A couple of months ago, I got a call out of the blue from a vice president of a large human resources firm.

The VP was looking for someone who could help employees learn to avoid jargon and acronyms. When he Googled “how to eliminate jargon,” the web version of my February 2013 e-letter came up in the top five results.

I allowed as how I could devise training and write guidelines to help employees avoid jargon. But I pointed out that I work primarily with small and medium-sized nonprofits, not large for-profit HR firms.

Had I been thinking more clearly and confidently, I would simply have told this VP that I was not a good match for his company. I could do the job, but someone who was familiar with his industry could do it better.

The upshot is the same: The VP didn’t call back. I didn’t expect him to. At some point, he or the people he was trying to sell on hiring me said, “Wait, this person isn’t right for the job.”

And that’s why I don’t worry about search engine optimization (SEO), at least not for the web version of this e-letter. I don’t need to generate contacts from people who won’t (and shouldn’t) hire me.

Contrast my practice with that of my friend Maureen White of Urban Pastures Art. During my visit to her home in Helena, Montana, last month, she asked me how important page headings are in SEO.

She already knew the answer. If she wants to sell her painting The Sentinel, she calls the page Raven Painting, with The Sentinel as a subtitle. The page heading has to include the keywords people are likely to search.

The difference between Maureen’s practice and mine lies in the nature of our businesses and how we market them.

My enterprise is built on repeat business and referrals from people like you. This e-letter keeps my expertise at the front of your mind so that, when you or someone you know needs help with nonprofit communications, you’ll contact me.

Maureen also has a solid base of satisfied customers, but she always needs to sell her pieces to new patrons. SEO is therefore a big part of her marketing plan.

Though I post my e-letters on my website, the main medium is e-mail, and the titles are subject lines. Seven years’ worth of data on open and click-through rates have taught me that my readers love clever or intriguing subject lines like Diid Happens or Duck, Duck Plan.

So my headings are optimized for e-letter subscribers rather than for search engines. (ESO rather than SEO?)

The bottom line is simply what I preach all the time: What you communicate and how you communicate it depends on your goals and audiences. Nothing, not even SEO, is one size fits all.

If you need help with SEO for your website, you’d better contact someone else. But if you need help accomplishing your goals and reaching your audiences, let’s talk.