SEO Buzzwords

By Charles Moffat - December 2011.

People use buzzwords regularly when writing the content for their websites.

Buzzwords are adjectives used to describe people or services. ie. According to LinkedIn "Creative" was the top buzzword used by professionals in North America. The annual LinkedIn survey of overused buzzwords came up with a Top 10 list.

1. Creative

2. Organizational

3. Effective

4. Extensive experience

5. Track record

6. Motivated

7. Innovative

8. Problem solving

9. Communication skills

10. Dynamic

In some other countries, the No. 1 buzzwords were:

France: Dynamic

Italy: Problem solving

India: Effective

Brazil: Multinational

Ireland: Motivated

Spain: Managerial

Singapore: Track record

The problem with buzzwords is that they're overused and largely meaningless. Its better to use concrete examples of how your product or service works. Bragging about your product or service with fancy words just takes up space. SEO wise its better to include the keywords you need and avoid buzzwords which are too flowery and off topic.

ie. Lets say you're selling real estate and you describe the architecture as "spartan". If someone does a search for Spartan architecture, as in Greek architecture, they might find your website by accident. But will architecture enthusiasts buy your real estate? No. Its better to keep the descriptions on topic and avoid any terms which might be confusing.

A certain amount of descriptive words is acceptable. You want to focus on using words that won't be confused with other topics, but instead will be topical for your field of expertise or products. Remember industry keywords is better than meaningless buzzwords.

ie. An engineering company would be wise to have a jargon section / glossary which explains various engineering terms so that laymen and non-engineers can understand some of the words engineers use. This is a positive way of using those keywords to your companies advantage and is also smart business sense.

Note: Check out our SEM Glossary.