Tue 28 Jul 2009
What Is Keyword Stuffing?
Blurb by Shaun Anderson (Hobo)Keyword stuffing is simply the process of repeating the same keyword or keyphrases over and over in a page. Keyword stuffing is bad. Keyword stuffing is a signpost of a very low quality spam site. Keyword stuffing is something Google clearly recommends you avoid:
Keyword stuffing” refers to the practice of loading a webpage with keywords in an attempt to manipulate a site’s ranking in Google’s search results.
Keyword stuffing makes your text often unreadable. Keyword stuffing often (really often) gets a page booted out of Google but it depends on the intent and the trust and authority of a site – and I’d think it would be diferent rules for different verticals (perhaps). Keyword stuffing is sloppy seo. Keyword stuffing is a bastian of useless seo companies.
Keyword stuffing might get a page to rank for a while, but will it convert any customers to leads and sales? Keyword stuffing is obviously not a tactic you want to employ in search of long term rankings. Keyword stuffing makes you look dyslexic (no problem for me) or stupid (!).
Keyword stuffing can be a bit of an art though. There’s clearly a tipping point with keyword stuffing tactics, very difficult to identify. Just because someone else is keyword stuffing do not automatically think you will get a way with it – keyword stuffing page penalties really does depend on the site you do it on but penalties are common.
I wonder if this post can rank for keyword stuffing or if i have overdone it with my keyword stufing….. it was really just a bit of keyword stuffing fun before I turn in….perhaps I’ve overdone my keyword density :p
Don’t keyword stuff – there’s better ways of ranking in Google without resorting to keyword stuffing…. but can you see the irony if this page picks up links and ranks for keyword stuffing?
Did you know when you link to a Hobo SEO post we have search engine friendly links back to your site if approved? Our comments are also search engine friendly you know (once you've commented on a few posts)! Do you need any more encouragement to get involved in the conversation ;)
Google has gone a long way to reduce keyword stuffing – well, that’s what I read elsewhere. Still there are so many websites which has keyword stuffing in title tags and meta description.
Damn you’re posting a lot today. Putting me to shame with your posting rate!
Its been a long time since I keyword stuffed, or even since I measured keyword density. I just try and write as naturally as I can, and then once I’ve written the content I scan over it and make sure I’ve not used the same phrase(s) so many times that it reads poorly to a human. I would not worry at all about how Google sees the content. I think at this point they are more than intelligent enough to see a site that contains “shoes” once, but also includes “feet, slippers, nike, socks, running” etc is about your topic – there is only a risk from keyword stuffing with no potential upside, imo.
yeah I set up the blog to autopost on Sunday
I’ve got 200 drafts I need to get out lol – OCD eh?
I do try and write naturally but I found it interesting to note on a Google presentation about SEO what it said about your content:
Do you have a specific number of times you want to use a keyword in your head when you write something?
I would think if someone deliberately used a keyword 5 times in a post, they just cost themselves traffic because they would have got longtail traffic for 4 similar words if they’d used them – and made it read better.
200 posts? I’ve about 3 half written, and that’s it lol.
No. And depends on the relative authority of the site I am working on. And I consider the industry, or vertical. I’ll also consider what the competition is up to, to be honest.
I know that the page is got to be about that keyword term and I think about that a lot. It’s got to be repeated on sites with no authority. It’s got to be in the title unless you have a lot of incoming links.
Yeah I write so much stuff I don’t get round to posting much of it!
For example if your keyword was “ultimate” and you repeated it 20 times on your page would that be extreme keyword stuffing or minor because i approx use that amount.
What would be really bad keyword stuffing? How many words on a page?
Thanks again for this wonderful post.
PSHow do you get the auto post feature.
I autopost (or schedule) via my Wordpress admin panel.
To stay on the safe side i would just stick to natural text and sprinkle your keyword in there where it still reads as natural. Don’t bother trying to identify the magic number…. it’s probably a floating point.