I love stuffing. My Thanksgiving turkey will be packed with it this weekend. But keyword stuffing – also known as keyword spamming – makes you a turkey in the eyes of Google and other search engines. In other words, realize the danger of keyword stuffing.
Any overzealous SEO Copywriter or website owner can easily make this mistake. Commonly, we think we’re doing ourselves a huge favour by stuffing our pages with as many keywords as possible. Unfortunately, doing so often hurts more than it helps. Here are three key reasons why keyword stuffing can hurt your bottom line.
Keyword Stuffing Kills Your Readability
Last week, we discussed the “aural test” and how readability is crucial to your site’s success. A page overloaded with keywords has no shot of passing the aural test! Overstuffed copy is nonsensical, overly dense, totally unnatural and highly unappealing to the eye.
Content overstuffed with keywords turns off readers, confuses them, and sends them running. In theory, the keywords may help you in search engine results and increase your traffic, but that traffic will rarely convert. Too many keywords mean lower conversion rates and higher bounce rates. Keyword-saturated content may look overly robotic and less human, making it harder for potential customers to trust you. Looking “spammy” kills your readability.
Google Isn’t Stupid
The funny thing about keyword stuffing is that it may not even increase your traffic in the modern search-engine landscape. Search engines like Google care more and more about quality content, including relevant, authoritative and engaging content. Nothing is engaging about nonsensical copy loaded with keywords. Coming across like a robot will hurt you in the rankings, not help you.
Time is Money – and Keyword Stuffing Takes Time.
Bloating your site with keywords means spending far more time and capital on SEO. Since the excess keyword research and work won’t even help your site in the long run, committing oodles of time and resources to keyword stuffing may make you lose money.
Be Aware of The Danger of Keyword Stuffing
In a nutshell, don’t sacrifice readability for possible search engine rankings. That said, being too conservative, such as using too few keywords, does you no favours. So, what’s an SEO to do? A good rule of thumb to follow: try for no more than one keyword phrase for every 100 words of web content. Use synonyms, as well as singular and plural instances of your keywords. Focus on sounding ‘natural.’ Doing so will keep your keyword healthy and relevant while preventing you from alienating your audience. But be aware of the danger of keyword stuffing your content to the point of harming it.
Your business, service or product ranking in Google’s search results is critical to your success. Toronto-based content and website copywriting expert Ray Litvak understands the art and science of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and using the right words in the right way to increase your rankings. Discover how greater exposure on Google can drive more traffic, increase leads and grow your business. Many of Ray’s clients rank on Google’s first results page and have grown their business. You can do it too – and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Call Ray locally at (647) 707-2672 or email him for a free assessment of your needs today. You’ll be glad you did!
