When users head to Google or other search engines to ask a question, search for a business, or look stuff up, their search results are found using “keywords.” In basic terms, a keyword is an important word or phrase which Google uses to look for and displays certain pages which prominently feature that word on their site when a user searches for it.
For example, if someone searches for “best pizza in Tucson”, they may be shown pizza restaurants who have keywords like “best pizza in Tucson,” “pizza Tucson,” or even just “pizza” on their website. However, there is more to the equation.
You need to provide thoughtful, useful content that gives users the information they’re looking for while incorporating keywords naturally. It’s not enough to simply list out your target keywords on a given page. In fact, that could actually hurt the optimization and visibility of your site in the long run! That act is oftentimes called keyword stuffing, and here are some ways to optimize your content while not overusing keywords!
What is Keyword Stuffing?
Keyword stuffing is exactly what it sounds like; it’s the practice of overusing – i.e. stuffing – keywords in your website to try to rank higher in search results for those keywords. While this was once an effective tactic for SEO, it’s now going to hurt your business if you do it. From a reading perspective, keyword stuffing creates pretty terrible content, offering readers not very useful information which is tedious to read. And this negative user experience has made search engines like Google and Bing update their algorithms to actively penalize sites that they deem to be keyword stuffing.
Consider the following snippet for an imaginary pizza joint in Tucson trying to rank for those searches for “best pizza in Tucson”:
If you’re looking for the best pizza in Tucson, visit XYZ Pizza for pizza in Tucson that you won’t forget. Our pizza in Tucson is the best around, and you won’t find pizza like ours anywhere else. Visit us to taste the best pizza in Tucson today.
Sure, that has a lot of keywords in just a few sentences, but would you be interested in that restaurant? To many readers, the answer is a resounding no. Content like this reads as inauthentic and confusing!
In contrast, the snippet below still includes the keyword “best pizza in Tucson”, but it does so in a far more organic manner:
At XYZ Pizza, we serve the best pizza in Tucson. It all starts with high-quality ingredients prepared in-house. Our dough and sauce are prepared fresh daily, and we source our cheese and toppings from local vendors for ultimate freshness.
Sounds better, right? Even though the second snippet does not offer the same density of keywords as the first, readers will be far more satisfied and find the content useful. And in the eyes of Google, maximizing user experience is always paramount!
How Can You Rank for Keywords Without Stuffing?
While you should always feature keywords in your content, there’s no magic number for how often a keyword should appear on a page for Google to deem that page as “relevant.” Additionally, there are no hard and fast rules about how many times a keyword can appear on a page before it’s considered keyword stuffing. It’s one of those things that you know when you see it, and Google has gotten equally perceptive.
If you read through your website and think it’s sounding too repetitive or unnatural, you’re probably guilty of keyword stuffing and should consider revamping your website’s copy. On the other hand, if your site features almost no relevant keywords to your products or industry, then you should begin adding them naturally throughout!
To help you strike a balance that satisfies search engine algorithms while focusing on the needs of your readers, we’ve put together three powerful guidelines to use when putting together content:
- Emphasize Being Informative and Helpful – Always write content for people, not search engines. Focus on providing helpful, accurate information, and the right keywords will flow naturally into your content. If you’re a pizza joint and you make the best pies possible, then you’re going to find yourself typing out “best pizza in Tucson” without even thinking about it!
- Use Keywords as Anchor Text, Headings, and Meta Tags – The placement of your keywords on a given page can influence what Google thinks that page is about. Make sure your keyword is featured in a page’s title, as well as the Meta Tags found on a site’s back end. If you’re linking to other pages on your site, be sure that the highlighted text (i.e. where the link is being placed) features a keyword.
- Don’t Force Keywords Where They Don’t Fit – Some keywords are easier to incorporate into content than others, which may leave you with some awkward sounding sentences. If you’re finding that a keyword just isn’t working somewhere in the copy, simply leave it out. You’re better off not featuring a keyword if you can’t get it to gel with the rest of your content.
Anchor Wave Helps Prevent Keyword Stuffing
At Anchor Wave, we’ve been building websites for over two decades, and we’ve seen how the world of search engine optimization has changed. Whether you’re having a site built or having blogs written, we always ensure your Tucson business’ content is fully optimized while never being stuffed with repetitive, needless keywords. Our team of experienced copywriting excel at creating personalized, informative, and optimized content that keeps your website fresh and relevant – while remaining optimized!
If you are a Tucson business who is looking to connect with your community authentically, then Anchor Wave is here to help. Contact us today to discuss your website, and learn how we can refresh it to meet your customers where they are at, while also appealing to search engines!
