How to Avoid Search Over-Optimization

Search optimization is generally a good thing. When you create something useful—an article, a product page, even a free tool—it helps to ensure people can find it through search.

But can you go too far? Can you over-optimize?

Google says “yes”, in twoways.

Harmful over-optimization is, as Google’s Gary Ilyes puts it, “literally optimizing so much that eventually it starts hurting.” It’s possible to put so much effort into trying to rank that your pages cross into spam territory—and Google can reduce the rank of your content, or choose not to rank itall.

Google today is generally very good at identifying—and ignoring—many types of over-optimization. But there are a couple of tactics that still carry the risk of incurring manual penalties.

1. Keyword stuffing

Keyword stuffing is the process of cramming a page full of keywords, in an attempt to rank higher for those keywords.

You’ll recognize keyword stuffing when you see it: keywords and their synonyms are repeated over and over, in sentences and paragraphs that don’t really makesense.

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It’s good practice to include keywords in relevant places, like titles or meta descriptions: you’re signaling to robots and humans alike that your page is focused on a particular...