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KEYWORD STUFFING IS LIKE SKATING ON THIN ICE

By Lenn Harley

Real Estate Agent with Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate 303829;0225082372

July 27, 2007 01:50 AM

STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSES MOUTH. DON'T USE SHADY SEO PRACTICES.

Still waiting for the Google update and re-reading the Google Guidelines again, I noticed a section that might be of interest to some Active Rain folks.

We're familiar with the term "Black Hat SEO" What lots of folks don't know is that "everything you ever wanted to know about SEO" is published right in the Google Guidelines.

KEYWORD STUFFING

In a few words, Google describes the practice of keyword stuffing as:

"Keyword stuffing" refers to the practice of loading a webpage with keywords in an attempt to manipulate a site's ranking in Google's search results.

We've all seen these pages. The article will be short and often repetitive with lots of links to the writer's web page, more later about link spamming, and at the bottom of the article will be a paragraph or more of gibberish. Gibberish is the only term that can describe the content because it makes little to no sense to a reader.

EXAMPLE: real estate county homes sale buy sell auction contract city state interest rate county sellers
buyers agent realtor city agent broker realtor phone search listings real estate county homes
sale buy sell auction contract city state interest rate county sellers buyers agent realtor city agent
broker realtor phone search listings real estate county homes sale buy sell auction contract city
state interest rate county sellers buyers agent realtor city agent broker realtor phone search listings
real estate county homes sale buy sell auction contract city state interest rate county sellers
buyers agent realtor city agent broker realtor phone search listings real estate county homes
sale buy sell auction contract city state interest rate county sellers buyers agent realtor city agent
broker realtor phone search listings real estate county homes sale buy sell auction contract city
state interest rate county sellers buyers agent realtor city agent broker realtor phone search listings

WARNING: GOOGLE IS CONSTANTLY TWEAKING THEIR ALGORITHMS TO DETECT THESE ABUSES . How will you know? Just "go to Google", search for the keywords that usually show your lovely web site in position #6 in the SERP and suddenly you're not there. You may be on page 60, a page where NO ONE will ever find you.

real estate web sites

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Ryan Hukill - Edmond

405home @ ERA Courtyard - Edmond, OK

Realtor, Team Lead

Lenn, you have no idea how much I appreciate your always helping us understand this SEO stuff. I often wonder where the line is. I try to load my blog posts with relevant, useful information, along with plenty of keywords and links back to other blog posts about related topics. I may have to have someone really review a few of my posts to see if I'm crossing any lines. I sure hope not. For a rookie, it's tough to figure out where that line is sometimes. Thanks again!

Jul 27, 2007 02:08 AM

Investment Brokers Realty

Investment Brokers Realty - Branson, MO

Branson & Ozark Property Management

Great information, Thanks!

Jul 27, 2007 02:15 AM

Katerina Gasset

The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT

Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Matt from google just did an excellent post on this on his blog. It was some guy selling eternity rings and complained that google dropped him saying it is because google is on Big Pharma's side; well, Matt shows his hidden stuffed keywords and it was ridiculous! I would never use black hat. It is not worth it. Spiders may not have our brains but they do know how to find the black hatters. Katerina

Jul 27, 2007 02:15 AM

Lane Bailey

Century 21 Results Realty - Suwanee, GA

Realtor & Car Guy

There have been several VERY good blog posts in the last couple of weeks about this hereon AR. It isn't only a problem with web pages, but also with blog entries. Another practice that needs to be looked at is link spam within one's posts. Link spam is when one puts links in all over the post... especially if they aren't contextually relevant. Normally, what one will see is a blog post with a bunch of links back into the writer's website (deep-linking, not to the home page). The idea is that deep-linking from a site with better link juice (like A/R) will give them better placement in the SERPs).

Users definately need to remember that they can damage themselves and Active Rain or other sites with their content.

Jul 27, 2007 02:15 AM

Lenn Harley

Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA

Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

Ryan. Take a look at

http://activerain.com/blogsview/157493/GOOGLE-ALGORITHMS-ARE-GETTING

Posted last evening. It has very timely info. These posts are not popular enough to get featured, but some folks might benefit.

Jul 27, 2007 02:15 AM

New Jersey Real Estate James Boyer Morris, Essex & Union County NJ Realtor

RE/MAX Properties Unlimited, Real Estate - Morristown, NJ

Yep, sometimes, you get away with it for a while and sometimes you don't, and sometimes your competitor turns you in for it and that is the end of the road. Best to pick a small number of key words and concentrate on them.

Jul 27, 2007 02:17 AM

Brian Brumpton

Keller Williams Boise - Boise, ID

Boise Idaho Real Estate

Lenn,

Thanks for the heads up. There are always people who are going to try to find short cuts. Sooner or later it catches up with you.

Jul 27, 2007 02:18 AM

Ryan Hukill - Edmond

405home @ ERA Courtyard - Edmond, OK

Realtor, Team Lead

Lenn, thanks for that bit of advice. I don't get into buying links & stuff like that. I just try to use links in my posts back to more relevant posts that I've done in the past and a few links back to my website. Am I crossing a line there?

Jul 27, 2007 02:36 AM

Andrew Trevino

ADT Real Estate - Wilkes Barre, PA

Wilkes-Barre Homes For Sale

Thanks for the post. I'm a newbie to the SEO stuff and really enjoy the lessons. Keep it up!

Jul 27, 2007 02:41 AM

Terry Lynch

LAR Notary and Closing Services - Saint Clair Shores, MI

I was told I had too many keywords on my site and reduced them. I may have to reduce them even more, I was told no more than 50 keywords.

Jul 27, 2007 02:47 AM

Sharon Simms

Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL

St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS

I'm always finding home pages on web sites that list every city, every neighborhood, every condo building for miles around.

Jul 27, 2007 04:43 AM

Katerina Gasset

The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT

Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Sharon- I run across those sites too and they are at the top of google, that is so unfair to the consumer because they are not helping the consumer. And then the agents' sites that are below them have great resources for the consumers are not picked by the consumer who they were meant for. The other problem with those sites is that the consumer gets frustrated and leaves the search altogether so everyone loses out. Katerina

Jul 27, 2007 05:59 AM

Lenn Harley

Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA

Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

Terry. I think you could use one more keyword on your main page, the state where you are located. I'm not aware of any 50 keyword rule. But, then, I'm no expert.

Andrew. I don't often post about SEO stuff. I like hard core real estate stuff. Thanks for dropping by.

Brian. There are NO short cuts.

Ryan. I think those sites are just plain ugly. If I were a consumer, I wouldn't respond to them.

Jul 27, 2007 06:52 AM

Ryan Hukill - Edmond

405home @ ERA Courtyard - Edmond, OK

Realtor, Team Lead

Lenn, I agree with you. I hate websites that are just a bunch of links and that's the type of website that I'm competing with for tops spots in my market, but what I was really wondering about is my blog posts, etc. I try to keep them keyword rich and use lots of links to other useful posts I've done, with the end goal being giving the consumer more info to read if they want further info, but will that ultimately hurt me by being seen as "link stuffing" by the search engines? What's your opinion?

Jul 27, 2007 07:04 AM

Randy Lyon

Kettley and Company - Oswego, IL

Straight from the horses? Cute graphic Lenn. Did you get your inspiration from Matt's article with the toe and foot magnets?

Jul 27, 2007 07:09 AM

Jeff R. Geoghan

Coldwell Banker Realty - Lancaster, PA

REALTOR, Marketing Manager

Theres a site here in Lancaster that is built by a local SEO company for a small local RE firm. The site has one or two iterations, with a page for each town titled "town"-homes-for-sale, all with nothing but keywords dressed up to look like content. I wish they could get flagged, as they get great rankings for their site. There's absolutely no individual content to be found. Argh!

Jul 27, 2007 07:16 AM

Lenn Harley

Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA

Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

Ryan. I'm no expert, but IMO, one of the beautiful things about Active Rain is the ability to provide original content and link to additional content.

The type of backlink problems that Matt Cutts speaks about is directories that have no content but are a site of sold links to agent's web sites. If they have content, they should be O.K., but who knows what Google will think.

I don't think what you're doing is a problem, but don't take my word for it.

When I see a post with nothing but a 10 word intro and 35 lines of links, that's obviously not providing content, but just for the purpose of backlinks.

Jul 27, 2007 09:03 AM

Margaret Woda

Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. - Crofton, MD

Maryland Real Estate & Military Relocation

Good information, as always, Lenn. This is way over my head, but I think you've inspired me again - this time, to read the Google Guidelines.

Jul 28, 2007 06:24 AM

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