Comments on: Google Duped By Massive Comment Tag Stuffing Ploy

By: Andrew Jensen

Andrew Jensen — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:03:58 +0000

Dealing with a client right now that has commented out text on some critical pages (including home page). It’s apparently innocently done by a web designer, but the text is actual copy rich with keywords/keyphrases. Trying to figure out if it’s having any kind of impact on their ranking or if Google has discovered it and is filtering their site in any way. Personally, my gut instinct is to just stay clear of commenting out what could be construed as hidden text (that which contains keywords you’re trying to rank for). It’s one thing to comment out actual web developer comments and a whole other thing to comment out keywords. But the question still exists – how does Google really treat this kind of commented out text?

By: ricsrooliox

ricsrooliox — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 03:22:16 +0000

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By: Dave Haygarth

Dave Haygarth — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:30:25 +0000

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By: berto_s

berto_s — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:42:05 +0000

We have small bits of copy in HTML comments on our sites that do not get picked up at all. They’re only commented for purposes of debugging the site, or some sloppy coding in some spots, but in testing the text is not indexed on Google. I’m thinking that the site you are referring to above is doing something else in conjunction with the HTML comments. They may be looking for specific user agents to display the copy to and every normal browser gets the commented copy. Either way, it’s spam. Just turn the site in (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreport?hl=en), and get them yanked from the index.

By: Art

Art — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:30:28 +0000

Web designers use comment tags all the time – particularly when using SSI files for site-wide content. These comments can be very helpful on large sites when finding the right bit of HTML code is tedious.

However, the use of comment tags in this case is obviously different than stuffing 400 keywords into the tag for SEO tactics.

As such, I can’t imagine Google would ever penalize a site for content within those comment tags. At the same time, I have a very hard time believing that Google doesn’t simply ignore that content.

I’d love to know what site it is… have you reported them to Google or the other engines?

By: Jaan Kanellis

Jaan Kanellis — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 03:51:43 +0000

Mike how do you know if this stuffing is helping?

How do you know this type of keyword stuffing hurts other websites?

How do you know one of the other 200 ranking factors simply trumps these poor optimization techniques? I commonly see authority websites getting aware with murder.

By: Mike Murray

Mike Murray — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:07:15 +0000

Thanks for the comments. It ranks for competitive terms and unique text in the comment tag. I’m surprised this comment tag text ended up in the snippet. Wish I could add more. It’s a significant website, not some fly-by-nighter or small website. I just can’t believe Google filters don’t catch this sort of thing.

By: Barry Welford

Barry Welford — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:12:01 +0000

I had the same thought as Donna. Google uses the description as a snippet if relevant, but does not use this in ranking. The best test is a search for a snippet from the Comment in ” “. If you have examples of that, Mike, then you’ve really hit on something very fundamental. Even without that, your item is intriguing. Thanks.

By: Dr. Pete

Dr. Pete — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:10:06 +0000

For every tactic everyone claims no longer works, someone out there seems to get away with it. A competitor of a client of mine has a collection of sites that look like a museum of 1999 black-hat, and I swear it keeps working for him somehow.

Sometimes, I wonder if it’s a sort of indirect grandfathering. In other words, the trick used to work, and brought in links and search traffic, and now the site is benefiting from the results of the trick working 3 years ago. The trick doesn’t work anymore, and if you tried it now, you’d probably get slammed, but the appearance is that it’s still working for that other site.

By: DazzlinDonna

DazzlinDonna — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:04:07 +0000

But is Google using it for ranking purposes? Does the site rank for a unique phrase that’s only in the comment tag, and has not been used as anchor text anywhere?