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When one of my favorite green blogs was looking for an SEO expert I was seriously tempted.
Why not quit client work and focus on green SEO full time?
After all I was an activist even before I started offering blogging, social media and SEO services.
Ultimately I did not apply yet it inspired me to wonder how green SEO experts can save the world.
You can actually contribute to saving the planet by simply doing what you do anyway!
The best of us look beyond profits
Let’s be honest. Money can’t make you happy.
You also can’t eat money once the planet gets destroyed.
Technology is often at the forefront of either human progress or planet destruction.
True progress can’t happen at the expense of the environment though.
We see it with AI again. Data centers cause water shortages due to the immense demand to cool them down.
It nothing new though.
Some of the most active people on social media are green marketers.
In other words they are full time environmental activists using the Internet to fight for their causes.
I’m not talking about organic SEO or something this time!
No, I’m referring to green SEO on behalf of mother earth and organizations that attempt to lessen the human impact on it.
Sure, I know many SEOs who occasionally help the environment by
- working for alternative energy companies
- embarking on charitable projects
- or supporting non-profit organizations.
There is still another small but hyperactive group of people online who are everywhere on the Web and who have huge impact.
I’d like to call them green SEOs as they optimize in ways that can save the world!
Praising people and projects
I won’t mention any individual names as labeling someone as “SEO” would probably harm their image.
Why? It seems most average people are still mistaking SEO for spam.
Let’s take a closer look at these green hat SEOs!
What sets them apart from the rest of the online marketing crowd?
So how can these so-called green SEOs save the world?
Some people are already leading by example! They have some distinct traits!
Thus I also shared some of my favorite green projects below that use online media extensively.
Green SEOs have a huge fan base on social sites
They get followed by people who eagerly share their content just because they have a common cause.
They rally their supporters for green causes.
They might be vegan e.g. and support animal welfare.
They are hyperactive power users on social media
These “arm-chair” activists do not block the streets or burn tires.
They often work on projects that encourage the spread of electric vehicles.
Other focus on bikes and a healthy infrastructure.
Yet even in tech there are various ways to save CO2, energy, water, and land use.
Activists get away with self-promotion
As green SEOs speak out on behalf of the planet they can get away with self-promotion.
Even though they spread the word about their own projects they do not do it out of solely selfish reasons.
Just think of projects like
- Ecosia (the search engine that plants trees)
- PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animals)
- Greenpeace (they do have a whole publishing empire by now)
So when Greenpeace SEOs share a campaign supporters engage automatically!
All of them rely on word of mouth and spread the word using various online media.
Green SEOs do not call themselves marketers
Most green SEOs won’t call themselves SEOs, marketers, PR people or anything similar in most cases.
At the end of the day they are activists, advocates, campaigners.
One of my favorite green project is Client Earth.
They are lawyers who treat Earth or the planet as their main client.
They are fighting polluters in court on behalf of humanity as a whole!
They work like anybody else to make a living
they are not activists solely for activism’s sake.
Maybe you can do that in your teens or early twenties.
Yet later you have to earn money to to feed yourself and your loved ones.
So ideally you start working in a field of work that allows you to support yourself and the planet as whole!
Or you can make a change in the industry you already embraced.
Green SEOs are seldom technical
When it comes to search engine optimization most people focus on the technical side it seems.
Yet in reality most SEO work is done in the content SEO and social SEO realms.
Whether it’s is content creation and promotion or outreach and social sharing. It’s all part of SEO nowadays.
In fact they rather focus on content optimization and social networking instead of tweaking the code behind the scenes.
Sure, even activism websites have to be findable. Thus the technical SEO foundations have to be in place.
It’s the actual campaigns that affect change.
My favorite example is Veganuary that creates a 30 day challenge each year for people to go vegan.
Green SEOs mean business
They do not just try to stop others from harming the environment they also offer solutions.
Yes, these solutions also yield profits in many cases.
Yet some organizations are also non-profits.
Some combine both by giving away all their profits like the above-mentioned Ecosia, a certified B company.
What do green media activists have in common?
We can see several patterns here.
People in green marketing are outside the SEO industry in the public perception.
Yet they are much bigger by follower numbers or global impact.
They impact the work directly or use money to do so.
It’s not all about the money, status or fame though!
Green campaigners are not marketers or optimizers
Green campaigners are using the same methodology and are even supporting the same causes as “real” search engine optimizers.
I prefer green clients myself.
Yet these people are perceived as activists while performing similar tasks as I do.
It seems that search engine optimization for worthwhile causes does not get treated as mere marketing
People on social media love green topics.
Optimizing sites and spreading content about the environment seems to be an accepted practice!
In contrast to SEO for businesses or even blogs gets frowned upon.
Do you need help at saving the world?
I offer a free consultation to non-profits and activists.
* (CC BY 2.0) Creative Commons image by Solly Markovitch
