{"id":3533,"date":"2019-07-23T07:02:51","date_gmt":"2019-07-23T07:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/?p=3533"},"modified":"2022-09-05T19:24:03","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T17:24:03","slug":"what-is-keyword-stuffing-why-must-avoid-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/seo-blog\/what-is-keyword-stuffing-why-must-avoid-it\/","title":{"rendered":"What is keyword stuffing and why must I avoid it?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"DSM<\/div><\/div>

The term’ keyword stuffing’ refers to the practice of including a considerable number of keywords in the content on your website. In addition, keyword stuffing also consists of the stuffing of meta tags on the site. This is done to try and artificially increase a page’s ranking in search results in addition to driving more traffic to the site.<\/p>\n

Why keyword stuffing is not good<\/h2>\n

What is a ‘keyword’?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A keyword<\/a> is an important term that is relevant to the content of the website in question.<\/p>\n

The purpose of search engines is to connect an audience with the content that will answer their search queries. This means that they use algorithms that do their very best to favour high-quality, informative content.<\/p>\n

When content<\/a> is not well written for a human audience but is instead structured to try and give the algorithm what is thought that it wants, the result is usually a spammy and artificial read. This text doesn’t serve a site visitor’s needs and (almost always) doesn’t deserve their attention.<\/p>\n

Consequently, keyword stuffing is considered to be a black hat technique<\/a> that goes against SEO best practices.<\/p>\n

What is ‘black hat SEO’?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

‘Black hat SEO’ happens when aggressive SEO strategies, techniques and tactics are used which concentrate on search engines and not a human audience. These types of methods are usually not in line with the guidelines set down by search engines.<\/p>\n

Black hat SEO techniques include the following:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Keyword stuffing,<\/li>\n
  • Text that is invisible, and<\/li>\n
  • Doorway pages,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Examples of keyword stuffing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    The search engine giant, Google, gives these examples of keyword stuffing. These are:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Lists of phone numbers without any added value that is substantial<\/li>\n
    • Blocks of text which list cities and states that a webpage is attempting to rank for<\/li>\n
    • Repeating the same words or phrases so frequently that it sounds unnatural. An example, which was first found on Yola, is:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \n

      We sell custom cigar humidors. Our custom cigar humidors are handmade. If you’re thinking of buying a custom cigar humidor, please contact our custom cigar humidor specialists at custom.cigar.humidors@example.com.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      Keyword stuffing looks unsightly. Moreover, it gives the user a poor experience. This is because out-of-context content seems unnatural to any web visitor.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>