Visibility is one of the most vital components of digital marketing. We all know that the best way to ensure that our blogs and websites get ranked on Google is by creating an SEO strategy.
SEO is all about incorporating keywords and phrases into your text so that your web pages rank on SERPs and are easily found by users. Developing a solid SEO strategy is difficult. And it can be rather tempting to fit in as many keywords as possible. Because the more keywords you add, the better your chances of earning a good search ranking? Unfortunately SEO doesn’t work that way and you can get penalized by search engines for “keyword stuffing.”
Examples of keyword stuffing, which is visible, include:
- Needlessly repeating words or phrases,
- Inserting words which are out of context,
- Including blocks of the same keyword, and
- Making use of keywords which are not relevant to the topic of the page.
An example of keyword stuffing would be a page which is attempting to rank for the phrase “best laptop bag” and makes use of the following copy:
“If you’re searching for the best laptop bag, look no further than us. Our brand provides you with the best laptop bag that you could desire for business or pleasure. With padding in our liners, as well as a special pocket for your charger, this is the best laptop bag for travel or, alternatively, school.”
In this example, the copy goes over the top with the use of the keyword ‘best laptop bag’. The term is used a couple of times, in a brief amount of text. Thus, this violates the suggested number of times to match SEO best practices for keyword density.
What Exactly Is Keyword Stuffing?
We already know that keywords refer to search terms people use when carrying out an online search. Search engines use the keywords in your content to connect users with the content that will answer their search query. So when someone searches for a keyword used in your content, your website will appear in their search results.
Keyword stuffing refers to the process of including a vast number of keywords in your content in an attempt to artificially boost the search ranking of a website. When keywords are used this way they often appear unnatural in context of the website’s content.
Why Keyword Stuffing Is A Big Deal
Back in the day keyword stuffing was an easy way to trick search engines into your website had the best content to match a specific search query. They more keywords you added the better you website ranked.
These days search engines are much smarter and the rules of acceptable SEO practices have changed. SEO professionals had to adapt to Google’s Panda and Penguin updates. You can’t just stuff keywords onto a web page and expect to be ranked by a search engine.
Keyword stuffing has been flagged as a black-hat SEO technique which does not follow the rules set out by search engines. And using these tactics will result in your website disappearing from the SERPs entirely.