When the updates on Google’s algorithm rolled out, there came a continuous surge of questions on various online communities like affiliate marketing forums, social media, and blogs.
Most are questioning the impact of the Panda and the Penguin on their search engine rankings. These two algorithm updates resulted in the revamp of traditional SEO methods due to the penalties imposed for non-compliance with these revised procedures.
Now, search engine rankings are dependent on high-quality content. To do this, efficient keyword usage is a must, which is proverbial good news for the online audience and bad news for traditional black hat SEOs.
The Panda and the Penguin particularly attack sites that employ keyword stuffing. Before the update, the frequent use of keywords on a website assures how you move up the search engine rankings. And so, keywords are repeatedly used, leading to subsequent misuse and insufficient content.
The Basics of Keyword Stuffing: Penalties and Things to Avoid
If you are guilty of the practice of keyword stuffing, then these are what you have to face:
- A sudden drop in your search engine ranking.
- Another sudden drop on your Page Rank.
- Being banned on Google search engine.
- Complete disappearance on search engine results.
For some who are not deliberately overusing keywords, you still have to review your content for possible violations of keyword usage. Remember that the updates are automatically embedded in Google’s algorithm. And so, most penalties are indisputable and may be irrevocable.
To avoid being penalized, you need to be wary of some situations that may be mistaken as keyword stuffing efforts:
- Embedded Text
It is true that keywords should comprise up to 2% of the total words on your page to avoid stuffing it. But in the event that you cannot incorporate keywords naturally in your content, you may tend to camouflage it by using the same color of the background or embedding it on images (e.g. text boxes with no relevance whatsoever to the content itself).
Concealed keywords may not disrupt your online readers, as it is not viewable to the naked eye. However, search engine crawlers can still identify them, leading to penalties for your website. Aside from what was mentioned above, concealed keywords can also be embedded in coding for Title tags, Meta tags, Alt Tags and more.
- Undistributed Keywords
Related to embedded text, keywords which are rampant in just one paragraph of your content is already considered as stuffing. This too shall not be tolerated.
- Irrelevant Keywords
At times, and perhaps due to insufficient blog topics, you may tend to create totally different content and slip a keyword to it. Search engine crawlers can now identify keywords that are totally irrelevant to the content.
This is just a speck of what you need to know about avoiding penalties for intentional or even unintentional Black Hat SEO schemes. Remember that the best solution to move up in search engine rankings is to prioritize high-quality content. If you fail, Google won’t hesitate in claiming retribution.