Consider Obliquity to Improve SEO

Obliquity, a concept popularized by the British economist John Kay in his thought-provoking book, is the idea that our goals are best achieved indirectly.

By focusing on our customer, providing each with excellent products & services, we often make more money than if we prioritize the financial goal alone.

Some perhaps rightly criticize that we are no longer achieving a goal best if another path works better. Putting semantics aside, the lesson here is valuable.

For example, lightbox pop-ups to build an email list work very well. Nonetheless, you need to balance this with respecting your visitor. Perhaps you only show the pop-up when scrolling down the page enough or after a reasonable period of time.

If they instead bounce from your site, this actually harms SEO rankings due to poor user engagement.

It may seem obvious but caring about people pays off. The challenge is to remember this despite short-term pressure to succeed. Serve others well to benefit from obliquity not only in business but all of life.

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