Tripping SEO Traps

The contract arrived and read in part, "A keyword density of 10 percent in required." The writer who had originally agreed to craft an article based on a keyword let out a low whistle as a mental image of the finished product assaulted his good sense.

In a five hundred word article this would mean the keyword would be used fifty times. That's not bad if the keyword is 'the', but for a product keyword or phrase this is called 'keyword stuffing'. The practice is not limited to online content.

In the end, an article with a keyword density that high does not connect well with readers. You may ask yourself why someone would request an article like this. The answer is simple - the belief that this approach helps them achieve higher rankings in search engines. The truth is this article will eventually be detected as spamming and will cause the overall site to be penalized for the 'get rich quick' mentality that requested the article.

Keyword stuffing is also a problem in Meta title information and other descriptions. When you compromise the message of your website to get visitors to your site, it is possible that your site will not have anything relevant to say to your visitor because it reads like a foreign language or broken record.

Perhaps it is a lack of patience, but there are many online businesses that can't seem to wait for legitimate SEO strategies to take effect. Many of these individuals will spend hundreds of dollars with SEO firms that promise top ten listings. What many of these 'businesses' do is find a search term nobody is using (and may not even be related to your product or service) and optimize your website through Meta titles and other html language to ensure that an often bizarre term comes up first in the search engines when that exact term is used. If you're asking yourself how this helps, you have just asked a very good question.

The old adage that there is "no such thing as a free lunch" is true in site optimization strategies. The proper strengthening of your site position takes time, instruction and a deference to honorable SEO techniques that result in positive long-term rankings. By taking this approach you will also find that your site visitors will have the best opportunity to take your site, products and services seriously.

Techniques like 'keyword stuffing' are generally a turn-off to both search engines as well as visitors. In the end what use is increased site traffic if you have little substance to sustain the visit and maintain the long-term connection with potential clients.

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects.

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