*Pretend those are computers, everyone has iced coffee, and they’re working remotely… basically the same thing*

“Sorry if I’m interrupting your work,” my coworker says.

It’s actually my day off, but I find myself at the coffee shop as a customer, my drawstring bag on the chair beside me, stuffed with a notebook and pen.

“You’re not,” I reply, picking at my own rice bowl. “I wasn’t really getting anywhere anyway.”

My notebook is open in front of me and boasts two or three sentences–all of which have been scribbled out.

I’m trying to write a piece (this piece) about writing for an SEO-driven content mill / farm, but I’m realizing that part of the reason I’m struggling is because I’ve been writing in a very formulaic fashion for the past three years.

I try to think of a good way to describe SEO-driven writing and the world of content mills without getting into the details or sounding overly cynical.

BUT…

It’s hard.

For Aspiring Writers

Don't get me wrong, I definitely learned a lot from working for a content mill.

For aspiring writers, they serve as a way to get their foot in the door, especially if they don't have a college degree or professional writing experience to back them up.

It's a great way to build a portfolio, learn about marketing tactics, and work with a variety of clients. Not surprisingly, the cons often outweigh the pros. First of all, many content mills criminally underpay their writers. Keep in mind that these writers are contractors and freelancers, so they're not receiving any type of benefits or employer tax assistance either. I was lucky enough to work for a company that paid marginally better than any other content mills I've come across since. However, that doesn't mean that it paid well.

But above all, If i wanted to drag them for anything in particular, I’d tell the world that:

content mills squeeze nearly all the creativity out of the writing process.

You're saddled with expectations to write everything in accordance with a certain format. Formulaic intro, formulaic body, formulaic conclusion.

On the seldom occasions that I'd slither into my company's Slack channels, I was always surprised to see people talking so expressively about their article assignments.

Was I just a bad writer? Surely there were very few ways to make an article titled, “7 Signs You Need to Change Your Furnace Filter” exciting, no?

Why the fuck does every online recipe have a back story before the recipe? Idgaf about your childhood memories CAROL… how much butter is in the banana bread!?
— virginia finkle (@finKlEiNhoRN22) February 28, 2022

The average reader doesn’t care about all of the meaningless drivel that content mills furiously pad their articles with.

Which is funny since there’s a huge push to not write fluff. But, frankly, it’s unavoidable when you’re required to write 1,500 words on the benefits of a patio remodel. So if you were ever wondering why the chicken noodle soup recipe you clicked on has a ton of unnecessary padding, it’s because that’s the assignment.

WHY?

This writing method is designed to keep the reader on the website longer. Scrolling and seeing more of the content, and ultimately getting more eyeballs on the ads throughout the page. Time on site, scrolling aka engagement, and impressions all add up to more ad revenue for the website and helps keep them afloat. So if they can make you search and scan for the recipe, that increases their value to advertisers, with every scroll and every extra second on the site.

*Here’s the first text in on a post for a chicken noodle soup recipe… four ads in focus, a massive image, no ingredients.*

And don’t even get me started on how many of the statistics tossed into articles fail to refer back to a concrete source. That is a whole different topic worth discussing in and of itself.

I do feel as though the demand for more written content is actually killing the writing itself in the process.

I mean, I’ve taken to hunting for answers and info on sites like Reddit, of all places, just to get insight from real, actual human beings—rather than people who are being grilled on the lack of keywords they stuffed into their most recent assignments.

Long-form content, in this world, is often just a bunch of bullshit sandwiched together with a few obscure statistics that the average reader will not give a fuck about. I think one of the biggest problems with writing churned out by content mills—and the blogging industry in general—can be summed up by the following tweet.

I guess it’s just a little sad, is all.

So, consider this one of my attempts, inane as it might be, to diversify the surplus of blog content that exists on the web.

And as someone who’s done both the formula, robotic like, SEO-content creation for massive corporations, as well as the creatively inspired and spirited articles for The City Root… let’s just say I prefer the latter.

Mills Kill