As you choose which keywords to target, it is important to understand what SEO Stop words are and why you should avoid using them in certain places on your website. It is important to know what they are and when it is appropriate to use them, since SEO Stop words dilute the weight of your more important keywords when indexed by search engines.
List of SEO Stop Words
The following is a list of frequently used SEO Stop words:
- And
- A
- The
- In
- On
- Of
- Be
- I
- Me
For a complete list of all SEO Stop words, check out the Online SEO Guide: Google Stop Words.
Why Are SEO Stop Words Bad?
SEO Stop words dilute the weight attributed to your other keywords by the search engine algorithm. The search engines ignore SEO Stop words as they are deemed irrelevant and unnecessary. For example, you could have two options for the title of a blog post, such as:
- I Take a Tour of the Best Restaurants In Pittsburgh
- Pittsburgh’s Best Restaurants Tour
You’ll notice that the first option has ten (10) total keywords, five (5) of which are SEO Stop words. The second option uses none.
This means that the important keywords in the first option (Tour, Best, Restaurants, Pittsburgh) are given only half the weight they would have if there were no SEO Stop words. The second option carries twice as much keyword “juice” as the first option.
Where it is OK to Use SEO Stop Words
This does not mean that you can’t use SEO Stop words anywhere on your website. It is perfectly OK to use the SEO Stop words within the textual body content of your website. After all, the body text of your website would not make much sense without important words such as “Me”, “The”, “And”, etc.
Where You Should Not Use SEO Stop Words
You may use SEO Stop words in the body text of your website, but you should make a concerted effort to refrain from using them in your:
- Meta titles
- Meta keywords
- Links
- Anchor Text
- Header tags
There might be times where, for aesthetic reasons, you may wish to use SEO Stop words in these areas of your website. However, for the most part, try your best to avoid them. You’ll see real results in your search engine rankings if you keep these tips in mind.
Thanks for give us knowledge about stop word in seo.
What a great advise. i had done these mistakes before but now i will consider these tips and make me upside on search result. thanks
Great article.
Thanks for the explanation. I get it, but I am using a tool that is telling me that I have errors as I work on a client’s SEO because the company name is “Pools and Spas”. “And” will always be in the title tag.
Should I be concerned about this? I take it “no”.
Hey Freddie – Nope, no need for concern, that is A-OK. The reason is that, since it is the company name, everyone will be searching for “Pools AND Spas”, so you don’t need to worry about hurting your keyword strength for “Pools” or “Spas” so much. In actuality, your real keyword is “Pools and Spas”. You can ignore the title tag errors you are receiving. However, I would try to avoid using “And” in the URLs of your site, example: “www.yoursite.com/Pools-Spas-Weekend-Sale” instead of “www.yoursite.com/Pools-And-Spas-Weekend-Sale”. I would advise trying to get as much keyword juice out of the URLs as possible, since it really doesn’t affect the user experience as much as the title tags do.
it is very effective post.I always like such types of post.Thanks for shearing this post.It help for all new seo learner.
Great info. Please don’t take this question as a challenge to your authority, but it’s something I’ve wondered about with all SEO advice regardless of the source. And please don’t let this question hurt your feelings, it’s not directed at you specifically, but at the entire SEO advice community.
From everything I read, Cutts and company never reveal anything about their algorithm, so how do we know this is true? And how do we know the exact math? Computationally, it would make more sense for Google to just ignore these common articles and conjunctions?
Thanks in advance
I have arrive an important SEO optimization technique in your article. Thanks a lot.
Greatly, you have taught me an important SEO optimization technique i.e the IMPACT of STOP WORDS in your article.
Thanks a lot.
Good thing I ran across this website. I’m a beginner and in my self-hosted wordpress, it’s my first time to get an alert about stop words. I was like what the hell are stop words.
Now, it’s clear. Thank you so much.
Great information!! The stop words can be a pest, however if one takes the time to fully review their blog and stuff it can make a big difference. Great post !!
That is, after all, what we are all looking for.
2. ” And the do, but that’s all they do.
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Hi There
What word should I take, if the company name is “Live & Let Dive”, as the word let is a stop word…
Or should I use it anyway?
Kindly Simon
You should set the page title to “Live & Let Die” and set the URL to liveletdie.com or some similar variation.
Thanks for such useful information. I will take care about using stop words in keyword practice next time.