In this article, you will find a definition with examples for keyword stuffing in SEO and whether is it good for SEO?
Keyword stuffing is an obsolete, but still practiced, search engine optimization (SEO) tactic. What is keyword stuffing? Keyword stuffing is overloading a page with keywords, such as "medical supplies", in order to manipulate that page's ranking in the search results of Google, Bing, and other search engines.
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What is Keyword Stuffing in SEO? Definition
Keyword stuffing is the practice of saturating (or stuffing) a page with keywords in an attempt to increase the page's ranking in search engine results such as Google and Bing. These keywords can appear in several places, including in the content, in separate lists, etc.
Even though keyword stuffing no longer works (it is now considered a Black Hat SEO tactic), many companies accidentally engage in it when they start doing SEO. While this is an honest mistake, it can cost businesses their ranking in valuable search results.
That's why it's essential to learn what keyword stuffing is and how to avoid keyword stuffing in SEO.
Keyword Stuffing Examples
Below, you can see a keyword stuffing example. The keyword here is "teddy bear".
There are many problems with this paragraph, such as:
Keyword Density: The keyword "teddy bear" was used eight times in a 61-word paragraph. This is an unacceptable rate, which will result in a search engine penalty.
Audience Targeting: The paragraph is not written in a conversational manner to get people to read it. It is intended to fool Google's search engine crawlers. Any visitor who comes across this paragraph will be immediately disgusted by it and leave the site.
Content Purpose: There is no real organization or cohesion in this paragraph. It's just a place to use the keyword "teddy bear".
Writing your content with the audience in mind first, and proofreading your content, can help you spot keyword stuffing.
Why Keywords are Important?
To understand keyword stuffing, you need to think about keywords in general.
Keywords are utilized to help people find pages on your website.
For example, if you sell teddy bears, you don't want visitors to arrive at your page if they want garden hoses or furniture - you want visitors who are interested in teddy bears.
With this in mind, all of your web pages should contain text related to teddy bear keywords. The same goes for all web advertising, such as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and SEO strategies.
There are many ways to determine the right keywords for your business, from using software to working with Internet marketing companies. You can even use information from your top competitors to see what keywords they are using.
However you get them, once you have them, you can begin to insert them into the text of your website. And that's where the topic of keyword stuffing comes in.
Why is Keyword Stuffing Bad?
When people first started using SEO, search engines weren't sophisticated enough to filter out reputable sites from those that were just trying to attract traffic. That's why people started spamming keywords all over their websites. This way they got traffic while fooling the system.
Today, that doesn't work anymore.
Search engines know when someone is spamming keywords on a site, and they actively penalize those sites in the search results. Don't be tempted by keyword stuffing. It will hurt your website, your traffic, and your business.
Now, let's recap why keyword stuffing is bad:
Keyword stuffing is not user-friendly: When you stuff your content with keywords, it feels inhumane. People won't read your content because it's hard to read. If they can't read your content, they won't stay on your website, which will further decrease your rankings.
Keyword stuffing is penalized: Web crawlers will notice that you overuse certain keywords. This is a red flag that results in a penalty. Google's penalties range from demoting a page in the search results to banning your entire site from Google's index. If you conduct a lot of business online, you can lose a lot of customers.
Keyword stuffing is not shareable: Keyword-stuffed content is not shareable, so if you write a blog post or article, no one will want to share it. In a world where social media can play a huge role in getting the word out about your business, creating content that people like is essential to building your brand.
Now that you know why keyword stuffing doesn't work, let's look at how to avoid it.
How to Avoid Keyword Stuffing?
If you want to avoid keyword stuffing, simply write the text of your website like you would write an email.
Be straight to the point, use concise language, and get to the essence quickly. You probably wouldn't use the keyword 20 times on a page, but it's okay - you want people to be able to read it easily.
Google and your site visitors will appreciate the fact that you're writing for human readers, not search engine crawlers. And if you do, your page will appear in search engine results pages (SERPs) much more often than a site that stuffs keywords.
Now, let's summarize how to avoid keyword stuffing:
It can be tempting to force keywords into a page if you are desperate to rank on the first page of search results.
But if you keep the following rules in mind, you'll have more success than if you employ the tactic of black hat SEO.
1. Choose a focus keyword and use it in the main elements
The primary step is to conduct proper keyword research. Every important page on your site should have a focus keyword around which it revolves. But the goal is not to include the keyword or its variations as often as possible.
Instead, your keyword should appear only in the key elements of the page:
- Title tag
- Meta description
- Page slug
- Headline
- Body text (ideally at the beginning)
The point of choosing a focus keyword for each page is to help you determine what the main topic is. Just integrate the keyword naturally in the places where it should be placed, then forget about it.
Related: KWFinder: The Best Keyword Research Tool
2. Forget about keyword density
One of the reasons people still cling to keyword stuffing is the idea of "perfect" keyword density - the percentage of times a keyword or phrase should appear on a page.
Unfortunately, keyword density is another misleading concept. Google Search Central does a great job of explaining why you shouldn't care about keyword density:
" Keyword density is not a valid ranking signal (and probably never was). It's not something you should worry about and many SEO experts agree.
3. Cover the topic in depth
If you focus less on the number of keywords, you'll be able to cover a topic more fully and thoroughly.
In fact, if you cover a topic thoroughly, you will naturally include the keywords you focus on. There is no need to force them. Google cares more about whether your page provides a quality answer to the query and matches the search intent anyway.
So all you have to do is write the best content you can.
4. Write naturally
Never force your main keyword or any other keyword into your page content.
How often can you really use "what is Google Adsense" in a 2,000-word article without sounding like you don't know what you're talking about?
Again, rather than obsessing over your keywords, just write the best content you can. Then, if you can naturally incorporate the keyword into the page (if it's not already there), do so.
Keyword Stuffing Checker Tool
There are some very interesting keyword stuffing checker tools you can use on the Internet to check if your content is keyword stuffing, one of them is Keyword Density Checker from similar content.
Keyword Density Checker from similar content will save you time because you won't have to do it manually. Just paste the text or link of your article into the search bar and it will show you which keywords you have mentioned too often.
If your percentage is too high, don't worry: just replace some of those keywords with synonyms or other similar terms.
