Keyword stuffing involves the repetitive use of keywords on a website, whether the keywords are relevant to your site or not. This is known as a “black hat SEO” practice because it intends to deceive the search engine into ranking highly for a particular term solely due to the number of times the term is used on the site. Keyword stuffing should be avoided because it does not keep the user’s experience as the number one priority.
Keyword stuffing can come in both visible and invisible forms. Visibly, keywords are used repeatedly and unnecessarily without adding value to the content. Sometimes, sites may even use keywords that are not relevant to the topic so that the site can be found through unrelated searches. Keyword stuffing can also be done “invisibly” by “hiding” repeated keywords on a site (using white text on white background, positioning text off the page, etc.). Users cannot see these hidden keywords, but the search engine can; this is also a black hat SEO practice often referred to as “hidden text or links.”
Regardless of the type, keyword stuffing is harmful to the SEO and success of a website. The priority of any company should be its customers, and keyword stuffing is only aimed at ranking highly on the SERP, not delivering a valuable customer experience. If users are reading a site that is clearly “stuffed” with overused keywords, they will likely find the site to be boring and untrustworthy, causing them to leave the site and never come back. Google may even penalize a site by removing it from the SERP if keyword stuffing is detected, as it is recognized as a harmful and deceptive practice.
The key to successful SEO is relevant, interesting content that engages users and builds credibility towards your brand. Keyword stuffing significantly negates this purpose and should be avoided at all costs. Instead, brands should focus on targeting relevant keywords (not irrelevant ones) using rich content, engaging users with that content, and differentiating the content from competitors.
3 Responses
This is an excellent insight into keyword stuffing and definitely proves why it shouldn’t be used. The fact that it can be implemented in two different ways is interesting and I believe this makes it harder to spot. I don’t understand the point of doing this if you’re not going to present trustworthy content.
This is a great post. Some people think that if they do invisible keyword stuffing, they will not be caught, but your post shows why this is not true. The search engine can still see this keyword stuffing and will most likely punish the site in one way or another. Keyword stuffing is a black hat SEO technique because it is deceiving the users of your website in one way or another.
This is a lot of good insight on keyword stuffing! Companies need to be careful because Google can remove a site from the results page. If there are many keywords on a page, it can also hinder your users experience and can create confusion for them.