If you've been keyword stuffing your website in an attempt to improve your organic rank, I have some bad news for you: it's not going to work. In fact, it could actually hurt your website in the long run. Here's what you need to know about keyword stuffing and why it's best to avoid it.
Google's new algorithm is designed to penalize sites that keyword stuff
Google has recently unveiled a new algorithm designed to identify and penalize sites that are keyword stuffing. This means that websites which overly use the same key phrases and words excessively in order to try and manipulate search engine rankings, rather than creating useful content that serves their audience, will no longer be able to take advantage of SEO tricks to rank higher.
The new algorithm is an important step toward preventing keyword stuffing and protecting the integrity of Google’s search engine results. It ensures an even playing field for all legitimate businesses seeking to establish themselves online – making sure quality companies who have earned their spot have the opportunity to reach customers organically online.
What is keyword stuffing and how can you avoid it?
Keyword stuffing is a search engine optimization practice that involves cramming as many relevant keywords into a web page as possible. The idea behind this method may be to increase the chances of a website’s relevance for certain keywords in an effort to rank higher on SERPs, but it can actually have the opposite effect – causing search engines to believe that the website has content which is not valuable and will therefore drop its ranking.
To avoid keyword stuffing around search engine optimization, use natural language phrasing and focus more on providing detailed content so you don’t feel the need to stuff your site with words. Additionally, keep track of the density of your chosen keywords by running tests over time to make sure you don’t accidentally include too much of them in your content.
Never stuff again
Keyword stuffing is just one of those old hacks to rank organically that actually continually harms organic ranks. I said this years ago and, still, I find companies flooding their content with keywords. It completely ruins the flow of an article, making it clunky and difficult to read. So not only does it harm your rank on Google, it also produces a shorter on-page time, as customers are more likely to click away long before reaching your call to action (CTA). And now, with Google's most recent algorithm update, there is actually a penalty for it.
Personally, I am thrilled to see this update; it is just one more step toward an actually engaging world wide web.
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