Keyword stuffing is a common black hat SEO tactic that may happen accidentally or intentionally.
But Google considers it as a negative signal for deciding your website rankings.
Keyword usage gets you closer to what users are searching for. Sometimes, it crosses the border and falls in the keyword stuffing category.
So it becomes essential to know the right technique to use keywords and stay away from keyword stuffing.
Here is the complete guide to understanding everything you need to know about keyword stuffing.
What is keyword stuffing?
Keyword stuffing is the practice of using keywords many times on a web page. The basic motive of the writer is to achieve higher search engine rankings.
But in reality, it does more harm than good. The search engines like Google, Bing employ bots to extract relevant content from the web. They pick up keywords from the places like title tags, meta descriptions, subheadings, internal links, and image alt text.
But yes, algorithms have become intelligent enough to sniff the over repetition of certain keywords. Search engines can make out the author has used keywords, not for users but for ranking manipulation.
Common instances of keyword stuffing
How will you feel when an author uses certain words repeatedly without making much sense? Readers will feel uncomfortable and lease the page instantly. It acts as a negative user experience.
On the other hand, the usage of keywords to provide value to users and matching the context is a good practice.
Certain examples are:
List of contact numbers placed many times in the top menu, sidebar, and within the text.
A collection of places like state, city, or other landmarks that website owners want to target.
Keep on replicating the same piece of content, phrases, words just for sake of using them like for superior interior decors:
People love superior interior decors for giving a classic look to their homes. Superior interior decors can refurbish your home from scratch to palace. Why don’t you try superior interior decors for the royal and put good impressions on your friends and family? With superior interior decors, you can turn your dreams into reality and be prominent in your locality.
The above paragraph suffers from many issues:
Keyword proximity: The writer has used the same set of keywords very close to one another. It appears a bit suspicious while giving a repelling feeling.
Reading inconvenience: The ultimate purpose of the above text is to fit the keyword by hook or crook. It has no connection with what the audience wants. Also, it aims to load the web page with keywords.
High keyword density: The author employs the keyword “superior interior decors” four times within 59 words. Search engines can catch the presence of high keyword density.
SEO audit services detect any of the above issues with the keyword placement and fix issues to create SEO-friendly content.
The relevance of keywords
Keywords are necessary as they tell the search engines what a web page is about. In another way, it is a set of phrases or words that people ask in search queries.
Keywords vary from a single word to complex phrases that invite target audiences to your website. They are influential in pulling the right kind of organic traffic from the web. That’s why SEO experts call them “target keywords.” It helps you speak in the same language as potential buyers.
The thing that matters the most is the strategic use of keywords but mindless. Quality beats the game of quantity. Keyword density is essential but not beyond the limit.
Why is keyword stuffing bad for SEO?
When people started using keywords they found a high rise in their rankings. More the keywords they used, the higher the online presence they got.
Gradually, the trend of keyword stuffing began. But it is a negative SEO tactic that can take your website rankings down the drain.
What is the reason? It is good to sprinkle different keywords to get more visitors online. But focusing just on search engines won’t bear good results.
Keyword spamming doesn’t work anymore with the advancement of intelligent algorithms, like Penguin update and panda update. In short:
- It is not reader-friendly.
- Your website may get penalized.
- Keyword stuffing hits user engagement and makes your content unshareable.
So, it is vital to know how you can stay away from this practice.
Tips of avoiding keyword stuffing
Don’t let keyword stuffing spoil your search engine optimization and online reputation. It is how you can avoid this:
- Make sure that content flows from beginning to end.
- Use keywords that add to the context.
- Take care of keywords’ relevance and their applicability.
- Write in a conversational tone with concise and clear language.
- Create content for humans, not search engines.
Final Words
Search engines have sidelined keyword stuffing for a long and consider it a bad SEO trends. There could be unintentional uses of keyword stuffing that you can avoid easily by taking care of:
- User experience
- Readability
- Variety of text
- Providing the value of target audience
