The Effect of Saying that Facebook Sucks or Twitter Sucks

BY Ben Lang Feb. 22, 2010 30 Comments

Let me first set the record straight: I don’t have any issues with Twitter or Facebook. They are both superb social media networks.

Actually this post is not about Twitter and Facebook but a valuable lesson in search engine optimization (SEO). While I don’t profess to be an SEO expert, and I don’t typically blog about it, this is an interesting story based on simple observations.

A few months ago, I wrote a post about eBay, 10 Reasons Why eBay Sucks for Sellers because of my frustrations with the site. Today, I am still getting a steady amount of search engine traffic from visitors googling “ebays sucks”. It is is actually my number one keyword driving 100 visits per month because my site comes out on the first page for that search.

Here’s some data from Google Analytics:

How did I manage to get ranked so highly for “eBay sucks”?

I benefit from the fact that there is limited competition on those keywords because large blogs such as TechCrunch, Mashable, Huffington Post etc. can’t publish a post saying that any company — eBay, Facebook, Twitter — sucks. There are many reasons they can’t do that such as legal, strategic and branding.

Do people search XYZ sucks?

Of course, people are always frustrated with sites like eBay, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, CNN, Friendfeed, LinkedIn and more. And a lot of people search with terms that come to their mind.

Here’s a screenshot from Google’s Keyword tool showing the number of monthly searches for “eBay sucks”, “Facebook sucks” and “Twitter sucks.”

What’s my point?

First, let me emphasize that I don’t recommend that anyone write a post stating that XYZ sucks for the sake of SEO traffic. At the end of the day, the honesty of the content is what builds a loyal readership. Without that visitors won’t come back.

However, if optimizing your post for SEO is important to you, it makes sense to use casual language that people use in their day-to-day conversations. And because big blogs don’t have the ability to do so, you should take advantage.

We’ll see if I get traffic in the next few weeks from searches on: Twitter sucks, Facebook sucks…

What are your thoughts? Since this post seems to be creating a lot of controversy let’s hear!

Social Media

eBay, Facebook, Twitter

http://www.buildthatlist.com Tom | Build That List

I don’t think I would use this strategy because people searching for terms like this are just looking to rant. There is a very slim chance that they will buy anything or stick around long enough to convert them to a regular reader.
.-= Tom | Build That List´s last blog post: The Aweber Code….And Why You Need To Promote It! =-.

http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

I understand and that adds to my point that you don’t just come out with this type of content for the sake of SEO. There has to be a real story behind it.

In the case when people are complaining about a service they might actually be very good prospects for buying a competing product/service.

For example if a Verizon user looks up “Verizon sucks” and ends up on a blog with an AT&T offer they might just switch over.

http://redeyeblogging.com Brian Inman

You could be right about the Verizon sucks. It makes sense.
.-= Brian Inman´s last blog post: Subscriber Numbers Are Not A Sign Of Success =-.

Alex Ainsberg

Yeah. I hate Verizon. Customer Service fails.

http://www.buildthatlist.com Tom | Build That List

That is a really good point Ben, we should always have an alternate to offer!
.-= Tom | Build That List´s last blog post: The Aweber Code….And Why You Need To Promote It! =-.

Clinton Skakun

LOL, it’s new to me that people search this stuff. Not really sure why people would search “facebook sucks”, I guess like you said, they’re out to rant.
.-= Clinton Skakun´s last blog post: Your Business Will Not Flourish Unless You Have THIS…! =-.

http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

Hey, it may be funny but its traffic that you could dominate at your will…

http://www.ben-lang.com Ben Lang

Since this post seems to be creating a lot of controversy let’s hear what you think.
http://www.creditrich.net Marc Augustine

It’s interesting how you got the key terms “facebook sucks” and “twitter sucks” in your article without actually saying that they suck…lol..
good job..hard to believe that someone your age is this innovative…:)
but I love this blog

http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

Thanks! Innovation is always very valuable Glad you’re a fan of this blog.

http://whatawebsite.org/ Will

Nice ideas Ben – interested to see the results soon ! Cheers, Will
.-= Will´s last blog post: wchingya.com =-.

http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

We’ll see eventually, for all I know the peak traffic on this post could come from Google in a few months.

http://shirleyszone.com/ Shirley

I think that SEO is all about using phrases and not just single keywords. For example using something like “ebay sucks” will get you to rank higher in the search engines than using just “ebay” because that word, “ebay”, is already taken up by lots of websites already especially the big guys, so you wouldn’t be seen anywhere ranking for that keyword.
.-= Shirley´s last blog post: The Twittering Tree – Yeah, The Tree Tweets…Oh, And It Talks Too =-.

http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

Yeah, that makes sense. That definitely plays a big role in SEO. Best regards.

http://www.slrview.com dslr camera

dont forget the word of “scam” is also usefull to get traffic
.-= dslr camera´s last blog post: Fujifilm Finepix S5 Pro 12.3 Megapixels (Nikon Lens Mount) Body Only Kit =-.

http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

Good suggestion, I’m sure it is. I think Mashable uses it a lot. It probably attracts people who are afraid of the potential of being scammed.

http://www.theuniversitykid.com Make Money At Home

Passionate users are amongst the best you can invite to your website. Sure, they may not buy anything or even visit in the future, but they’ll probably leave a half page long rant on how eBay is the worst marketplace around or send your post to a few friends if they agree with it.

Gotta love it
.-= Make Money At Home´s last blog post: Trent Brownrigg Interview – The $48,000 Site Flip =-.

http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

Good call! That’s another benefit of having someone on your site that wants to rant, it could really benefit your community, and start up conversation. Thanks

http://www.aaronharrisfitness.com/blog Aaron

People seem to be drawn to the “##Resaons I hate ____” posts too. I think a lot of people wonder “is it them or me.” By that I mean they want to know if they are the only ones that had a bad experience with a certain company. Sure, many will want to vent, but they’ll be glad to know they’ve found a blog that they can agree with, and just like they’ll tell everyone not to do business with that company, or buy that product or service there’s the chance they’ll tell people to check out your site or blog. More fans.
The “alternative choice” that others suggested is a great way to put a positive spin on it too.

http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

Very true, “is it them or me” is a great attraction to these kind of posts. If they do agree with you and decide to share your blog around, sounds good to me.

http://getyourbizsavvy.com/ Alex Monroe

Interesting post. I don’t think I would do it to attract viewers unless I was really writing about something that sucked. There are some things that really do suck and if you can write about it passionately than great.
.-= Alex Monroe´s last blog post: The Entrepreneur All Star Football Team =-.

http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

Thanks. Well if your passionate about it, and others agree it could really benefit your blog like Aaron pointed out above.

Serge@CarMovers

I get what your saying and I too had an experience myself when i wrote an article with a cleaver title and got tons of traffic, but 92 visits a month is really low.

http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

Nice job. Yes it’s low, my traffic does not stem from SEO (which is where those 92 visits came from) for now, since my blog is fairly new. As for now it only contributes to 5% of my traffic, hopefully that will grow though.

JacobMaslow

This sort of post should not be casually done. It can do severe damage to an e-Commerce company.

If your package arrives a day late, gets mishandled by UPS or whatever try to be reasonable about it instead of punishing the company and their employees.

Calling the 800 # – even if you have to call more than once to get the right result will accomplish more.

http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

It could, this isn’t specifically for e-commerce companies though. Of course you shouldn’t do it if a package arrives late, this is just if you have continuous problems with a company.
http://twitter.com/zachmachado Zach

Everything take balance and requires strategy. Just like Ben cleverly laid keywords all over this post like land mines, he still did it in a manner which allowed readers to enjoy the post without feeling like they were being force fed. I will be interested to see if this post brings Ben’s visitor count back up to the 23k+ mark like in April.
Knowing your audience is critical when deciding to post a negative article calling any well known entity out on the carpet. You must also beware of any skeletons hiding in your closet – the internet seems to be the best medium at proving “what goes around comes around.”
At the same time, if you are a well known entity (heck, even if you aren’t well known and care anything about your image and brand) and you are not aware of the technology available to the world – and how it can affect your products, or even worse, your brand image – then you might as well close your doors right now.
Ben – for someone who still can’t legally drive in the USA, you write very well and seem to have some innovative business and marketing strategies up your sleeve.
Great job!

http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

Of course, I would also be very happy if that happened Thanks, but I do have a permit! Glad you’re enjoying my posts.

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The Effect of Saying that Facebook Sucks or Twitter Sucks

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