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author
Erik Newton
M Posted 4 years ago
t 3 min read

Humor is a great way to connect with an individual or an audience. Industry-specific jokes have the additional benefit of reinforcing the identity of its members by requiring industry knowledge to appreciate the joke or the pun. Marketing jokes to keep things fun - BrightEdge

At BrightEdge I introduce the marketing demand generation group and the practice of SEO on the last day of new-hire training right before lunch and the exam. The trainees are usually a little saturated with new information, so I tell SEO jokes to bump up the energy initially or restore it if I see them glazing over. I started collecting and writing industry jokes about a year ago and now have more than 70.

If you are looking for deeper and longer format industry content, check out BrightEdge's review of the Best SEO Books or Best B2B Marketing Books.

The basic structure of SEO jokes:

  • Pre-setup
  • Setup
  • Pause
  • Punchline

For the pre-setup you need something clear like: Wanna hear a joke? or Wanna hear an SEO joke? Just before the setup, it's best to smile and enjoy the joke a bit before you say it to warm up what is almost always a serious or skeptical audience. (Do you have tracking on that joke? That joke might convert for you, but it probably won't convert for me. Actually, yes and probably not.)

After the setup comes the pause, which is usually the most difficult part to manage. Let the setup hang for about 3 seconds. If you go longer the audience feels toyed with, shorter and they do not have a chance to figure it out. Then, deliver the punchline and wait a few seconds for the mental cognition and then the knowing grin. I have found that it's best to tell 3 jokes at a time to help set expectations and give the listeners cues on the joke pattern and a chance to guess the answer, but not so many jokes that they tire of them.

  1. Why do mobile marketers make good parents?
    1. They are responsive
  2. Why do they call it the Mini-Panda update?
    1. Because it finds content that is a little bare
  3. What do SEOs use when they go fishing?
    1. Linkbait
  4. What does the SEO use besides consonants?
    1. Disavowels
  5. What two things do SEO pre-schoolers have at break?
    1. Cookies and link juice boxes
  6. Why do SEOs hate watery oatmeal?
    1. Thin content
  7. What music do SEOs like?
    1. ALT=ernative
  8. Why do SEOs love the farmer's market?
    1. Lots of organic content
  9. Why do SEOs like monkeys?
    1. Long tails
  10. What does an SEO call three bottles of microbrew?
    1. A local 3-pack
  11. Why are SEOs good at game shows?
    1. They're good at Quick Answers
  12. How do the SEOs increase the chances their rock band will be discovered?
    1. By turning up the AMP
  13. What kind of fruit do SEOs like best?
    1. Low hanging
  14. What is the optimum view for an SEO?
    1. Page view
  15. Why did the SEO cross the road?
    1. He wanted to get hit with traffic

If you are done with the jokes and want to get serious about SEO success, demo the BrightEdge SEO platform.