SEO Glossary: Keyword Stuffing

 

What is keyword stuffing?

In order to signal a certain topic or relevance to search engines, the use of keywords in content is necessary and useful. However, if webmasters try to use search terms artificially and excessively in the page content, this can lead to keyword stuffing.

 

Search engines now work with sophisticated algorithms so that they quickly recognize keyword stuffing. Possible success in the form of a high ranking does not last long in this case, as a penalty usually follows.

 

In addition to the frequent use of keywords in texts, there is also another form of keyword stuffing. This method is also known as "hidden text". Webmasters try to insert keywords in white color on a white background. Of course, the search terms are not visible to the reader, but for search engine crawlers however, they are.

 

 

 

When does keyword stuffing occur?

It is not possible to calculate exactly when a search engine classifies content as keyword stuffing. One important factor here is how often a word phrase appears. However, it is also important how extensive the text content on a page is.

 

This is also where the KEYWORD DENSITY also plays an important role. It indicates the ratio between a search term and the total number of words on a page. In order to carry out a corresponding evaluation, the WDF/IDF factor. It not only calculates how often a keyword appears in the content. It also shows the relationship between a keyword and other search terms in the content.

 

A keyword should never be used in excess. Naturalness and a clean reading flow are important in order to create added value. However, if a keyword is deliberately overused, this can have negative consequences.

 

 

What significance does keyword stuffing have for SEO?

If search engines such as Google recognize keyword stuffing, a penalty is imposed in the form of a loss of visibility and ranking. As a result, individual or several subpages slide further down in the search results and are no longer found. Organic traffic decreases.

 

In addition, keyword stuffing can lead to texts that are not easy to read. This may result in website visitors abandoning their visit prematurely in order to switch to another page. This in turn has a negative impact on dwell time, which is also an important factor for SEO.

 

What measures against keyword stuffing are useful?

 

If webmasters want to take appropriate measures against keyword stuffing, the following tips will help:

 

• When creating content, it makes sense to use appropriate tools for WDF/WDF, for example. Here, a corresponding evaluation is carried out with correction if necessary.

 

• Keywords should not only be used in texts to send signals to search engines. The use of keywords in headings, meta tags, image descriptions, etc. also helps here.

 

• Keywords should also always be used sensibly and logically. Under no circumstances should they be integrated by force. This can have a negative impact on the reading flow. Quality before quantity.