of those things that isn’t-a-big-deal-but-feels-like-it-is is generating titles that boost SEO. SEO is Search Engine Optimization, it’s the process of improving the quantity and quality of website traffic. It feels laughable that I fixate on generating a SEO worthy title for my posts. After spending a few minutes contemplating the best SEO title for a post, I will usually discard that title in favor for something that is truer to the post I’ve created. This little dance of “SEO vs artistry” speaks volumes to the role of consumerism in an artist’s work. (I being the artist). Because an engaging title is a fight for your life, and SEO has somehow shifted the fight towards consumerism and not towards and artist’s authenticity.