What is Keyword Stuffing?
By now most business owners know that the text content that is found on his or her company’s website is one of the major factors that determines where the website will rank in the search results. Business owners understand that the more relevant content they can add to their websites the better the chances of getting found. While this is true, many website owners and SEO firms still resort to worthless tactics known as Keyword Stuffing in the feeble hope of gaining higher placement. In a nut shell, Keyword Stuffing is simply adding repetitive words, out of place phrases, or lists of keywords in the hopes of adding relevancy to your page.
Hidden Text is a form of Keyword Stuffing except the text is hidden from view. Often this is because the text that has been created is so overly saturated with keywords that it is long, ugly, or makes no logical sense when read. Text is hidden with CSS to visually remove it from view, shift it outside the border of the page or change the color to match the background.
Keyword Stuffing Is Not New
Keyword Stuffing is nothing new. It originally came onto the scene in the mid to late 1990’s. Back them the internet was flooded with software programs that would generate pages full of keyword-loaded text. The problem is this technique only worked for a few short years and by the time the early 2000’s rolled around, Keyword Stuffing no longer had any major relevancy benefit. Increasingly, search engines have moved from simply ignoring keyword stuffed websites into actually punishing them with lower placement within the search results.
Matt Cutts from Google recently posted this video regarding Keyword Stuffing and Using Hidden Text.
Some SEO’s Still Promote Stuffing?
Despite the fact that Keyword Stuffing has been seen by major search engines as a spammy or black-hat technique for over a decade, a shocking number of SEO companies still offer the service to unsuspecting business owners. Most often the Keyword Stuffing is done in the form of a list of cities or towns or services that your company wants to target. These keyword lists may also include links to keyword saturated pages. Overall the finished work looks impressive and justifies a nice big bill, and this is the primary reason why many SEO firms still sell these types of ineffective services.
The biggest issue today is that while 15 years ago Keyword Stuffing was a effective (however still dishonest) way of boosting your website’s position in the search results, today it has the opposite effect. Sites that are found to be using Keyword Stuffing techniques are often penalized.
Things to Avoid
Keyword Stuffing takes on many different forms, some of which are outlined below:
Repeating Keywords:
Example: Looking for quality and affordable Mustache Combs? Look no further for Mustache Combs! We are your number one online source for Mustache Combs . View our our online gallery of Mustache Combs or browse our Mustache Comb store now!
Irrelevant Keywords:
Example: One of the major problems plaguing the city as of late is the rise in litter. Buy Mustache Combs The city council met last evening to discuss…
Blocks of Keyword Lists:
Example: Mustache Combs, Combs for Your Mustache, Mustache Comb, Number one Mustache Combs, Affordable Mustache Combs, Quality Combs for your Mustache.
Stuffed Link Text:
Repetitive, Related Keywords:
Example: Our Mustache Combs are of the best quality in the world. When you are looking for Combs for Mustaches your search engines here.
Bad Grammar / Sentence Flow:
Example: If you are looking for Mustache Combs New York City come visit our online store. We have all the options for Mustache Combs service.
How to Avoid & Fix Keyword Stuffing:
The best way to avoid the pitfalls of Keyword Stuffing is to hire a reputable website designer in the first place. Make sure he or she knows that keyword stuffing is bad and needs to be avoided. Additionally, if you have hired a copywriter or have someone providing textural content for your website, make sure that he or she also knows to avoid over-loading your text with keywords.
With a reputable, professional website designer there should be no need to hire a SEO Company, however if you do, make sure you review exactly what he or she will be doing. Additionally, if your employees or yourself use a Content Management System (CMS) or blog to edit your website, make sure you don’t go overboard with using keywords. Your content should sound natural to read.
Advertising Solutions, Inc does not use Keyword Stuffing, Hidden Text or other questionable, black hat techniques on our client’s websites.
