DEAD INTERNET THEORY and SEO

The dead internet theory has been around for some time and has suggested that search engine optimization (SEO), is to blame for the inactivity of the global internet. According to this theory, SEO has made it so that the same content is being recycled on the web and has caused the internet to become stale, unoriginal and boring.

To start, let’s examine the evidence. A fundamental principle of SEO is that webpages are designed to be found quickly by search engine algorithms, such as Google and Yahoo. This means that content writers prioritize including the right words number of times and the website’s structure to please search engines first and foremost (Gill, 2020). This has lead to a culture of internet producers creating long form formulaic pieces in hopes of appeasing the search engine algorithm and rising up the search results (See Figures 1 and 2). This can lead to keyword stuffing, unnatural phrases and sense less content (Elihu, 2018). For example, let’s take a look at Figure 1. In this example, the phrase “healthy behaviors” has been used four times, even though the phrase does not naturally fit in the sentence.

Furthermore, the recycling of content across the internet has caused search engine algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) to spread incorrect information. For instance, AI has been found to create search results consisting of incorrect medical advice (Lubenow, 2019). This is due to AI’s reliance on web content and its ability to influence consumer behavior, by providing incorrect information as a source of truth.

Ultimately, SEO has had a major impact on the content being generated on the web. The need to please the algorithm and appear first on the results page has lead to unoriginal and formulaic content being created and recycled. This behavior has caused the saturation of incorrect information on the internet (Lubenow, 2019). As a result, the dead internet theory holds merit, as the tension between search engine algorithms and the natural flow of digital conversations has caused incorrect information to stubbornly persist online.

References

Elihu, A. (2018). The Downside of SEO: Content By Committee & Unnatural Phrases. Forbes. Retrieved 8 April 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2018/05/29/the-downside-of-seo-content-by-committee-unnatural-phrases/#1376e734ec05

Gill, P. (2020). What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?. Search Engine Journal. Retrieved 8 April 2020, from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo/what-is-seo/

Lubenow, S. (2019). Report: How Search Engines Spread Bad Health Information. Medscape. Retrieved 8 April 2020, from https