You probably know this search engine feature.
Add site:devproduct.io to your search to find results restricted to a single domain. This is useful to see which of your pages ranks for key terms or—ahem—when your docs are otherwise tough to find or search.
But devs may wield it against you.
They’ll search about your product, then add -site:devproduct.io to the query. This provides the reverse effect. They’ll see all results except your site.
They want to see what others have to say about you. Because they don’t trust what you write about yourself.
Ouch.
There are a couple of ways you can approach this reality:
- Perform the search yourself to see what they’ll find and devise ways to show up on other sites
- Ensure the technical content you create builds trust and attracts devs who don’t know about you yet
As with most things, why not both? Find devs where they are and build trust in your product.
You can’t control whether someone uses -site against you, but you can better understand their mindset. Identify the type of information they want to find and ensure you have content to address it.
In The Pages Every Developer is Searching, I look into content that ranks for 10 top dev-focused companies, like GitHub, Twilio, and Postman. These are branded searches, but say a lot about what devs research, including competitors, complementary tools, and developer experience resources.
Check it out and please share with your favorite developer marketer or product manager.