Search engine optimization (SEO) has a fairly steep learning curve, mostly due to the fact that the industry (and Google) is constantly evolving. The rules of SEO have changed since search emerged in the 90’s, as any advice from this era is no longer effective for today’s Web 2.0 world. There are plenty of SEO sharks, gurus, ninjas, Jedis, and wizards out there that have been at SEO for years and would love to tell you how the experts do it. Some of them do know what they’re talking about. But more than would care to admit are telling you a) old advice that is no longer applicable, b) don’t really know what they are talking about, or c) using ‘black hat’ SEO technique for instant results, but are breaking the laws of Google to get you there. This will only destroy your rankings in the end. One of the most important aspects of SEO campaigns is keyword research. You want to target certain keywords in order to gain rankings and get found by potential credit card-wielding customers. There are certain techniques you use keywords for when implementing on-page SEO that will tremendously affect your rankings. If you misuse them due to some bad advice, you will be hurting your chances severely. Here are three ways you can misuse your keywords that hurt your rankings more than they help.