Ask HN: Advice for dealing with a client and bad SEO advice

They address keyword stuffing in a 'common myths' article [1] that also happens to address the metatag myth. Matt Cutts, Google's search spokesman, also has some unkind words for keyword stuffing [2].

There are appropriate meta tags to be included [3] like the description tag. There's also Open Graph, RDF, and the like to consider including [4]. These don't influence Page Rank and SERP but can help with traffic and providing more information to people. As a brick and mortar store, your client should likely be on top of this kind of metadata and if not, this should be one of your priorities.

Hiding elements sounds like the kind of grey hat techniques that work now and impress people but gradually get detected and penalized by Google over time. Unfortunately this kind of stuff often works, until it incurs a penalty. Instead, reputable SEO will likely involve building content around keyword groups. Think blogging about keyword1 and keyword3, another entry involving keyword2 and keyword4, etc. Make it informational, make it share-able, and avoid spamminess.

It sounds like you're in a difficult spot, your client is likely to continue down this road despite your objections. I hope you have some success steering them towards proper SEO and more traffic.

[1]http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/myths-and-misconceptio...

[2]http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/avoid-keyword-stuffing/

[3]http://moz.com/learn/seo/meta-description

[4]http://searchengineland.com/facebooks-open-graph-for-local-s...

We recently made a WP based site who hit #1 in local kws, getting in front of Wikipedia even. But what we did was an experiment (100% white) and until we try it out on international, to confirm, I can't share.

Google is moving past stages where simple gaming doesn't give meaningful results anymore.

Matt Cutts on keyword stuffing. No bigger authority than that.