What is Keyword Stuffing and How to Avoid It?

What is Keyword Stuffing and How to Avoid It?

Keywords play a key role in content creation and Search Engine Optimization. Any business considering a better ranking in SERPs must choose the right keywords and use them in the right density to create quality content. Choosing quality keywords as the primary term on your page increases the chances of better ranking and more web traffic. Many online marketers practice keyword stuffing, knowingly or unknowingly, to get more traffic. Keyword stuffing is considered a black hat technique by search engines. So, what can you do to avoid keyword stuffing in your content? The Computing Australia Group recommends a few white hat SEO strategies below. But first, let’s understand a bit more about the term.

What is Keyword Stuffing?

Keyword stuffing is overusing certain keywords or phrases in a page or content, in hopes of ranking higher for that specific term in search engines. Many people stuff keywords under the misconception that filling a page with keywords will drive more people to the site. The practice can only harm your rankings and can result in Google removing such pages from search engine results completely.

Keyword stuffing can be visible or invisible. Visible stuffing is repeatedly using a specific keyword multiple times in content that is visible to the users. It can be done in many forms, including repeating keywords or phrases several times in a piece of writing, using keywords that are not relevant to the context, inserting blocks of the same keyword and more.

Invisible stuffing is when keywords cannot be seen by users but can be by search engine crawlers. One example is when the text and background is the same colour. Users will not be able to see the text, while searchbots will read and index the webpage. If you thought, genius! – hold on. Such practices are considered manipulative, and Google is getting better at recognising them. Your site can end up with penalties.

How to avoid keyword stuffing?

Our SEO team recommends these best practices to optimize your pages for keywords.

Use keywords appropriately

Create useful, information-rich content that uses keywords naturally and contextually. Choose one target keyword for a particular page and make sure that the primary phrase is relevant to the topic. Use those phrases in appropriate places, where it fits in naturally. The rule of thumb should be – create for users primarily, not for searchbots.

Use long-tail keywords and synonyms

Consider using synonyms of primary keywords and long-tail versions of your primary target phrase. This helps users and search engines understand your page’s context without needing to stuff primary focus terms. Long-tail keyword also increase the chances to get your content featured in the “people also ask” section in Google SERPs.

Write lengthy content

Longer, informative content improves audience engagement and increases content sharing. It also provides more opportunity to add various relevant keywords without the danger of looking like keyphrase spamming.

Avoid focusing on overused keywords

The more competitive a keyword, the more difficult it is to rank. Consider researching other search terms people would use to search your product or service. Consider localizing your content so that viewers searching for a similar service in your area would reach your page.

Use keywords in page elements

You can also add keywords in key page elements like meta description, image alt tag, SEO title, introduction and conclusion paragraphs and subheadings. Ensure that you do not overdo it – once is enough in each element. This increases the density of keywords without stuffing it, and also helps search engines understand your page context better.

Creating quality content with the right keyword density can help you improve your ranking. At The Computing Australia Group, we use and recommend only white-hat strategies for content creation. Contact our SEO experts in Perth or email at sales@computingaustralia.group to know how to implement effective keyword optimisation strategies and improve your online presence.

Jargon Buster

Keyword density – is the percentage or number of times a keyword is used in the copy. It is calculated by dividing the number of keywords in the copy by the number of total words.
Black hat SEO – disapproved SEO techniques aimed at increasing a page’s ranking in a search engine result page (SERP). They are against the search engine’s terms of service and can result in the site being banned from the search engine.