How to Avoid Keyword Stuffing (And Still Rank at the Top of Google)
You’ve probably heard this a dozen times: in order to rank well in search engines, you must include your keyword a couple of times throughout the page.
But how many times is the optimal number? Can you be penalized for having a high keyword density? And how do you avoid oversaturating your article (while still ranking high)?
These are some questions I’ll be answering in today’s blog.
More specifically, I’ll be covering:
What keyword stuffing is (and what a keyword stuffed page looks like)
How many times you should include your keyword in an article or a page
How you can write a perfectly optimized page without repeating keywords unnaturally
Today, more than ever, it is crucial for business owners to be familiar with keyword stuffing, since Google now penalizes websites that do not adhere to the recommended 2-5 percent keyword density best practice.
And since Google accounted for 2 trillion searches per day in 2018, failing to meet the guidelines of Google’s algorithms is one of the surest ways to lose out on web-based revenue.
So, there really is no better time to learn about keyword stuffing (and how to avoid it) than the present.
Let’s get started!
WHAT IS KEYWORD STUFFING (AND WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE)?
Knowing what keyword stuffing is (and how to avoid being guilty of it), is half the battle.
So, according to Wikipedia, keyword stuffing is when you use the same keyword over and over again in an attempt to boost your search visibility.
But what does this overuse actually mean? Well, it can take many forms, but two of the most common forms of keyword stuffing are:
REPEATING KEYWORDS UNNATURALLY
Below is an example of unnatural, repetitive keyword use from Quora:
Notice how the frequency of the keywords impacts the readability of the copy? Now imagine reading a whole 1500-word article written like this — sounds draining, right?
Google agrees, which is why it deliberately focused on eliminating keyword over-saturation with it’s panda update.
HIDING KEYWORDS IN THE CONTENT
Not long ago, SEO specialists were cramming hundreds of keywords in a single article by using a stealthy (yet unrecommended) strategy: matching their font colour to the background of the page and then setting the font size to zero.
Another ill-advised strategy was to hide text in difficult-to-notice areas, like in the example below.
Notice the small text field (circled in red)?
This is the content the text field contains:
Thankfully, due to recent advancements in technology and Google’s algorithms, these SEO cheats are more easily detected by search engines, forcing businesses to implement SEO strategies that are legitimate and by-the-book.
DOES KEYWORD STUFFING STILL WORK?
It used to work like charm. All you had to do was find ways to insert a lot of keywords, reach a certain keyword density, and you were set.
But Google’s algorithms have gotten smarter and smarter, making keyword stuffing and a ton of other outdated SEO tactics obsolete.
Yet, the question remains: can this technique actually be bad for your website?
This is where things become much clearer.
CAN KEYWORD STUFFING REALLY KILL YOUR SEO?
In a nutshell? Absolutely. But it isn’t all doom and gloom.
Since Google has become much more well-versed in black hat SEO practices, it has also gotten better at recognizing the various types of SEO hacks and addressing them accordingly.
Many business owners are terrified of having their website penalized by Google (and rightfully so), but the likelihood of this happening may not be as high as you think. Typically, websites that are severely penalized are also involved in other black-hat SEO techniques (like paying for thousands of unnatural backlinks, for example).
If your website is riddled with SEO hacks that go against Google’s policies, then yes, you may receive an email from Google similar to the one below:
Upon receiving notice from Google, your site can be de-indexed, resulting in lost traffic and revenue for your business.
But if you innocently over-saturate a single blog post with keywords, or you end up with one or two malicious links on your site, it’s unlikely you will be penalized immediately.
With that being said, your rankings can still be impacted, even if you aren’t formally reprimanded by Google.
In fact, according to one study, Google issued a hard suspension to 20 percent of businesses (with a Google My Business page) that used keyword stuffing, and issued a soft suspension to another 20 percent.
Needless to say, it’s not ideal for any business to be on the receiving end of a Google suspension.
HOW TO CREATE A PERFECTLY OPTIMIZED PAGE WITHOUT KEYWORD STUFFING
Now that we have established that the old school SEO model of cramming your keywords into your copy as many times as you can doesn’t work anymore, it’s time to focus on what does work.
So here are some tips for writing content that Google will favor instead of forbid:
THINK ABOUT A TOPIC, NOT ABOUT A KEYWORD
Let’s take this article as an example.
Back in the old days, an SEO specialist would have looked at how many searches per month are generated for keywords related to “keyword stuffing”, and would have chosen one keyword per article.
As a result, they would have ended up with 4-5 different articles related to keyword stuffing.
But today's SEO specialists know that Google pays more attention to topics than it does individual keywords. This is why a single page often ranks for several different keywords.
For this reason, when writing this article, I chose “keyword stuffing” as my primary keyword, but still included other closely related terms like keyword density.
When developing your own content, it’s always advised that business owners conduct keyword research to see what other terms and phrases are commonly searched by users when they look for information that relates to your content topic.
I recommend reading this blog on how to conduct keyword research from Moz to learn more about improving your content.
FORGET ABOUT KEYWORD DENSITY. USE SYNONYMS AND FOCUS ON USER INTENT.
If you Google “keyword density” you’ll find endless forum threads that debate how many times you should include your primary keyword.
A solid, irrefutable answer likely doesn't exist. In the past, people discovered by trial and error that their keyword density should be below a certain number. And even then, the number varied from tool to tool.
Even nowadays, there is no “golden number”. But it is recommended that instead of trying to repeat your keyword over and over again, writers should focus on the searcher’s intent and include synonyms of their main keyword.
Why?
Because having a variety of related words also means that your site is more likely to have something of real value rather than meaningless content written for the sole purpose of tricking search engines.
And since Google wants to keep its users by providing the best end-user experience possible, they tend to reward sites that provide these types of experiences.
How can you figure out your users are having a good experience on your site?
To start, you can begin monitoring your bounce rate. The image below discusses why this is so important:
If a searcher lands on your website and doesn’t find what he was looking for, he’ll leave right away. And this signals to Google that your page could be improved.
On the other hand, if your time on page is high, it means that your content is valuable. And Google will reward you by ranking you higher.
PLACE YOUR MAIN KEYWORD IN IMPORTANT HTML ELEMENTS
Google doesn’t read a page the way we do. Instead, it looks at certain elements on the page to figure out what that article/page must be about.
This is why you’ll have to include your main keyword in:
title tag
meta description
first 100 words
conclusion
at least one subheading
image description (ALT attribute)
Of course, don’t forget to also include some synonyms or closely-related terms throughout all these elements.
DO A QUICK KEYWORD DENSITY CHECK WITH AN ON-PAGE SEO TOOL
If you are just starting out and you want to make sure you didn’t go overboard with your keywords, you can use an On-Page SEO tool like Yoast for example.
This will tell you if you used your keyword too many times. And it will also help you with the overall on-page SEO optimization.
But keep in mind that most of these tools don’t take into account synonyms. And don’t forget, there isn’t a golden number for keyword density.
USE LONG-TAIL KEYWORD VARIATIONS
Think of long-tail keywords as to a small set of laser-targeted, specific keyword terms and phrases that can bring both some extra traffic and customers to your business.
For example if your main keyword you want to rank for is: “waterproof digital cameras”, some good examples of long-tail keywords that you can optimize your content for are:
best waterproof digital camera
waterproof digital camera reviews
disposable waterproof digital camera
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO NEXT TIME YOU WRITE ONLINE CONTENT:
Writing is hard. Keeping keywords in mind can be even harder.
I recommend bookmarking this simple SEO checklist and following it closely each time you post content online.
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