Getting Too Excited Can Hurt Your SEO
Sometimes its a struggle to get excited about this product or service and other times we are so pumped about it that we can barely contain ourselves. The sentances tumble out, the excitement runs over, we love it, they are going to love it, the keywords are great, the post is going to be a winner, right?
Last week I wrote about hidden SEO problems that can negatively effect our ability to get a post indexed by Google:
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/docdoug/blog/5-hidden-seo-tr...
Today I'm going to add one more to that list. Its the often over-used:
!
Yes, the lowly exclamation point. Its not the most innocent punctuation out there by any means. Overuse can take turn a discussion into an argument, but most of the time it's used to give emphasis to things we're excited about. Being a happy positive person, I find myself using it quite frequently, especially when I agree with someone who is making a good point.
And that's exactly where I found them, all those exclamation points, jumping up and down in the comments sections of my websites, cheerfully hooting and doing enthusiastic back-flips in support of my readers and the great things they contributed to my posts.
And the SEO analysis tools found them there as well, only they weren't so happy. In fact they thought that all these exclamation points really only pointed toward one thing --> my site must be a spam site. Like many spam sites I must be throwing this punctuation around to try and make products exciting so that I could increase my click-through-rate.
The SEO analysis tools thought that 10 uses of "the point" for my entire site were enough, any more than that and maybe I was being a bit too excited. I was reaching a spammy level of happiness that apparently no affiliate marketer should reach.
Well really, I understand where this SEO limit comes from since I have been on those sites that tell the barely believable rags to riches story complete with many exclamations at each dramatic turn of events. No doubt, they are giving this punctuation a bad name.
So with my enthusiasm doused with the cold water of a lower SEO rating, I made myself busy kicking all those exclamations to the curb. This raised my site rank from the high 80s to low 90s which made me very happy indeed -- though not delirious enough to end this sentance with the dreaded point.
Moral of the story? There are two morals here actually. First, express your enthusiasm with words, not punctuation, because overuse of the exclamation can make our sites appear spammy and overly-salesy. Second, be careful of what you write in your comments section, including the comments you accept from others, since it all counts toward how our sites are read by search engines.
You've got about 10 things that you can feel over-the-top about -- choose them carefully.
Recent Comments
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Thank you for the heads up. I would have never thought about it, but it makes sense hearing you say it.
Thank you
Yes I didnt think about it either, was a complete surprise. But when I was training to do email funnel work before coming to WA its true that people used exclamation points all over their calls to action and landing pages. They are the icing sugar in the funnel world.
In one of the webinars here, I remember asking that to Jay...
"Hi Jay, just wanna ask.. Why are you not using exclamation mark in your CTAs? Did you intend not to use them in your CTAs?"
His reply:
"Well, we're not car salesmen."
Thanks for repeating that good joke.
But yeah, usually the CTAs are busting out in exclamation marks including all the text leading up to them. I guess that was an easy one for Google to glean on to and so now we're really not car salesmen. Its a good thing we have these internal blogs where we can be more ourselves. I consider it a precious part of WA.
That sucks! Useless, stupid, unemotional, unenthusiastic, lifeless bots! :-) LOL!
I'm also a very enthusiastic person who loves life and who lives it joyously. Anybody who knows me in person, knows that I am no monotonous speaker and recreating it in words needs EMPHASIS and exclamations.
I guess I can expect a few emails from friends asking whether I'm fine? Healthy? Sure nothing 's wrong girl? You're really okay? :-) LOL!
So I guess after all we can't REALLY just write for our audience and be authentic, we DO have to write for Google too.
Thanks for bringing that up Doc! Oops. Ignore that one. LOL (So is a LOL without an exclamation really a laugh out loud, or is it just a mumbled chuckle in the cheek? Hmmm....) LOL
Sharlee (Chocolate IceCream)
OMG I know, how to lol without exclamations -- its just wrong. When I read that 10 was a good max for the whole site I thought wow, I probably have 10 in just two comments. And on top of that I have readers who are so happy to find my site that they can have 5 after just one line. I just glance over at my post list and there are 2 titles with e-points.... this might be one of the more challenging things I do here at WA.
Yes, I know. I write like I speak and friends who know me always say that when reading anything that I write, they can just as well "hear" me saying it. But no exclamations, no emphasis, no dots, my goodness, they want to tie my hands behind my back, put a sock in my mouth, tape it closed with duct tape and then tell me to speak up?! Go figure! Oops, I mean, go figure. Yeah right!
Maybe we should write a petition to whomever have decided on that rule. :-)
So the next thing they gonna slam is our emoticons too, I guess?
Oh my word.
You know what, they slammed emocons too... but Im in denial about that. I mean, there's such a thing as going too far....
I think I'll just quit this conversation and pretend I didn't hear a thing and go eat some ice cream, 'cause I can feel an exclamation fit and an all capitals rage coming! :-) LOL
hm I don't think I normally put an exclamation mark on a LOL, just varying between lol and LOL to express the loudness of the chuckle, I'm sure I'll be seeing LOL! everywhere now though
LOL that is too funny -- happily I havent found any SEO reason to avoid caps SO THERES STILL ROOM TO BE OVER THE TOP (no exclaim).
LOL! love this! Must admit I've found myself erasing that exclamation mark recently in my posts, it was beginning to be glaring somehow, and I've noticed it in others - it makes them look like they are getting emotional. But it's hilarious the way you summed it all up here.
I think you meant there are more than 10 things we can feel over the top about but only 10 things where we can express it and inflict our excitement on others via punctuation? :D
That made me laugh, yes only 10 inflictions. Otherwise, the excitement must remain invisible.
Or I guess we could fool Google by making various images that include exclamation points and carefully place them in our posts. That could get amusing....
Isnt it a great punctuation? A mere period is so sad beside the exciting line and dot. However, check for exclamation marks is now on my pre-publish checklist taped to my computer screen. I might have to go to therapy if I cant get this under control.
Yes I use them far too much! haha I really need to stop it! I think I may actually be an exclamation addict! lol
Think I might have to put a piece of painter's tape on my ! key so that Im at least more aware of how much I use it. My comments were a surprise.
Its unfair to get dinged for excitement, but I understand that scam sites are way overusing. Before I came to WA I was a member of a popular email funnel platform and the exclamation points flew around there. Some people had 3 just in their call to action. Now I know why they were having so much trouble getting indexed.
Right? Thats what Im finding as well. I am over-using because this stuff truly is exciting -- exclamation-worthy stuff. I knew to keep my eye on it in the body of the post because that's just good writing practice. But when I hit the comments and was in conversation with folks, best practice started to break down.
So I went back and read one of my more excitable posts ... and there were several exclamation points. All, in my opinion, completely warranted. I will say right here and right now - I do love an exclamation point! Not all the time, and not to be overused. But sometimes, they just really get the excitement across. Especially when you are writing in a personal way about what is happening to you, and you are sharing a piece of yourself with your audience.
Anyway, I did feel compelled to remove a few. Which did make me a little sad. But I did it for the greater google good. :)
I so agree. Hard to replace that punctuation. For me it says - I really mean it!
I was surprised to find 7 e-points in just one comment. At that point I had to admit that they could be dialed back a smidgen.
Hi Doc Doug, Thanks for the post. It is something that I have not given any thought to. I am sorry that you had to discover it in the manor that you did though. Although I guess it was a lesson well learned . :-) Frank
I will definitely be chilling out my enthusiasm in my comment replies. Happily I am only breaking past 100 comments now so it was not completely overwhelming quite yet. But yes, like you the use of this punctuation was completely under my radar.
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Wow, this is a great find. I am an exclam queen.
I guess I discovered that I was an exclaim queen too haha. Time to lay that crown to rest but Im surprised at how hard a task that little thing is.