keyword stuffing

Definition

The now-penalized practice of cramming as many keywords as possible into content to manipulate search rankings, reflecting the quaint era when search engines were dumber than a bag of hammers. A relic of SEO's wild west days that occasionally still appears in content written by people who stopped learning in 2006.

Example Usage

The intern's blog post mentioned 'best affordable shoes buy online' 47 times, apparently unaware that keyword stuffing died with frosted tips.

Origin

Black-hat SEO technique from the 1990s-early 2000s, killed by Google's algorithm updates

Fun Fact

Google's algorithm updates have gotten so sophisticated that keyword stuffing now actively harms your rankings, making it a self-punishing crime.

Source: Search engine optimization history

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