Phil: Do you ever have deja vu Mrs. Lancaster?
Mrs. Lancaster: I don’t think so, but I could check with the kitchen.- Groundhog Day

The Internet has taken the art of finely-crafted writing and beaten the living crap out of it.

Not only has content on the Internet become a series of bulleted points, short choppy sentences and suspect grammar, but a final indignity has been thrown on the heap of bad copy that pollutes the Internet. I am speaking of the “art” of keyword stuffing by SEO copywriters and their total disregard for the human beings that might actually be reading the content on any given web page that has been optimized.

Oh sure, we all laugh about the page we read where a keyword phrase has been repeated to the point of ridiculousness (much like our writer Simon has been brainwashed into believing this is a good thing), but aren’t we overlooking the bigger picture here? This is just another piece of evidence to the mounting case against SEO as a legitimate business. Spammy links, unethical practices and now, poor writing. Even worse than poor writing, this is writing that is terrible by choice. There are no SEO copywriters, even though we looked for a writer with that title ourselves. In truth there are just writers. Bad writers and good writers, and bad writers write bad content with a lot of keyword phrases repeated. Good copy writers (which I am not) write copy that flows well, has a well defined message, and is easy to understand, among other things. Keyword-stuffed copy does none of these things and only makes the art and science of SEO and copywriting look like a joke.

The search engines are doing a much better job of filtering out sites rampant with keyword stuffing, and hopefully it will lose favor as people see it doesn’t work. Until writing becomes a true art on the Internet (have patience, Shakespeare), try to remember this when you are crafting your copy: Write for people AND search engines, but don’t let the other one know it. In other words, a blend of well written content with a controlled use of keywords should work for both site visitors, whether they are people or “spiders”.

For a great example of keyword stuffing, check out David Naylor’s blog post on the subject.

This comic is brought to you by: Keyword Discovery | Syndicate Kahuna | Romow Web Directory | SEOHosting.com

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