Keyword Stuffing: How It Hurts SEO and Best Practices to Avoid It

This comprehensive guide will help you implement keywords on your pages more effectively and avoid common pitfalls. We’ll review the negative impact of keyword stuffing and alternative ways to optimize your texts, making them attractive to search engines and potential clients.

Search Engine Evolution & Keyword Stuffing

SEO keyword stuffing was truly efficient when the search engines only appeared. It was enough to use a keyword on a page exactly as a user typed it in a search query to significantly increase the chance of ranking higher. It led to numerous webmasters using this technique to create entire paragraphs full of useless information.

Sometimes, they also hid the overused keywords, making the text’s color similar to the page’s background. In this case, crawling bots could still see the hidden keywords and rank those web pages higher. Of course, this chaos couldn’t last forever, so Google decided to take action and update its algorithms.

AI & NLP in SEO

Search engines are constantly becoming more advanced due to AI technologies. Due to them, Google has already developed several algorithms that allow its bots to better recognize and analyze a text on a web page, ensuring there is no keyword stuffing.

For instance, its RankBrain algorithm is based on AI and machine learning, which helps it better analyze users’ responses to the search results. Thus, when you google “a white gaming console with X,” the search engine understands you’re actually looking for “Xbox,” so it can immediately provide you with the pages that include relevant information.

Another noteworthy algorithm is BERT. This deep learning language model is designed to improve the algorithm’s ability to process and understand natural language search queries. BERT reviews the context to the left and right of each word in the sentence, allowing it to get a much deeper understanding of the relationship between its parts. Thanks to it, when you look for “tips to put a nail in a wall,” Google offers you efficient hammering techniques instead of ways to stick your finger into the wall.

All modern Google algorithms use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to deal with black-hat SEO tactics like keyword stuffing. This advanced technique allows them to “read” the content on your pages like humans and offer it to the interested users instead of relying solely on keyword matching.

Algorithm Updates That Penalize Keyword Stuffing

Google has also released a couple of algorithm updates focused on dealing with keyword stuffing. The most notable of them include:

• Panda (2011): This update focused on sites with poor-quality content, removing them from search results. After its release, Google strongly advised webmasters to avoid keyword stuffing.
• Hummingbird (2013): Due to this improvement, users got a chance to use natural language to look for the desired information, and Google’s algorithms could still understand their search intent.
• Helpful Content (2022): This algorithm update was designed to reward sites for producing valuable and unique content written primarily for real-life users instead of search engines.

Impact on Featured Snippets & Voice Search

The creation of high-quality content without keyword stuffing can also help your pages rank higher and catch the attention of prospective clients by getting in the following elements:

• Featured Snippets: These special boxes appear at the top of Google’s search results, providing users with a concise answer to their query.
• Voice Search: Optimization for Natural Language Processing and long-tail keywords will help your content also get into the results of Voice Search, used by nearly 20.5% of people worldwide.
• Zero-Click Searchers: Now, Google provides its users with immediate and comprehensive answers directly on search results, eliminating the necessity to visit a website. If you want the information from your pages to occur in zero-click searches, focus on the analysis of your users’ search intents to craft content that will offer them efficient solutions.

What Is Considered Keyword Stuffing?

The main problem with keystuffing is that you may not even realize you use this technique. For instance, if you don’t proofread your content, there may be too many keywords unnaturally reaping in the sentence. Moreover, even when you opt for multiple variations, the situation is unlikely to become better.

Let’s have a closer look at some of these keyword stuffing examples, starting with the sentence: “If you want to become a pro runner, you need the best running shoes, which you can buy at our store of the best running sneakers and best jogging shoes.” As you can see, this content doesn’t contain any useful information and is crafted only for obvious SEO keyword stuffing.

Here, we have another sentence from our keyword stuffing examples: “If you want to buy the best pizza in NYC, our NYC pizza delivery offers the best pizza in NYC with the best pizza toppings in NYC.” Such content desperately focuses on reaching high positions for the keyword “best pizza in NYC,” ignoring the value it can bring to the potential customer. Using this technique is undoubtedly a direct road to low rankings or even Google’s penalties.

Finally, there are keyword stuffing examples, which demonstrate the mistakes you can make accidentally. One of them is using the text of the background’s color, keyword stuffing in image alt text, or placing excessive keywords in comment tags. Remember that due to the advanced algorithms, Google can spot all these manipulations and punish the webmasters for using them.

The Negative Impact of Keyword Stuffing

Google’s attitude toward keyword stuffing is clearly described in its spam policies. The company highlights that any site violating its rules by opting for over-optimized content and unnatural keyword distribution is likely to start ranking lower. Moreover, there is even a chance its pages won’t appear in the search results at all. Consider that Google has two types of policy-violating practices:

• Manual penalties: They are issued by human reviewers at Google, who check the site flagged by Google’s algorithms or reported by average users for a Spam Policies violation. If a person confirms the website’s content includes overwhelming keyword usage, they issue a penalty. Luckily, Google will inform you through Search Console about the detected problems and provide steps to solve them.
• Algorithmic penalties: These downgrades are automatically applied by the algorithms. However, in this case, you won’t get a detailed report and notification. You’ll need to use Google Analytics and popular platforms to perform a detailed SEO audit and define the problems.

In addition to the lower rankings, there are other significant drawbacks of overusing keywords related to your online business’s reputation.

Poor User Experience

Of course, real-life users will immediately notice you’ve opted for keyword stuffing. Due to this, it’ll be a true challenge to read your blog posts and information on the landing pages, eventually leading to lower conversions, reduced engagement, etc. Considering that there is a significant correlation between a page’s bounce rate and its rankings. Thus, the more users leave your site without spending a lot of time there or taking some actions, the lower your chance of getting to the top of search results.

Brand Credibility Issues

Low-quality, spammy, and untrustworthy content focused only on the implementation of as many keywords as possible will undoubtedly affect your business’s authority. In combination with lower rankings, it may ruin all your efforts, just like it happened to one of SeoProfy’s clients after three Google Core Updates.

Keyword stuffing was among the main reasons for such a dramatic drop in total clicks and impressions. Our team had to focus on keyword over- and under-optimization, implementing the keywords that were not used at all, and, at the same time, reducing the number of overused ones. Thanks to this, our team managed to recover the website’s performance.

Proper Keyword Optimization vs. Keyword Stuffing

The good news is that you can avoid keyword stuffing while still crafting high-quality SEO content. Here, we’ve prepared several rules for you to stick to if you want to implement proper keyword optimization:

• Using synonyms & semantic keywords: The use of Google Natural Language API  and platforms like Ahrefs and Cleascope can help identify synonyms and the words semantically related to your main keyword, which you can also use in your content.
• Embracing natural keyword placement: You can define the ideal frequency of placing the keywords to avoid stuffing by opting for competitor research and the TF-IDF (Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency) analysis.
• Avoiding keyword proximity & density myths: Although many people believe that the perfect keyword density is up to 3%, this information is one of the common SEO myths. The truth is that Google’s algorithms no longer consider keyword density as a ranking factor.

URL Structuring & Keyword Placement

According to Google URL Structure Guidelines, it’s better to avoid keyword stuffing in URL structure. Moreover, you should keep them as simple as possible. Otherwise, you also risk getting warnings or penalties from Google, leading to lower rankings of your pages. Although there is no fixed limit to the number of keywords to use in the URL, you should ensure that all of them are added appropriately.

For example, if you run an online shoe store, opting for “shoes.com/best-running-shoes” instead of “shoes.com/running-shoes-buy-running-shoes-online/” will be a much better idea! At the same time, don’t forget to ensure your URL structure is constructed logically and is completely understandable for your real-life users.

Ideal Placement for Primary Keywords

While working with content on a web page, you should consider four elements where you can weave your target keywords:

• Title tags: Avoid keyword stuffing and use up to 55 characters to ensure higher CTR.
• Meta descriptions: Don’t focus on adding too many keywords in meta descriptions, as this element influences CTR rather than the page’s rankings.
• Headings: Instead of SEO keyword stuffing in the headings, ensure they reinforce the primary keyword naturally.
• Body text:  All the keywords in the text should be naturally woven into the sentences without breaking the logic of the text.

Best Practices to Avoid Keyword Stuffing

Instead of focusing on adding as many exact-match keywords as possible to your pages, focus on providing the users with valuable and unique information. Furthermore, you can use Google’s People Also Ask and Ahrefs’ Questions Explorer to shape your content and make it more relevant to your target audience’s search intents. Plus, here are other tips for you to follow to craft high-quality SEO content while avoiding keyword stuffing.

Implement Topic Clusters & Internal Linking

The creation of interlinked collections of content connected to a similar topic is a great way to boost topical authority while ensuring higher user engagement. It allows you to discover other valuable keywords, reducing over-reliance on a single keyword:

Instead of covering the broad topic, these pages briefly describe the most important things. And if users want to go deeper into a specific topic, they can enter the subpages. For example, if you have the “Best Running Shoes” page, it may be a good idea to add an anchor “How to Choose Running Shoes” there, leading to the guide to help your user select the desired option.

Diversify Content Formats for SEO

You can significantly improve your page’s rankings without keyword stuffing by using various types of content, including images, videos, diagrams, etc. When it comes to alt-text optimization, it’s more effective to describe the image’s content rather than overuse keywords. For example, if you have a picture of a woman running in Nike Pegasus shoes, clarify this information instead of simply writing “best running shoes for women.”

Monitor & Adapt SEO Strategy

Finally, if you want to avoid keyword stuffing in SEO, regularly check Google Search Console to make sure you do everything right. Also, use tools like Surfer SEO, PageOptimizer Pro, and Clearscope for on-page keyword optimization while crafting new content or improving existing ones.

Conclusion & Final Recommendations

Keyword stuffing in SEO is one of the black-hat techniques to avoid at all costs. If you opt for it nowadays, Google’s advanced algorithms will spot this suspicious activity and punish you with penalties. Thus, instead of keyword stuffing, it’s better to focus on writing content that is useful for your target audience. Try to find the balance between the delivery of valuable information and the implementation of efficient SEO practices.

Never forget to audit your existing content regularly to make sure the algorithms haven’t automatically accused you of keyword stuffing. Use platforms like Ahrefs and Surfer SEO to track your pages’ performance and improve them according to the latest search engine optimization trends.

Common Myths & FAQs

Does keyword density still matter?

Although keyword density and distribution are still important to consider when creating well-written content, they aren’t among Google’s ranking factors.

Is it bad to use the same keyword in the title and H1?

No, it won’t be considered keyword stuffing unless it affects the readability.

How many times can I use a keyword before it’s stuffing?

It depends on the context and size of your text. The best way to avoid keyword stuffing is to ensure your content doesn’t contain unnatural repetitions.

Author

Bohdan Radin

Bohdan has been an SEO analyst at SeoProfy for more than two years. He began his career in digital marketing in 2019 and has since gained experience helping scale some of the world’s leading brands in industries such as gambling and SaaS. Bohdan specializes in developing effective strategies tailored to specific regions.