Improving SEO with Video Game Tactics
I recently watched Mark Williams-Cook’s talk, Improve your SEO with video games and exploits, at brightonSEO 2025.
Early in the talk, Mark mentions the concept of the meta (or metagame) in gaming. You might have also heard it referred to as ‘gaming the game’. Simply put, the meta is the optimal way players find to win. This might involve selecting a particular character, choosing certain items, or adopting a proven, dominant strategy.
It’s become common to suggest that META stands for Most Effective Tactic Available. While this is a good way to explain the concept, it was never originally an acronym.
In competitive multiplayer games, players often gravitate towards the meta. This often results in a significant proportion of the player base all doing the same thing. Players unaware of the meta, who are simply trying to play the game as intended, struggle to gain any ground against these ‘metagamers’.
The Cycle of Change
The game creators typically make adjustments to rebalance the game in response to this dominance. They often weaken the potency (‘nerf’) of certain items or characters. Alternatively, with so many players using the same strategy, the community may unearth a new meta designed to counter the current one.
The meta doesn’t ever go away in either case; it simply has to change again and again. Mark likened this phenomenon to when SEO practitioners find something that works for manipulating Google’s algorithm. If an advantage exists in SEO, people will certainly exploit it to its fullest.
Google will eventually correct this. It regularly rolls out core updates to its algorithm. These updates not only reduce or ‘nerf’ the effectiveness of these exploits but often penalise the worst offenders.
Relating Concepts
As a video game enthusiast, the metaphor really resonated with me. The gaming comparison helped me easily relate to and understand the SEO concept. It reminded me that the best way to explain an idea is often to relate it to something the audience already understands. I’ve made a mental note to try this whenever I’m explaining a complex or technical SEO premise to a colleague or client.
I also looked into the origins of the term ‘nerfed’. Apparently, it came from a time when a video game designer reduced the effectiveness of swords in their game. Players complained it was like using a ‘nerf sword’, referencing the popular brand of toy foam swords. You could go down an even deeper rabbit hole wondering how NERF got its name, but I’ll spare you that tangent for now.