The SEO Don’ts: Don’t Stuff Keywords (SPAM)

Search engine optimization is a never ending race to the top of the search engines. There are millions and millions of websites trying to get to the top every day. Everyone from seasoned SEO professionals to novice, small time website owners are trying their best to figure out the search engine algorithms and be the first to break the code and get to the top. Unfortunately, many website owners are participating in spam practices to get to the top. The first rule of SEO, though, is not to spam.

Granted, it’s tempting. I mean, it makes sense that if I want my site to rank for the term ‘vacuum pumps’, that I should stick that keyword phrase in there as much as possible. Wouldn’t this show the search engines that my site is so much more relevant to vacuum pumps than other websites if I talk about them more? Maybe… in 1989. Today’s search engines are much smarter than that. In fact, today’s search engines can absolutely tell when you’re keyword stuffing-otherwise known as spam.

As a matter of fact, today’s search engines are so serious about their dislike of spam practices that they will not only NOT rank your website at the top if you use keyword stuffing (spamming) practices, but they may even penalize you. Google, for instance, literally has algorithms that detect for too high of density for keywords and will then drop the results even lower than had you not stuffed at all. That’s how important it is to NOT spam.

Keyword stuffing should not be done anywhere-period. It does not help. It hinders. People like to stuff keywords in their Meta tags, image alt tags, throughout all their website text, articles and even their blogs. This practice is outdated (understatement) and incredibly detrimental. Instead of stuffing keywords repeatedly, try to make your website flow. The more natural and useful your website is, the likelier it is to rank. Of course, there are several other SEO methods that should be used such as link building, article marketing, developing unique website content, etc. Look into those methods and leave the practices of keyword stuffing in 1989 where they belong.