The phrase “SEO content” can be interpreted as an insult. This brings to mind a series of poor writing choices that result in content that humans (or bots) don't want to consume.
You can tell by looking at it that it's sleazy SEO content. This is boring, boilerplate, keyword-filled content that can be adapted to almost any industry, company, or keyword theme. This type of content created solely for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes reflects poorly on your brand and can negatively impact your organic search performance. Again, long gone are the days when sleazy SEO content improved your organic search rankings.
In particular, Google feels strongly that bad SEO content hurts the user experience, so it wants to promote sites that create “useful, trustworthy, human-first content” written for humans, not bots. , released a series of Helpful Content Updates (HCU). Starting in 2022, sites with poor performance and content availability issues were identified during regular HCUs. But as of this month, HCU is bundled with Google's March 2024 core update, and will never again send a signal on its own warning sites that there are issues with certain useful content. died. Instead, you must guess which system within the core update is causing the performance degradation.
Still, you should know when your content is only meant to game search engines, even without the help of performance-degrading HCU. If you're not sure, evaluate your content against these 9 signs that the SEO content you're writing is poor.
It might be fine if your content is based on one or two of these tactics, but poor SEO content tends to check all nine of these boxes.
1. Standard writing style
If you can replace your company or keyword theme in your copy, it's probably boilerplate SEO copy. For example, the following structure is commonly seen on sites that display poor SEO content.
You need it keyword? we have keyword It is for sale.Whether you need high quality keyword or keywordor looking for keyword, keywordor keywordyou'll find a wide range of choices. keyword in Company Name.
Such templates allow SEO professionals to incorporate keywords into grammatically correct boilerplate text that doesn't actually convey any value. It's easy to see that boilerplate text is not only mind-bogglingly boring, but also useless content.
2. Keyword stuffing
Perhaps the oldest form of organic search spam, keyword stuffing is the practice of forcing so many keywords into a piece of content that it becomes difficult to read. For example, the copy below is packed with the keyword “stuffed animal.”
We carry high quality branded products stuffed toy, stuffed animals, and other stuffed animals. We are proud to offer some of the best names. stuffed toy.we offer thousands of different styles stuffed toyfrom traditional teddy bears to unusual ones stuffed toy Stuffed platypus toys, stuffed Gemsbok toys, etc.all stuffed toy We sell products that meet or exceed U.S. safety standards.
While there is no ideal ratio of keywords to non-keywords in content, the five keyword instances embedded in the 62-word paragraph of text above are clearly keyword-packed.
If you're using formulas, you're probably also doing keyword stuffing. Copy with too many keywords is more easily detected and demoted by Google's algorithm.
3. Excessive use of small keyword variations
Researching keywords in depth is important to understanding the breadth and depth of keyword themes. But using all the keywords in your book on the same page of copy is just another form of keyword stuffing. Including all long-tail keywords in your copy will make it harder to read, especially if all variants contain the same main keyword nugget.
For example, “stuffed animals for sale,” “best stuffed animals,” “high quality stuffed animals,” and “stuffed animals for girlfriend” all share the same keyword, “stuffed animals.” Using diverse and interesting language generally improves your content. But using subtle variations on the same keywords doesn't lead to more powerful content, it just repeats the same phrases over and over again.
4. Awkward grammar to match keywords
Correct grammar is important, and Google can algorithmically detect bad grammar, especially when combined with keyword stuffing. Just because a lot of people type your keywords into Google's search box, don't use awkward words to respond to exact match keywords. Some keywords need to be massaged to fit better with the rest of the sentence. For example, “for sale” keywords within e-commerce content can result in some awkward structure.
as a producer of potted plants for sale In our retail business, we carefully control potting climate, irrigation and fertilization.
Search engines have been smart enough to recognize synonyms for years. As long as you provide the proper context and use other grammatically correct keywords, Google will understand the relevance of your content even if you don't use exact match keywords.
5. Lazy word choice
Think of every keyword as a hole in the Swiss cheese of your content. If you delete keywords in your head and the words left are not interesting or diverse, you may be writing poor SEO content. Human language is a wonderfully diverse landscape of words that describe every concept imaginable. Avoid vanilla word choices. Keep a digital thesaurus handy while writing to identify easily understood synonyms, especially verbs and adjectives.
6. Passive voice
The passive voice, the laziest of word choices, enters the sentence when the subject takes action, rather than taking action itself. We all learned this in elementary school. Lively language attracts readers and communicates more powerfully. Not all sentences are active, but when most are passive, the writing feels more awkward.
7. Overlisting
Lists are a useful tool for communicating subject coverage and are not spammy in nature. In fact, bulleted or numbered lists that explain each list item in a little more detail can be very appealing. However, when combined with keyword stuffing, over-reliance on lists is another indicator of poor SEO content. For example, the following list in the same paragraph is intended to show nearby variations of the keyword, rather than conveying the actual meaning.
We are committed to providing every school, church, organization, and business with beautifully crafted, high-quality commercial furniture. We offer a wide range of chairs, tables, bar stools, booths, table tops and more.
8. Overlink
Excessive links, whether styled as blue underlined link text or not, are distracting and can detract from the reader's experience. There's no ideal ratio of links to text, but if it looks like a long blue blob, it's probably a list of links stuffed with keywords. A good link should benefit the visitor and direct them to a relevant page of value. Overlinking occurs when SEO professionals feel the need to link to everything everywhere.
9. Overuse of headings
If your content has a high headline-to-content ratio, it's probably bad SEO content. No, there is no ideal ratio. However, if there are only two or three sentences under each heading, if there are more sentences than necessary, and if the headings are full of exact match keywords, it's probably spam.
This is an easily identified SEO tactic. You'll literally be magnifying the spam in big bold letters. When used correctly, headings act as milestones in the copy you're writing, introducing new topics or key points. You probably have enough to say about the topic to merit a headline. Otherwise, the content will feel sparse and the headings will detract from the overall flow of the piece.
These nine tips will help you recognize when you're writing poor SEO content. If so, read on to learn how to create high-quality, people-first, and informative content. This is important today to represent your brand well, satisfy your visitors, and keep Google's valuable content system in good shape. And it's becoming increasingly important as Google works to unearth even more hidden gems from the depths of the internet and roll out Search Generative Experience, currently in beta.
