Can using typos be considered as "spam"

[galide]

Quoting from a different "thread", kgun suggest that targetting typos as "keywords" may be considered as spam. This was a bit off topic, and think the point deserves a thread on its own.

The point is not what "advanced xsl" is about really, but the number of people who wonder what the heck "advanced xsl" is all about. Get about 30 hits a day for this phrase.

but this is a bit off topic, isn't it?

...

Still my bolding.

Sounds like spam to me.

If it is discovered by Google, you may get zero hits from them a day

I don't think that using typos (on purpose or not) can be considered as spam. If I search for "brtney spears", and someone has mispelled it this way in a relevant article about britney spears, and subsequently rank well for these keywords, why should it be considered as spam?

Manu

[kgun]

But if I searced for

"advanced xsl"

I would not use a SE that consistantly produced a story (hit) about Britney Spears.

P.S.
Wrong spelling of word was (is still?) an element in (... hat) SEO.

You may spell Yahoo and Google with one o. Domains with those names would naturally get many hits.

[galide]

I think you are fighting the wrong battle here kgun, the post is a genuine reference to this article. And you have caught the wrong fish in your net . But the question about whether targeting typo can be penalised or not is still valid though.

In regards to using typos for SEO, I believe it is a genuine method which has nothing to do with so-called "black hat" techniques. You are simply helping Google driving people to the right content, even if they have misspelled their search query.

And if you are using Google adwords for instance, the suggestion tool will provide you with misspelled keywords as recommendations. Since Google implicitly recommends to target misspelled keywords in your CPC campaigns, I don't see why they would prevent webmasters doing exactly the same thing in natural search listing.

Manu
<please add your link to your signature CD>

[Martinscholes]

And which of these words is not spelt correctly? Colour, color, defence, defense, organisation, organization?

[galide]

according Spelling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, none of them.

[Dubbya]

Originally Posted by Martinscholes

And which of these words is not spelt correctly? Colour, color, defence, defense, organisation, organization?

"spelt" is not "spelled" correctly.

[mattholsonback@mac.com]

Typos and/or misspelled words are legitimate tools all day long.

[subhzash]

Originally Posted by kgun

But if I searced for

"advanced xsl"

I would not use a SE that consistantly produced a story (hit) about Britney Spears.

P.S.
Wrong spelling of word was (is still?) an element in (... hat) SEO.

You may spell Yahoo and Google with one o. Domains with those names would naturally get many hits.

What is typos?? I don't know will you please tell me??

[galide]

Originally Posted by subhzash

What is typos?? I don't know will you please tell me??

Please see Wikipedia link posted above. Definition is on there.

Manu

[galide]

Typos and/or misspelled words are legitimate tools all day long.

Agree

[crankydave]

Just to add a point...

If the misspellings are determined to be "deceptive" they can cause you problems. Another thing to consider when using them is their potential effect on the credibility of a site.

Dave

[galide]

If the misspellings are determined to be "deceptive" they can cause you problems. Another thing to consider when using them is their potential effect on the credibility of a site.

Yep good point. A couple of advice which would fit in the category "please use your common sense before trying to do something you think is very clever."

[kgun]

Originally Posted by galide

I think you are fighting the wrong battle here kgun, the post is a genuine reference to this article. And you have caught the wrong fish in your net . But the question about whether targeting typo can be penalised or not is still valid though.

Hm.

Originally Posted by galide

And if you are using Google adwords for instance, the suggestion tool will provide you with misspelled keywords as recommendations. Since Google implicitly recommends to target misspelled keywords in your CPC campaigns, I don't see why they would prevent webmasters doing exactly the same thing in natural search listing.

So you would advice people to set up domains with names that can be confused with well known domains and redirect them to their own domain?

Are you a SEO specialist?

[galide]

So you would advice people to set up domains with names that can be confused with well known domains and redirect them to their own domain?

No. I would advise to use common sense. Does Google suggests "Britny Spears" when you target "secured mortgages"? No. So I would not advise someone to buy britny-spears.com and redirect the traffic to their mortgage site. But I would certainly advise someone to buy secured-morgage if it is available and redirect it to their website about secured mortgage.

Are you a SEO specialist?

Depends on your definition of "SEO specialist". So many people brand themselves "SEO specialists" that the term itself becomes confusing. But I do not need any credential here really anyway, since all the information I am providing here is either common sense or can be checked easily. No assumptions presented as positive statements, no questions presented as answers, no misleading information presented as words of wisdom

[powsurfer]

we have a short list of typos at the foot of our pages on Ski Chile & Argentina
I have found we catch a good number of searchers from this as they are common misspellings of what they are really looking for.
I believe we are helping our potential customers.

[advancedmerchant]

Typos and common mispellings are PERFECT for Pay per click! Nobody bids on them, so they are cheep (pun intended).

[galide]

I believe we are helping our potential customers.

100% agree

[goxford]

You tell me is it Cheesecake pan or Cheese Cake pan you need to be listed under both

[powsurfer]

I am however always unsure whether we should be using US or UK spellings on other words e.g. traveler / traveller when our market is split between the UK and US

[datetopia]

Typos are great for competitive keywords weather you use them for ppc or to drive traffic to your website. Most website texts are written carefully and verified before publishing, while searchers type fast and often make mistakes. This creates a big SEO opportunity.

Free typos generator: Typos Words - Common Misspellings Generator - Generate Spelling Mistakes

[martindow]

Originally Posted by Dubbya

"spelt" is not "spelled" correctly.

According to here it is acceptable as the past tense of spell
AskOxford: spelt

[halfmexi]

About a year ago I started adding misspelled words to my image alt tags and those little 'mispellings' bring in a few hundred new visitors a month to my 3 e-commerce sites.

Just look at eBay.... if you search using misspellings you can get some great deals - cheap!

It isn't spam, it is the use of unique keywords!

[dburdon]

Misspellings are a valuable source of traffic.

I work with clients who target words such as "calendar" (correct UK spelling). 15-20% of searches by UK based searchers spell the word "calender". I also work for a London hotel called The Zetter. 5% of searches are spelled as "Zetta" or "Zeter". Another client targets the term "Vehicle", which is mangled as "Vehical" and "Viechle" amongst others. I would be daft to presume potential customers who misspell should be ignored.

We work in search engine marketing. Its a commercial discipline. Not a literary one. No doubt had Google been invented in France the "Academie Francaise" would have insisted on correct spelling. But maybe that's why Google was created in the US.

[galide]

thumb up

[janeth]

Different countries spell things differently and saying that Google might do this or that could go on all day.

I've never seen proof that misspelling something affects the ranking.

However as a site visitor it might cost you if you have a site selling a product or service.

[erikko]

I guess that's a rubbish to say because not all bloggers knows perfect English speakers and spellers and add to the fact that American english spelling and pronouciation is different from British

[edhan]

Originally Posted by janeth

Different countries spell things differently and saying that Google might do this or that could go on all day.

I've never seen proof that misspelling something affects the ranking.

However as a site visitor it might cost you if you have a site selling a product or service.

Yes, I do agree. As far as typos concern, I believe that it is for the relating products or services you are using it for, then it should be okay since the end result will be bringing you to the correct search. The only thing I dislike most will be going to a site that turns out to be the wrong product for the keyword search instead.

[Terry Van Horne]

Using mispellings has and likely always should be considered legit SEO. The marketing/keyword research part of SEO should target an audience, an audience/demagraphic can be segmented by mispellings partly because color is colour, but, obviously color is a mispelling.

Mike Grehan's newsletter had an interview with a key Yahoo! engineer where he recommended adding mispellings, keystroke errors, slang etc. in the keywords tag. That has been a technique that many have used for a while now. In the early days we placed a few in image alts but... somehow some figured it was OK to put a short story in there and of course abuse leads to loss of a valuable technique you could use to help the SE.

IMO, mispellings do affect credibility with users, however, SE's I rather doubt it. I've never seen it at any rate.

[qh4dotcom]

If typos were considered spam by Google, then why does Google allow you to enter typos as keywords when you're creating a Google Adwords campaign?

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by qh4dotcom

If typos were considered spam by Google, then why does Google allow you to enter typos as keywords when you're creating a Google Adwords campaign?

They are not spam.

[activeco]

Originally Posted by dburdon

I would be daft to presume potential customers who misspell should be ignored.

Additionally, they have a higher conversion rate.

[Terry Van Horne]

SE's decide what is spam. Anything you do "just" for SE's is affecting spam risk. To a large degree SEO's are risk accessors. For instance duplicate content. I want multiple ways for users to navigate and easily find content/products in a store. The risk is SE's won't like the dupes or they put the content in the would pile (G supplemental index). I'll risk the would pile for site usability & ease of navigation because SE's don't buy products, people do! I also use inline frames and forms to block crawlers from dupes. That's something I did "just" for SE's. Now Google has changed the rules and are going to, AIUI, "execute" forms. So something I did to lower risk of dupes is now potentially adding risk. Bottom line is... todays technique... is potentially tomorrows spam.

I don't see the point in driving poorly targeted traffic by any means, mispelling or otherwise. I would also suggest that what Google allows in AdWords may differ from what they tolerate in the editorial results since you are paying for the right to annoy the user. That still reflects poorly on G but at least they are getting paid for it.