{"id":21944,"date":"2022-12-08T13:55:56","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T13:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/08\/hit-by-the-google-spam-update-heres-what-you-might-be-doing-wrong\/"},"modified":"2022-12-08T13:55:56","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T13:55:56","slug":"hit-by-the-google-spam-update-heres-what-you-might-be-doing-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/08\/hit-by-the-google-spam-update-heres-what-you-might-be-doing-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Hit by the Google spam update? Here’s what you might be doing wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When Google launched a new spam update at the end of 2022, complaints poured in as webmasters were caught off-guard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why are people still using outdated SEO tactics like \u201ckeyword stuffing\u201d?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what else you may have done wrong and how you can practice actual SEO that benefits real-world users.<\/p>\n

Seriously? Is keyword stuffing still a thing?!<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ll be honest with you. I was flabbergasted that some websites affected by Google\u2019s recent spam update<\/a> were using an antiquated SEO tactic called \u201ckeyword stuffing,\u201d according to analysis based on Ubersuggest data<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Keyword stuffing was a thing in the late \u201990s of the last century! That was way before I was into SEO myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When I started practicing SEO in 2004, Google was already the market-leading search engine, and keyword stuffing was essentially a thing of the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sure, people still tried to achieve the \u201cideal keyword density<\/a>\u201d [sic!] (there is no such thing, by the way). Yet, those were the noobs even back then.<\/p>\n

In 2001, when Google launched the revolutionary PageRank algorithm for counting and measuring the value of incoming links, the dirty SEO trick referred to as keyword stuffing was officially on the way out.<\/p>\n

So why do people still embarrass and shoot themselves in the foot using 25-year-old spam tactics?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s probably the same principle as putting your hand on the burning stove to find out for yourself what hot means. I get that logic, but when it comes to adults and SEO, it\u2019s like telling me that you are still watching movies on a VCR!<\/p>\n

If you do keyword stuffing in 2023 or beyond, you are embarrassing yourself and the whole SEO industry. In reality, it\u2019s even worse than the steam engine comparison.<\/p>\n

Do you hate the blind? Or are you blind to the suffering of others?<\/h2>\n

Using ages-old spam tactics like keyword stuffing, hidden text, or repetitive meta tags is akin to letting the blind trip on purpose. Why would someone do that?<\/p>\n

Either you hate them or are blind to the suffering you\u2019re causing others. Now it\u2019s too late. You can\u2019t claim you didn\u2019t know anymore.<\/p>\n

In a recent Mastodon update<\/a>, Google Search Advocate John Mueller stressed the additional burden<\/a> prehistoric spam tactics have on the blin<\/a>d or visually impaired (people who are not blind but who often can\u2019t read on screen) who use screen readers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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