I didn’t grow up with my nose attached to a glowing screen. The world of optimizing websites for search results tends to make the eyes on either side of that nose glaze over. Nonetheless, one must soldier on in the new digital era. I’ve come to appreciate how a strong SEO strategy can lead to increased book sales and recognition.

I’ve been blogging on my own site about different topics that I’ll be including in my upcoming book “Delaware from Railways to Freeways.” Honestly, I haven’t given much thought to how that activity impacts my SEO rankings.

Have a look at the photo accompanying this article. I recently wrote a blog post about Solomon Bayley, an obscure historical figure. This post was then linked by Microsoft Bing search results to an article written about Bayley by a University of Delaware historian.

Consequently, anyone searching for my first book, "Delaware Before the Railroads," might stumble upon the link to that post, thereby creating a perception that my work is endorsed by the History Department at the University of Delaware. It’s not, but I certainly appreciate the huge reputation benefit of being shone in this light. I hope my writing this commentary doesn’t put the kibosh on this happy accident!

I have to tread lightly if I want to tickle the search engines this way. Reputation is a delicate thing that takes years to build and can be destroyed in an instant. If, for example, I start writing blog posts loaded with keywords that play to the search engine rather than my actual readers, I’ll be perceived as self-serving or insincere. I do not want my readers to think I’m a manipulative hack.

Moral of the story: keep it real. Write your truths for your reader. When search engines hand you a plum link, accept it with grace, but don’t change your writing style or course of action based on that alone.