If you’re involved in the complex world of digital marketing you’ll know that there are many types of keywords, but did you know that stuffing your website or blog with repetitive keywords can damage your search engine results page ranking? Search engine optimisation (SEO) means optimising the use of certain relevant keywords.
When is the use of keywords too much and considered unethical practice in digital marketing? Google has parameters in place to check for keyword stuffing on websites and blogs. Keyword stuffing, also known as over-optimising, can actually have the opposite effect that was intended from your SEO efforts.
So, at what point will the use of your keywords be considered unethical by the search engines?
Well, keyword stuffing is definitely not a good strategy for your online content, whether it’s your website or regular blogs. In fact, the opposite is more effective. Sparingly using your keywords will result in them standing out to your reader and making more of an impact.
To avoid the risk of falling into the category of creating a keyword stuffed blog or website, it’s advisable to complete a digital market course which will enable you to effectively incorporate keywords and phrases correctly in your site or blog.
Invest in completing an SEO course so you’re up to speed on all aspects of digital marketing including good practice use of keywords in your content.
The dangers of keyword stuffing
In order for your business to succeed online it’s important that you understand the dangers of keyword stuffing and how vital it is to avoid falling into this trap. Modern search engine bots are well programmed and there’s no way of getting around your site or blog being penalised if they spot keyword stuffing.
But how do you know when your keywords or phrases are being overused?
A lot of planning, research and hard work goes into creating a great website or blog, so you’ll want to avoid the dangers of keyword stuffing. Many websites are actually penalised by the search engines for keyword stuffing. It’s also important to know that receiving a penalty can set your SEO back and could even result in a loss of revenue.
Here are just a few disadvantages of keyword stuffing:
- Make use of your keywords in your opening paragraph as well as titles
- Makes for a bad user experience
- Be crafty when it comes to creative copy and wording
- Keyword stuffing can damage your brand reputation
- Your conversion rate decreases as people will end up leaving your site or blog when they realise it has been keyword stuffed
- Bounce rate increases as visitors don’t find what they’re looking for
- Search engine penalties
Tips on how to avoid keyword stuffing
The days of digital marketers heavily using keyword stuffing techniques are over and are definitely no longer beneficial to your SEO rating.
Now that you understand the downfalls of keyword stuffing, you’ll no doubt want to avoid it at all costs. The good news is that most search engines, especially Google, handles synonyms well, so you can change things up by using other words with the same meaning in your content. Remember to spread your words out and use alternatives.
Always opt to use direct language in all your content. Be concise and get the important points quickly without repetition. Because Google uses algorithms to determine the number of times keywords appear in content, it’s very effective to measure your keyword density and there are a number of online tools that help you do this.
Read your content through multiple times before uploading it online. All content has to add value and provide relevant information. Are you doing this? Make sure to skilfully incorporate your keywords and you’ll find the perfect balance of just enough keywords to make sure your site appears in the search engine result pages.
Don’t forget to make use of synonyms
When writing your website copy it’s a good idea to consistently make use of synonyms. By using a relevant list of synonyms you’ll be able to broaden your target keywords. Also, keep an eye open for keyword density and avoid overusing a specific keyword.
Leave a Reply