I’m going to begin this blog post with a question: What travels from person to person, quickly spreading from one source and expanding out to encompass the entire population? I’ll give you a hint… it’s viral in it’s nature. If you answered: flu, epidemic, or the common cold you would be incorrect! The correct answer is a meme.
What Is A Meme?
The answer is simple once explained, a meme is a just like a common cold, flu or epidemic. Its an idea, joke, or simply a graphical representation of satire that spreads from person to person transmitted by means of the internet. Due to the uncanny ability of the internet to be a vector for instant communication, memes spread ubiquitously once its nature is deemed share-worthy. A meme typically carries a meaning of social of cultural ideas. Memes are ideal instant time waster for entertainment on the web because they’re quick and easy to enjoy, a critical point given how short the average persons attention span is.
What Is An SEO Meme?
SEO can be frustrating, and in our industry that is the only thing that is constant. Algorithms update, rankings shift, things tend to disappear and reappear but it’s the frustration that always seems to be the only mainstay. That being said, most SEOs undoubtedly share the same frustration. An SEO Meme is a way to say – yes, this too has happened to me. Or yes, I totally know what you are referring to. The trick to making a good one is thoroughly knowing and understanding the subject. Having that stranglehold on your niche, and understanding its nuances provides the greatest opportunity to poke fun. So without further adeiu, may I present:
Top 10 New SEO Memes
Albeit a bit eclectic… enjoy!
1. Bad Luck SEO
Inspired by Bad Luck Brian. This SEO Meme details what happens when an SEO Newbie decides to linkshare as a means of self promotion.
2. Sudden Clarity SEO Guy
Inspired by Sudden Clarity Clarence, this SEO Meme represents that moment every SEOr had when we realized all the major algorithm have been named after black and white animals. If you haven’t realized this yet… this is your opportunity to make this face.
3. Scumbag SEO
Inspired by Scumbag Steve. This meme represents how idiotic turning your SEO efforts over to someone who sounds like they know what they are talking about. Here at Rank Executives, many of our clients have had experience with “other” SEO companies that treated their SEO efforts with about as much reckless abandon as this dude. With the way some people build links, ahem automation, it has the same effect on your SERPS as just User Agent *NOFOLLOW/ (which will instantly take that page out of the search engine results, if you didn’t know.)
4. Insanity SEO Wolf
Inspired by Insanity Wolf, this SEO Meme is perfect for the subject of link building automation. Any short tempered, short attention spanned webmaster has felt the urge to expedite their link building process by using automation software to rapidly build links. Umm all I can say is: Don’t do that!
5. SEO Good Guy
Inspired from Good Guy Greg, there is no way we couldn’t do an SEO Good Guy Meme after parodying Scumbag Steve. SEO Good Guy is a friendly SEO who uses his wonderfully SEO’d PR7 to pass some value to your site after you had been hit with a ranking penalty. I wish we all had an SEO Good Guy looking out for us!
6. Dwight Schrute
Inspired by Dwight from The Office, this SEO Meme represents all SEO non-believers we encounter on a day to day basis. This guy insists SEO does not work, and traditional forms of advertising that worked in 1992 will still work today. Why bother telling him that there are over 2 billion searches a day in Google, or that there could be over 10,000 people a day targeting the product or service in his niche? Forget the effort with folks like this. Oh you’re in the Yellow Pages? Nevermind…
7. Professional African-American SEO
Inspired by the Successful Black Man meme which focuses on the ironic juxtaposition of a successful black man in full business dress with any kind of stereotypical black humor. This SEO Meme is a play on a black mans cry that he was banned simply due to his skin color, but upon closer look the true reason is revealed.
8. SEO Conspiracy Keanu
Inspired by Conspiracy Keanu, which images are display paranoid statements and absurdly philosophical questions this traditional meme was applied to SEO. And the question I am begging here is real! Has anyone else noticed Rand Fishkin’s (the Elvis of SEO) uncanny knack of backing up everything Matt Cutt’s (Google in human form) says? Keanu Reeves sure has!
9. SEO Success Kid
Inspired by Success Kid, the SEO Success Kid meme is just an epitome of myself. Just kidding. No but really…
10. SEO Chemistry Cat
Inspired by Chemistry Cat, my favorite meme of all time. Before I founded an SEO Company, I studied Molecular Chemistry in college. Although there is no such existing compound of Selenium and Oxygen on this planet, it makes for a great meme!
Social Media SEO
As we have stated before, Social Media promotion is the next generation of Search Engine Optimization. Memes in general are a great way of spreading awareness of your brand or company across the internet. Reddit is a fantastic place to spot trending memes, and it’s a great place to submit them as well. Simply connecting with others is a great way to spread brand awareness. Here are some tips to spread your memes all over the internet:
- Submit your memes to ALL of the social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon, Pinterest, Reddit, and Tumblr. By spreading your memes, you give yourself a better chance of getting that meme to go viral.
- Explore other social networks beyond the ones I mentioned in this article to further your social reach! Maybe even Myspace. Maybe not.
- Make sure to ask for feedback. Memes, generally speaking only perform well if they are generally funny.
In general just having the ability to reach out to your customers/client base on a more personal level fosters that personal interaction. When building a brand, that is key!
Be sure to check out our blog post on Social Media SEO which discusses this subject more in depth.
