Before we discuss the current events, let’s look at something that might have led to them – Taylor Swift’s private jet scandal. According to Business Insider, the superstar spent over 166 hours in the air during her last tour, which, as expected, caused quite an outrage. Adding to that the fact that it wasn’t the first time when this singer was accused of overusing her aircraft, it’s natural that she faced quite a backlash.
Fans demanded she contribute more to the environment, while her actions became a matter of public discussion. As you might expect, the superstar herself isn’t satisfied with the negative media attention that she has been getting recently, so she took matters into her own hands, using a clever SEO trick.
What Taylor Swift did was show up at a New York Jets football game. Perhaps it is because she is rumored to date their player – Travis Kelce – but by doing so she skillfully decreased the impact of her aircraft scandal.
As you might have already deducted, it all lies in the name of the football team – New York Jets. By showing up to their game, the superstar attracted attention, thus pushing many websites to publish articles about it and her rumored boyfriend. These posts led to a major change in the SERPs.
Before, when you typed Taylor Swift jets you’d get a plethora of articles about the scandal. Now, you are more likely to be exposed to the posts relating to this particular game (though the situation is rapid). In this one clever way, the superstar managed to cover her scandal and effectively reduced the risk of more people learning about it.
While such a well-thought-through action is not surprising considering the magnitude of Taylor Swift, she isn’t the first public figure to manipulate SEO in such a way. A similar strategy was undertaken by the British ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
It all started in 2020 and his bizarre answers to questions during interviews. First, he complained that while working from home, he is distracted by coffee and cheese. Another time, he mentioned painting wine boxes to look like model buses. Similarly to Taylor Swift, he had SEO in mind.
The complaint was a clever way of covering the partygate – a scandal caused by a party organized during the lockdown with a lot of…wine and cheese. The second mention was aimed at hiding the negative attention that he got for his £350m-for-the-NHS Brexit bus stories and the fight that he had with his wife that ended in soaking their sofa with wine.
People usually search with short phrases, which in the end means that yes, this method is effective. However, it won’t ever cover all the negative attention, but it can still decrease the reach of the news about scandals.