Are you guilty of using poison words in your SEO content?

Communication depends on the language. When creating content, we make use of all of its resources. Choosing the right words makes us understandable to the recipient. It is the basis of SEO practices that include keywords and phrases. Some webmasters indeed try to bend Google’s rules by using forbidden words. However, this strategy often backfires. How is that? Which words are problematic for the positioning process?

The importance of keywords in the positioning and optimization process

The most important thing to understand is that Google uses algorithms to rank websites based on relevancy. The more relevant your content is to a particular search term, the higher it will rank in the search engine results page. You need to write for humans first, then adjust what you have written so that it also appeals to Google. This is where keywords come into play.

Types of keywords

The use of keywords (keyphrases) helps users find specific information. It is also used to position and optimize websites to optimize traffic and achieve synergy with other websites. Search engine optimization is an essential skill for website creators, owners, and marketers. Finding the most searched phrases can be a challenge due to the high level of competition on the search engines.

We can distinguish several main types of keywords:

• general words (head phrases) – these are usually one or two words which, due to their popularity, have a high level of competitiveness (therefore they are particularly difficult to position and take the most time);
• long tail keywords – phrases of three or more words, very often in the form of questions that users enter into the search engine in order to solve their problems, which is important evidence of specific searches by the user;
• brand phrases – related to a specific brand, often containing the name of the company;
• non-brand phrases – words that help us find a specific brand or website, but we do not remember its name;
• local words – related to geolocation;
• short-term fresh – words related to seasonal events;
• long-term evergreen – words related to the constant problems of users who are looking for information on how to do something.

Of course, to this we need to add a separate category of forbidden words related to Black Hat SEO techniques, which we will learn about today.

The key word: trust

Trust is the key to success. It’s an underlying factor in everything we do and say. If you want your company to succeed, it’s crucial that you develop a trustworthy reputation for yourself and your business. You can do this by establishing trust with your customers, clients, and other stakeholders in your business. This will help them feel confident about purchasing from you or investing in your company. That’s why it’s so important to choose the best words.

Banned words – Black Hat SEO techniques

What are poison words?

It is a method of manipulating search engines in order to rank higher in the search engine results pages, even if the content is not well-targeted or relevant. This is done by making certain changes to your website that are against Google’s rules. If you are caught using these techniques, you could be banned by Google.

The words that you use on your website are very important in terms of SEO. You should not use any words that could be considered untrustworthy because they can really hurt your SEO and prevent people from visiting your site. If you’ve never heard the term before, a poison word is any word that triggers undesirable search engine results. Poison words are typically words that are considered negative, offensive, or spammy in nature.

Words that do not inspire the trust of recipients and network robots

The words free, cheap, and best are poison words for search engine optimization. These words are often overused in the marketing of products and services, and if used too much, it can hinder your SEO efforts. If your company’s website is loaded with these words, you may want to reevaluate how you promote your products or services on the site because this could be hurting your strategy.

Words misspelled

The danger of using words that are spelled incorrectly on your website is that search engines may penalize you for it. This can cause you to get less traffic because the search engine will rank you lower in results pages. This affects your image as a professional and expert, and users stop taking your website seriously.

Profanity, gambling and pornography phrases

Avoid using profanity, gambling, and pornography phrases in your blog content. These words can affect your search engine optimization. While a few swear words may not hurt your SEO, it’s best to avoid using them if you don’t want to turn off potential customers or followers. A site that has advertisements for online gambling is not going to rank well on Google because of its strict guidelines against such sites. Some types of pornographic websites are banned from Google completely, while others are only allowed if they have a warning page before the actual website appears.

How do you identify which keywords are most damaging to your site?

Vulnerability Scanning Tools

There are various tools on the web that can help you identify which keywords are most damaging to your site. One of them is Google’s Webmaster Tools. For example, using this tool you can find out what search terms people used to find your website and how many visitors you received as a result. There are a number of vulnerability scanning tools you can use to help identify potential threats to your site. You can try sites like Sucuri SiteCheck, WebInspect, or Acunetix. All these products offer free trials and can provide detailed reports on any vulnerabilities they find.

Last words

The more you read about SEO, the more it becomes clear that while it can be confusing, there are certain things that you should never say on your website. Keywords are the absolute basis of every website owner, no matter if you run a private blog, company website or online store. The language you use reaches the people on the other side of the screen, so it has to be right. If not, the robots will find a cure for the poison right away.