Updated January 17, 2023
Reading Time: 5 minutesA business website is your 24/7 online storefront for lead conversion. But for some, instead of stuffing their display windows with tantalizing merchandise, many think that keyword stuffing their sites will get the traffic they need. Big mistake. Keyword stuffing is a practice Google frowns upon and is continually fighting against by issuing penalties. If you’re considering this tactic or currently use it on your site, learn why this is a practice your business should avoid.
What is Keyword Stuffing?
In simple words, keyword stuffing is literally “stuffing” your content with keywords in an attempt to rank better in organic search. Also called webspam or spamdexing, it’s also described as having “too many” keyword mentions. But how much is too much? The answer points back to Google’s promise of a good user experience for their users. Content must be made for humans by humans. For example, if we use a word repeatedly in a conversation, it becomes boring and annoying. The same goes for your website’s content. It should be natural, understandable, and valuable to your reader.
Why it’s bad for SEO
Besides getting in the way of user experience, Google confirms that it is a negative ranking factor. If your site has evidence of keyword stuffing, it will be considered trying to manipulate the algorithm. As a result, the page (or the entire website) may receive penalties that push your content to low SERP (Search Engine Results Page) positions in organic search. In cases of extreme abuse of stuffing, pages could be removed from the index, making those pages ineligible for search.
Keyword stuffing might help for short-term visibility on SERPs. More often, these website pages are quickly targeted by Google and other search engines. After a few months, it’s typical that those keyword-stuffed pages have lost momentum and are ranked poorly (if at all).
Examples of Keyword Stuffing
To put things in perspective, let’s look at some examples of keyword stuffing.
In this example, the word “AI content” phrase is repeated 3 times in only three sentences. AI is also mentioned thrice, and it’s only been a few sentences. It may look silly, but there are hundreds of websites out there that still use this tactic for the sake of boosting their SEO. If you suspect your website has used stuffing for SEO, it’s time to do a content audit.
Google also provides specific examples that are considered keyword stuffing. These include
- List of phone numbers that don’t add value or are not used. This is common on location pages or contacts on our pages. Ensure the numbers you’re using are updated and necessary (e.g., different phone numbers for multiple branches). Today, it’s common to use only one number where visitors can easily find it (e.g., website header, contact page).
- List of cities and regions. Blocks of text full of locations are a common tactic to get Local SEO traffic. Not only is it an old SEO practice, but there are also better ways to provide local signals to search engines. For example, add a map in the footer where it’s relevant and useful to visitors.
- Unnatural repeated words. Repeating words to the point that it sounds like a broken record is the most commonly used keyword-stuffing strategy. Again, content that’s written for the human experience is best. Google and other search engines can detect when a page is unnaturally stuffed.
Website owners that are found to violate these are subject to Google’s manual action, meaning you can get deranked on search or not appear at all. This is why many businesses are more careful about their SEO. To know more about other harmful practices, check out Google’s spam policy for web searches.
Tips on how to avoid stuffing
1. Keep it relevant
Your visitors appreciate content that is focused and drills down to what they initially searched for. The bulk of the content you serve up should be relevant, or you’ll lose them at hello. You can cover a range of sub-topics under a specific topic without repeating your keywords.
In the blog example above, we wrote about maximizing your Local Profile. We didn’t try to put the word “Google Business Profile” in our headings or every sentence. Yes, you’ll notice some mentions, but only because it adds to the reading experience as we explain this topic.
2. Use variations of your keyword.
Content that is redundant and repetitive is never helpful. Chances are you’ll mention your topic multiple times in the writing process. Don’t be limited by the keyword you’ve chosen. There are synonyms and variants related to any word. If your blog has a well-written title and outline, then chances are your visitor will understand the context of the content.
The excerpt below came from a blog post optimized for “web accessibility.” The term “Accessible Website Compliance” also refers to website accessibility. The paragraph also mentions accessibility requirements, ADA, and abilities; these are just a few of the many terms associated with the world of web accessibility. Our optimization philosophy is to build content around a keyword that matches the visitor’s search intent. In this instance, the content comprehensively explains web accessibility and how to ensure your website is compliant with requirements and regulations.
3. Write For People, Not Bots
Generally, what’s good for people is good for search engine crawlers. If you write content that informs and engages your audience about topics relevant to your business, then the keywords will naturally be included. How you optimize those keywords is another issue.
Imagine visiting a grocery store to buy a Thanksgiving turkey. At the meat counter, you tell the salesperson you want an organic, free-range bird. “Great, I can help you with that.” Then they proceed to take you to the seafood section and tell you about the fresh crab they just got in. Not interested? Ok, they then show you tofurkey offered, a special meat alternative they’ve newly introduced. Frustrated? Well, all these items are food related, and all are located around the meat counter where you’d find your organic, free-range bird…. kinda like keyword stuffing your content about all the cool things you offer and may be of interest to a person visiting your website.
4. Link related content
For related topics, include a mention and hyperlink to another page that focuses on that new subject. If your reader is engaged, then they will click through and spend more time on your site… giving you more opportunities to convince them to further engage or convert. Want an easy-to-follow SEO Writing Template for your business website? Excellent. We created one just for you.
FAQs on Keyword Stuffing
Google is focused on providing a positive user experience. That being said, keywords aren’t the star of the show; content is. Your content can be built around a keyword in addition to all information, topics, and entities that a searcher will find helpful. It should never be used as a means to get Google’s attention.
By default, search engine optimization is not considered spam. The goal is to optimize pages so search engines can quickly tell what it’s about and add it to their index. However, some unethical SEO practices try to manipulate the system, most of which is spam. Strategies like keyword stuffing, low-quality content, comment spam, and link farming are examples of unethical, spammy SEO practices. For easy reference, here’s a link to Google’s policies on spam.
We believe keywords are still useful for understanding the nature of a business and building content around it. For example, using the keyword “digital marketing” helps searchers understand that this term has sub-topics like SEO with social media marketing under it. However, it’s not the most important factor. 2023 Marketing trends show us that online marketing has evolved from merely mentioning a keyword. Factors like content quality, inclusion, and privacy strategies shouldn’t be overlooked.
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