Writing for algorithms has become, for many writers, the primary frame through which they approach their work. Not the only frame — most writers would insist they are writing for readers — but the organising frame. The question of whether a piece will perform in search shapes decisions about structure, length, title, and even the level of complexity the argument is allowed to reach.

This is understandable. Search visibility is real, and for writers who depend on traffic, ignoring it is not a neutral act. But there is something worth examining in what algorithms actually measure — and what, by definition, they cannot.

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