Outranking other websites during an organic search is one of the digital marketing objectives of most website admins. The rationale is that as more users see your website on SERPs, you can generate potential leads and boost business conversions.
This has led much digital marketing in the past (and even now) to deploy outdated and terrible SEO tactics. One such tactic is keyword stuffing.
It is the process of overstuffing a web page for a particular keyword(s) to rank higher for such keywords during an organic search. It is a manipulative tactic to trick search engines. However, it has now become outdated and redundant.
They are found on the meta tags, page lists, and additional keywords to sprinkle around the page. Filling your web pages with such keywords will create a poor user experience for visitors looking to find valuable content.
It is also a black hat SEO strategy, meaning search engines can flag and penalize your website. While it might’ve been an honest mistake, you should take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
This guide will explore everything you need to know about keyword stuffing and how to avoid it.
Examples of Keyword Stuffing
Spam stuffing is a terrible SEO strategy that should be avoided. This is how it looks on a website. The keyword used is “Lego toy”
Lego toy is an exciting gift you can present to your children. A Lego toy is a beautiful and stylish toy, so buy a Lego toy today. With beautiful Lego toy, your kids can have fun with those Lego toys. Their afternoons and evenings will be spent having fun with these Lego toys. So, grab a Lego toy for your kids today.
The paragraph above comes with a lot of problems:
● Keyword density. The passage shows that ‘Lego toy’ appeared seven times in a paragraph with 63 words. Search engines see this as unacceptable. It would surely earn your website a penalty.
● Audience targeting. Look at the passage critically. You will see that it is not published for people to read. It was meant to trick search engines into ranking the web page for those keywords. Any person that reads this will not bother going through the entire content.
● Content intent. When you read that passage, you get zero sense of purpose. The entire paragraph is just a placeholder for “Lego toys”.
You need to write your content with your target audience in mind. Editing and proofreading your content enables you to spot and correct keyword stuffing.
Does Keyword Stuffing Helps Rank Your Page?
Targeted keywords are a ranking factor on Google and Bing. However, people began to abuse that opportunity by stuffing their websites with the same keyword.
Search engines realized that users were no longer receiving valuable content, as website admins focused more on irrelevant keywords all over their web pages. Google released the Florida update, which targeted spammy links, reducing the impact.
But the problem still persisted. So, the search engine released the Panda update, which demoted sites with spam stuffing in SERPs. Soon after, the Hummingbird update followed, changing how results are displayed on SERPs.
Google has always frowned at keyword stuffing. So, no, stuffing your page will not help rank your page.
Is Keyword Stuffing Good for SEO?
Keyword stuffing goes against the best SEO practices for websites. It is an outdated and terrible technique for optimizing web pages.
Google released Quality Guidelines warning website admins not to embark on the practice. It doesn’t only result in a poor user experience but will affect your ranking position on SERPs.
User experience is a ranking factor for SEO. If people cannot relate to your article, they will leave. This increases your bounce rates which is a bad SEO signal.
Why Should You Avoid Keyword Stuffing?
From what you’ve read, keyword stuffing is bad for business. But why should you avoid it entirely?
● Drives away your visitors. When visitors land on your website, they want to see content relevant to their search intent. With spammy keywords all over the place, they will leave and never recommend your website to anyone.
● Your content will appear repetitive. Stuffing your articles and web content with the same keywords will make your content repetitive and robotic. People will not spend much time on your website if it feels that way.
● Your domain authority will be affected. When your content has spam, it demotes your brand as an authority. Your website will not earn backlinks from other websites if it is filled with repeated words.
● Search engines will penalize your site. Search engines will demote your website in their result pages when it looks spammy. This means your website will not be visible to anyone from an organic search. Thus, you will miss out on visibility and generating leads.
How to Avoid Keyword Stuffing
Do you want to avoid spam stuffing your website? Follow these simple tips:
● Have a primary keyword. You know what your website offers. So, have an assigned primary keyword with other related search terms.
● Maintain a great keyword density. This is the number of times a certain keyword appears on a web page. You should keep it moderate for the best results.
● Create longer content. The longer the content, the more space to spread out the target keyword. However, the content should also be relevant.
● Add the target keywords to the page element. The target keywords should be on your web page elements such as meta title, meta description, headings, and subheadings. Be careful not to overstuff it everywhere.
Does Google Penalize for Keyword Stuffing?
Google strictly warns against irrelevant keywords for websites. They will penalize your website by demoting its position on SERPs. This means you won’t anymore if you are enjoying massive traffic from organic searches.
It is essential to avoid it entirely, so your website won’t suffer from such a fate.
How to Do Proper Keyword Optimization
The success of your digital marketing campaigns lies in the keywords you optimize for SEO. So, how do you conduct proper keyword optimization for your website?
● Conduct keyword research.
● Look at the keywords your competitors are using.
● Avoid keyword stuffing.
● Create content that matches the search intent of your visitors.
● Audit your meta tags.
How Many Keywords Is Good for SEO?
After deciding which web page to optimize, you need to determine how many keywords will suit its SEO performance.
Your content should have two or three primary keywords to target for the website. If they’re more than that, placing such keywords into your meta tags will be difficult.
Having fewer primary keywords will make it easier for Google bots to rank it during an organic search.
Abstrax Web Can Do SEO Right for Your Business
Avoiding keyword stuffing is essential for your website performance for organic SEO. You need to contact a professional if you don’t know how to customize your web content without overstuffing it.
Abstrax Web is a leading digital marketing firm that will help generate more visibility, traffic, leads, and conversions for your website. Our services are specially tailored to your individual needs. They include website design and development, content marketing, mobile usability, website wireframing, and many more.
Reach out to us to see how we can help your brand.
