SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible

to create issues for your site if you use them as keywords within the site or for PPC marketing

purposes:

 Vulgar words

 Politically incorrect words (these words are especially dangerous in countries like China

and North Korea where censorship is prominent).

Despite what seems like a simple list for types of words to avoid, it’s really not that simple. Many

words can be excluded or even flagged by a search engine because those words are associated with

search engine spam. When it becomes apparent that a word or term seems to be used strictly to

rank highly, even when included on a page full of unrelated content or links, search engines will

flag that word or phrase and will consider closely the relationship to other words and links on a

page before making a ranking determination. The problem with that, however, is that as soon as

search engines crack down on a word or phrase, another one pops up to take over.

Now, don’t confuse poison words with keyword poison. Keyword poison is actually the use of key-

words on your site far too many times. When you’re including keywords on your site, you should

use them only as often as necessary and not one time more than that. If you throw your keywords

into the site randomly, you’re poisoning the search term ranks and run the risk of having your site

knocked farther down in the ranking or even having it delisted completely as spam.

Finally, forbidden search terms and poison words are different from stop words. Stop words are those

words that are so common on the Web that they are usually ignored by search engines and are com-

pletely useless in your PPC programs and other keyword marketing efforts. Here’s a brief list of some

of the most common stop words, though there are dozens more that might be included:

 A

 An

 The

 But

 E-mail

 When

 Where

 How

 Free

 If

 And

 While

 Or

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Part II SEO Strategies

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