Malicious search engine optimization techniques are widely used in order for a website to gain a higher search engine ranking, or general online visibility for certain keywords.

Regarded by the vast majority as “black-hat” and unethical, these techniques can, surprisingly, be unknowingly used, and innocent masses with crystal-clear SEO intentions can find themselves being penalised by the search engines for using black-hat tactics.

Unfortunately, ignorance is not an excuse, which is why black-hat techniques need thorough research before any SEO is attempted; particularly when content is considered. Delving into black-hat techniques can, quite often, be accidental when it comes to content writing – the most common tactic used of which is keyword stuffing.

This practice involves loading a web page with keywords, but when applied within content is more commonly known as keyword spamming. It is imperative that keyword spamming is avoided at all costs in content because, as we all know, “content is King” as an SEO principle.

For example, imagine that a copywriter has been given blogs to write for a spam-filtering company. The blogs need to be 250 words long, discuss the benefits of using spam-filtering technology and incorporate the main keyword ‘spam’ on multiple occasions in each.

In this case, keyword spamming will highly likely become inevitable to a novice. As ‘spam’ is the topic and the main keyword needed to divert more traffic to the website in question, it will be naturally referred to on countless occasions within the blogs – so much, in fact, that the keyword density will become excessively high. However, using a higher percentage on a repeated basis than what is considered acceptable by the search engines will cause the content itself to be regarded as spam, which can of course ultimately result in search engine penalties.

Keywords are an extremely valuable component for a successful SEO strategy, and therefore need to be addressed with a broad range of SEO knowledge. Approaching SEO content writing when unaware of specific techniques branded as unacceptable can cost an organisation dearly, as a bad online reputation can give a long-lasting negative brand to a website, and therefore a business as unprofessional. For the reason that living down a bad reputation is near impossible, being misinformed is not a reasonable defence.

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