Keyword Stuffing

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What Is Keyword Stuffing?

Keyword stuffing is the process of inserting as many keywords as possible into the content of a web page in hopes of optimising it for higher rankings in SERPs.

Types Of Keyword Stuffing

There are a few different types/kinds of keyword stuffing. All of them will land you in trouble.

  • Inserting words that aren’t relevant to your web page or topic
  • Repeating the same words in an unnatural manner therefore disrupting the flow of the text
  • Using blocks of keywords
  • Making keywords invisible by embedding them within the text without font colour
  • Including keywords in the page’s code

Why Keyword Stuffing Is Bad

Keyword stuffing weakens the UX (User Experience) of your website. Overloading your text with an unnecessary number of keywords can make a website’s content utterly unreadable.

etsy product description necklace - keyword stuffing

When a user discovers a website’s content is spammy and illegible, they will usually click off immediately. This means less dwell time, a higher bounce rate, fewer conversions and a lower ranking.

What Happens When You Do Keyword Stuffing?

Keyword stuffing goes against Webmaster Guidelines, and specifically Google’s Panda algorithm. The Google bots will discover this black hat technique, and when they do it will result in a Google penalty

Because the Panda algorithm works on a domain level, this means the whole website will be penalised, which will lead to a dramatic fall in the rankings.

How To Avoid Keyword Stuffing

Web page owners usually opt for keyword stuffing as a quick fix for optimisation, however this ‘quick-fix’ will hurt you more in the long run. Below are some good ways to avoid keyword stuffing:

1. Conduct Quality and In-Depth Keyword Research

Researching into your target market, finding out what is popular, and analysing keyword difficulty are all important elements of good keyword research

Understanding keyword popularity is vital, because it indicates how often a keyword is searched for.

Assessing keyword difficulty is essential too. The higher this metric is, the harder it is to rank on the first SERP. When analysing keyword difficulty the following measurements are key:

2. Extend Your Word Count

A good way to avoid keyword stuffing is to expand your body of text. This allows you to distribute keywords more naturally, rather than forcing them into every other sentence. It will improve the text’s flow and user experience.

3. Measure Your Keyword Density

Your ideal keyword density is below 2%. Keyword Density Checkers (such as this one at Visiospark) can help you make sure you stay below this percentage and keep your content sounding natural.

4. Give Each Page a Primary Keyword 

Find one target keyword for each page. This keyword or phrase should be closely related to the content of this page.

Choosing a low competition keyword will allow you to rank quicker but don’t be shying away from higher competition. 

And remember, choose a different primary keyword for each page on your website.

5. Use Keywords for On-Page SEO

Include keywords in the right sections of your page, including your:

How Can We Help?

Worried that you may be unintentionally keyword stuffing? Get in touch and we can pair you with a team that can scour your site and help you optimise your content.