Explaining SEO to My Grandma

My grandmother turned 89 last month. Almost every time I visit the farm back in Carpio, ND, she needs me to reset her VCR for her, and I have to write a lengthy set of instructions on how to use the remote control to operate the TV and VCR (one or the other she can handle, but not both). When my mom got her a cell phone a few years back, to use “just in case of an emergency,” Grandma replied, “Well, I don’t plan on having any emergencies,” and left it at that, never to touch a cell phone again. Needless to say, she’s a little behind on technology. Not that that’s a problem; anyone born before World War II has every right to be clueless about Twitter. It does, however, make trying to explain my job to her a bit difficult.

Me: I’m a copywriter for a company called Ecreativeworks. We build websites and do SEO for other companies.

Grandma: What’s “SEO”?

Me: It means search engine optimization.

Grandma: What’s a search engine?

Me: It’s for finding things on the internet. Like Google, for example.

Grandma: blank stare for a few seconds, then Oh…What’s a “Google”?

Me: It helps you find stuff on the internet. Like if you want to buy wool socks, you type in “wool socks” on Google and it finds a bunch of places that sell wool socks.

Grandma: So this is on the internet, like a computer?

Me: Yes.

Grandma: Why don’t you just go to Penney’s and buy socks?

Me: Well, you can if you want. But a search engine is for finding things if you want to buy them off an internet site.

Grandma: another blank stare, not as long this time, then So you sell stuff to people on the internet?

Me: No. Well, kind of. We help other people do that. We make it easier for people to find the stuff that they sell.

Grandma: Why don’t the other people just find it themselves with a Google?

Me: Um, they can find it with Google. But we make it so Google finds the websites that sell the stuff.

Grandma: I thought the Google found everything for you.

Me: Well, it does, sort of. But… flash of inspiration …it’s kind of like using a phone book. If you want to find a plumber, you can’t just flip open the phone book and find the listing for a plumber right away. You have to know where to look. We help Google know where to look. 

Grandma: But you don’t work for the Yellow Pages, do you?

Me: No, we make sure people’s website have lots of what’s called “keyword-rich content,” and, uh, other stuff, so that search engines know what’s there. Then the search engines are more likely to find the website when people are searching for what’s on it and suggest it to people.

Grandma: So if I want to buy wool socks, I write “wool socks” on the Google and it tells me to go to Penney’s?

Me: Yeah, but it will show you a bunch of other places that sell wool socks, too. So you can find the best socks and the best prices and whatever else you’re looking for…

Tune in next time for “Explaining SEO to My Grandma, Part II.”

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