Keyword Stuffing Is Unethical and "Black Hat"

I just found out that one of our local Cincinnati SEO competitors is keyword stuffing their clients' websites in order to earn top rankings in Google and other search engines.

I won't name the firm (for now), but this is unethical and is definitely considered a "black hat" technique.

Here's the trick: At the bottom of each of their clients' pages they have placed a rather large paragraph of text in a lightly-shaded font color (the text is not hidden, but you might need a magnifying glass to read it). The block of text is a continuous list of their targeted keywords. It even goes on to mention that readers should go to Google and enter selections from their list of keywords. They even print the list of keywords they are targeting in search engines.

Unbelievable!

This kind of consulting behavior gives SEO firms a bad name.

When the website gets caught (and they will), Google will punish their site rankings and/or ban them from the Google server.

Shame on this yet-to-be-mentioned firm for stooping so low at the temporary expense of a higher rankings in Google. Enjoy it while it lasts.

More on this later...

Comments

[Rob Bunting]

Yikes!! Thanks for the post Steve, alerting folks to this situation. I hate to hear that SEO firms are employing these type of 'black hat' techniques. I agree Google and other engines will catch on to this at some point and unfortunately the SEO firm's clients are who will ultimately 'pay' in the long run.

[Kristen Hanschu]

Great post! I have to remind people of this on a constant basis. Unfortunately, many people do not understand the implications of this and it this is fantastic information.