Word salad refers to sentences that are grammatically correct but meaningless. These sentences may seem fine at first glance but are disjointed and baffling upon closer inspection.

In the past, there were instances where word salad was used as content or massively produced to create links to a site. Sometimes, businesses were even advised to use automatically generated text for SEO purposes.

It’s clear now that word salad is utterly pointless for SEO strategies and can result in penalties. This article will explain word salad and also discuss the importance of word count and backlinks in SEO strategies.

What is Word Salad?

Word salad denotes text that, while grammatically correct, lacks meaning. The text is readable but not comprehensible. It’s often used in spam activities and can cause discomfort to the reader.

Example of Word Salad

Here is an example to illustrate what word salad looks like

I am such a curry alien that I can’t survive without eating curry ten times in five days, so I have to juggle skillfully with two one-peso coins of Argentina known for their softness like a cat’s paw, especially since its spring, and on April 10 today, I tried making mixed curry at home. It seems easy enough to dine or dash, yet surprisingly tricky as if you need to gulp down Hoppy, with the juicy Katsuramuki pumpkin and super sweet basil, and the creepy Mishimaudo being the key to success. 

Adding scary black cherries and penetrating crackers as a secret ingredient turns the taste from fiery hot to a mellow yet intensely sweet sensation almost causing an out-of-body experience.

As seen from the example, word salad creates a bizarre and incoherent impression. (The example was generated using a tool.)

Sentences like these are created using something called Japanese morphological analysis and Markov chains.

What is Japanese morphological analysis?

Japanese morphological analysis involves breaking down Japanese sentences into individual parts of speech for analysis and dissection. Here’s a practical example:

I like drawing illustrations.

I like to draw illustrations .​​​​​​​​​​​​

By decomposing sentences this way, Google’s search engine can instantly determine the information a user is seeking and display search results. Morphological analysis is conducted not only in Japanese but also in other languages.

What is a Markov Chain?

A Markov chain is a technique that rearranges existing data in a random sequence based on certain probabilities, also known as a stochastic process model. For example, consider these three sentences;

• I play on Sundays.
• I cooked yesterday.
• I use an umbrella because it is raining.

After morphological analysis, let’s create sentences based on the Markov chain

• I cooked on Sunday.
• Sunday’s rain requires an umbrella.
• I play with an umbrella in the kitchen.

It’s like cutting a straw into uneven lengths and then randomly rearranging them. Although the pieces are still straw-like, they no longer function as a straw. Similarly, word salad creates highly unnatural sentences.

Creating Word Salad

Word salad can be created using automatic generation tools. Here are two free tools to consider

• Ghostwriter
• Affiliate Link Diary Generator

Ghostwriter 

Ghostwriter is a free tool that generates word salad. By entering text on the right side and pressing the generate button, word salad appears in the adjacent text area.

Affiliate Link Diary Generator 

The Affiliate Link Diary Generator produces diaries containing affiliate links, although the text is a nonsensical word salad. Pressing the diary generate button instantly creates text.

Why Word Salad Was Created

Word salad was initially considered effective for SEO. About a decade ago, it was believed that having a high number of backlinks to a site significantly boosted SEO efforts.

Many bloggers and businesses used word salad to generate large amounts of content and link back to their sites. At that time, search engines lacked the capability to assess the quality of content, allowing such methods to aim for higher search rankings. Additionally, content with a higher word count was often mistaken for being information-rich, contributing to this practice.

However, these methods are now ineffective due to improved search engine algorithms.

The Impact of Word Salad on SEO

While fewer sites and blogs use word salad, it still exists. However, word salad negatively affects SEO. Sites with meaningless content are considered spam by Google and are at risk of penalties. Therefore, generating large amounts of word salad content for backlinks is pointless.

Beware of Malicious Providers

Word salad is a pointless and risky SEO tactic, yet some SEO providers still promote it. Some bloggers, aware of the risks, may still recommend word salad, claiming that more content equals higher evaluation, but this should not be taken at face value.

Be wary of SEO providers making claims like

• Generating lots of text with AI is beneficial.
• Our company can produce large amounts of content quickly.
• We guarantee high search rankings, so rest assured.

Current SEO best practices focus on creating content from a user’s perspective. Word salad content, which ignores user convenience, is meaningless.

Differences Between Typos/Misspellings and Word Salad

In conclusion, typos and misspellings also affect SEO, but not as significantly as word salad. However, even if unintentional, content with typos and misspellings is flawed. In this sense, it is somewhat akin to word salad.

From an SEO perspective, while the impact of typos and misspellings is minor, they can lead to content being perceived as low quality by Google. Therefore, when creating content, ensure to check and correct any typos or misspellings.

Word Salad in Spam Sites

Spam sites using word salad still exist and are also found in blog comments and spam emails. Such sites often use word salad to increase backlink count or for affiliate marketing revenue.

Sites with word salad can be reported as spam.

Reporting to Google Search Console

If you discover a spam site, reporting it to Google can reduce its search ranking or remove it from search results.

To report spam, use the web spam report form in Google Search Console. Enter the URL of the offending webpage and, optionally, the problematic search keywords (which can be copied and pasted from Google’s search box).

Lastly, you can provide details about the spam site in up to 150 full-width characters. While optional, detailing the misconduct helps Google take appropriate action.

• Hiding automatically generated text by changing text color
• Creating a large amount of content using automatically generated text

If such activities are found within the content, briefly describe the specific issues.

This completes the spam site reporting process.

How to Check for Links from Spam Sites

Links from content using word salad to your site could result in penalties. To avoid this, it’s advisable to check your site’s backlinks. Here are two free tools for checking backlinks

• My Site Backlink Check
• Google Search Console

My Site Backlink 

Check With My Site Backlink Check, enter your site’s URL in the form and click the ‘Check’ button to see the results.

If suspicious domains or titles linking to your site are found, request the site’s operators to remove the links.

Google Search Console 

Provided by Google, this tool can only be used for sites registered with your Google account.

To check backlinks, click on ‘Links’ in the menu.

‘Links’ in the menu shows sites linking to your site.

For a comprehensive view, click on ‘More’ to see all the backlinks. These can be exported using the ‘Export external links’ option.

When downloading, you can choose from three file formats

• Google Sheets
• Excel
• CSV file

Select the format you prefer. The downloaded file will list URLs and domains linking to your site.

If you find links from sites with automatically generated word salad content or those embedding word salad inconspicuously, proceed with Google’s link disavow process. Start by creating a text file listing the disavowed links.

Creating a Text File for Disavowal

To disavow domains or URLs, compile them into a text file. Here are five key points to remember

-Specify each URL or domain you wish to disavow on a separate line. You cannot disavow an entire subpath (like example.com/en/).

-To disavow a domain (or subdomain), prepend it with ‘domain:’. Example: domain:example.com

-The file must be encoded in UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII text.

-The file name should end with .txt.

-The maximum length for a URL is 2,048 characters

-The maximum file size limited to 100,000 lines (including blank and comment lines) and 2 MB.

-Add comments with a ‘#’ at the beginning of the line; these lines are ignored.

(Source: Google Search Console Help)

There are two methods for creating a disavow list in a text file

• Disavow by page
• Disavow by domain

For page-level disavowal, enter the URL directly.

For URL disavowal: 

http://xxxxxxx.com/xxx/xxxxxxx.html 

http://xxx.xxxx.com/xxxx/xxx-xxxx.html

You cannot specify a whole directory (like xxx.com/en/). To disavow domains, start the line with ‘domain’.

For domain disavowal: 

domain:xxxxxx.com 

domain:yyyyyy.com 

domain:zzzzzz.com

And then, save the list as a text file (.txt).

Uploading the File

Upload the created text file on the ‘Disavow links’ page of Google Search Console. Start by selecting your site from ‘Select property’. Ensure you choose the correct site if managing multiple.

After selecting your site, the option to upload the text file appears at the bottom. Click ‘Upload disavow list’ and select your file to upload.

Google will process the uploaded file, which may take a few weeks to reflect in search results. If disavowing links causes a significant drop in search rankings, consider canceling the disavowal.

Summary

Word salad, although grammatically correct, lacks meaningful content. It was mass-produced by bloggers and SEO firms using automated tools, influenced by the past SEO trend where more backlinks meant higher search rankings. Now, search engine updates render word salad content ineffective for SEO and subject to penalties. If your site receives links from word salad content, request the site operator to remove the link or proceed with Google’s link disavowal process. While content quantity and backlinks are SEO strategies, prioritizing content creation from a user perspective is paramount. For user-friendly and comprehensible content, word salad is not suitable.

Author Profile

International Web Consultant Paveena Suphawet

A trilingual professional in English, Thai, and Japanese, she has numerous achievements in international SEO. She studied the latest IT technologies at Assumption International University, Thailand, and majored in International Business at the University of Greenwich, UK. Following her tenure at ExxonMobil’s Thai branch, she became a key member of Admano from its establishment.

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