If you are familiar with the phrase “too much of a good thing is a bad thing”, welcome to Keyword Stuffing.  While most SEO personnel and copywriters abide by the regulations set forth by search engines, some rogue writers attempt to deceive the system. They artificially enhance their page rankings by using an unnatural amount of keywords. Your organic page ranking is a combination of factors; a major one being your keyword ratio. When a user types a phrase in a search, search engines scan your page for the term entered. The more times this phrase or keyword appears on your web page, the higher the search engine will rank you.

Sounds easy enough, right?

But some dishonest copywriters attempt to mislead the search engines by “stuffing” keywords into their copy to achieve better page ranking. Although this may seem like the perfect crime, search engines have algorithms in place to detect keyword stuffing. And depending on the severity of the offense, penalties can range from an official warning to immediately alter your copy to permanently banning the page(s) from their search results.

There are Three Main Types of Keyword Stuffing

1.)    Cramming

It’s easy to tell when a copywriter has finished his article and suddenly realized he forgot all of his keywords. The amateur way to salvage the situation is to cram 2-3 keywords in the last paragraph to make up for it. What it ends up making is a jarbled mess.

2.)    Repetition

Have you ever read an article about website design and why website design is great?  Website design is important. If you need website design you should contact a website design company about website design. Do you have a headache yet?

3.)    Source Code

For years people were getting away with keyword stuffing in their source code and thought it was undetectable. It isn’t in the copy everyone reads so who is going to know? Well, the spiders and bots of the search engines do. And it won’t make them happy. Here are the Negative Effects of Keyword Stuffing

1.)    Text Looks Spammy/Unreadable

The flipside of “tricking” the search engines is the actual visitor to your website is going to be confused and put off by your content. What kind of credibility are you going to establish when the content is unusual and not focused toward the user?

2.)    Decreases User Engagement

Once the user becomes disengaged with one page, or even one paragraph, they will most likely attribute this practice to the remainder of your website and leave. No one wants to feel awkward when they’re reading copy on a website.Chances are your tab will be closed in a matter of seconds.

3.)    Penalties from Search Engines

As I mentioned above search engines don’t like when you try to trick them. Much like a professor who catches a student plagiarizing, you will be punished. And in this market it ranges from loss of page rank to website ban and de-indexing. Or, in simpler terms: the exact opposite of what you were trying to accomplish with keyword stuffing. Do you want to learn more about the dangers of Keyword Stuffing? Visit the Spectrum website or call us today!