SEO & Meta Content · Authentic Storytelling · Webrings & Connection · Your Digital Garden
Karen ann Donnachie · VCA · 2025
Your site can be like a living, growing digital garden, where you can grow, too.
We're past the halfway point! By now you have:
Not gaming the system — just telling it what you are
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is about making your site discoverable. Not gaming the system — just telling search engines (and humans!) what your site is about.
When you share a link, the preview card comes from your OG tags.
Meta tags live in your <head> section. They're invisible to visitors but tell search engines and social media about your page.
🛠️
Use our meta tag generator to create your meta tags — copy & paste into your <head>.
AI companies are scraping the web to train their models. Your images and text may be used without your consent.
robots.txt — a text file in your site's root that tells bots what they can access.
Save as robots.txt in your site's root folder
The same knowledge that creates engaging experiences can be weaponized to manipulate users.
Some dark patterns are now illegal in parts of Europe and California.
🔍
Real examples of deceptive design — and what NOT to do.
Clear navigation. Honest messaging. Real value. Make people want to stay — don't trap them.
Your portfolio is not a resume. It's a story.
Your portfolio is not a resume. It's a story you're telling about who you are, what you care about, and why your work matters.
"I am a multi-disciplinary creative professional leveraging synergies across diverse media platforms to deliver impactful solutions..."
Nobody wants to read this. Nobody believes it.
"I make things that make people feel something. Mostly confused, sometimes delighted."
This sounds like a real person. You want to know more.
Mouchette.org
Martine Neddam · Online since 1996 · The site IS the artwork
"Mouchette" presents herself as a nearly 13-year-old girl. The site blurs identity, fiction, and interaction — visitors become participants. User submissions become part of the artwork.
"My name is Mouchette
I live in Amsterdam
I am nearly 13"
Creator revealed in 2011, after 15 years of anonymity
Lauren Lee McCarthy
Artist exploring social relationships in the age of surveillance · Creator of p5.js
McCarthy's work examines how technology mediates human relationships. She created p5.js — the JavaScript library you may already know from creative coding.
Also created p5.js — used by millions of creative coders
17776
Jon Bois · 2017 · SB Nation · "What Football Will Look Like in the Future"
A serialised speculative fiction multimedia narrative told through the web. It uses video, interactive maps, text, and web design itself as storytelling tools. The story unfolds as you scroll.
The web as a storytelling medium, not just a delivery system
The early web was about linking to each other
A collection of websites linked in a circular structure. Visit one site, click "Next", go to another site in the ring. Decentralized discovery — you find people through community, not algorithms.
Social media tried to replace this — but the indie web is bringing it back.
HOW A WEBRING WORKS
← Prev · 🌐 Site A · Next →After last site → loops back to first
Isobelle McCall's resource container — links as antithesis of bigotry and discrimination.
This Instead →DIY web hosting. 700K+ sites. Spiritual successor to GeoCities.
neocities.org/browse →A links page or blogroll is a curated list of sites you love. It shows your taste, your community, your world.
Social media followers aren't yours — the platform owns them. An email list is the one audience you truly own.
Buttondown — Simple, privacy-focused
Mailchimp — Free tier for small lists
Substack — If you want to write regularly
Who are you? → your 'about page'. Where are you? → your social media & connections. How will you organise your community?
3 sentences for your About page. No jargon. Must sound like you. Include something personal.
What image will represent you? A photo, an avatar, a drawing?
How will you link to socials? Will you add your email? A contact form? Newsletter signup?
Your name! Your links page / blogroll. Your meta tags.
Walk through the submission template and see what we're looking for.
❓
ASK US ANYTHING!
Questions about any project? Post them on the class Q&A form.
SEO = telling the web what you are, honestly
Meta tags make your site discoverable & shareable
Protect your work from AI scrapers with robots.txt
Know about dark patterns so you can avoid them
Authenticity > perfection. Sound like you.
Link to others. Be part of a community.
Build an email list — the one audience you own
If you have completed all of the above you are ready for class #4
🌱
hashtagcyberstar.neocities.org