Updated: June 9, 2023.
In this quick SEO FAQ, I am sharing with you my thoughts on Google penalizing for keyword stuffing.
Does Google penalize sites for keyword stuffing? Can you have your site banned from Google if you stuff too many keywords? Does keyword stuffing even work?
Watch my video below and read my notes to learn about keyword stuffing and Google’s approach to it.
Does Google penalize for keyword stuffing? [Video]
Here is my video where I explain my thoughts on keyword stuffing and take a look at what the Google documentation says about it.
Key points on keyword stuffing
- Keyword stuffing is the practice of inserting a large number of keywords into a web page’s content, usually in an attempt to manipulate a site’s ranking in search engines.
- This technique involves the deliberate overuse of keywords on a web page. Keyword stuffing can be done for many reasons, but most often it is done to increase the rank of the webpage in search engine results pages (SERPs) and improve its visibility.
- The technique has been criticized as being ineffective since it does not provide any value to users and is considered spamming by search engines. Some search engines penalize sites that use keyword stuffing by downgrading them in rankings or not listing them at all.
- Keyword stuffing is essentially an old SEO trick (from 15 or more years ago) that was used in the past, but it has been rendered useless by Google’s continual changes in its algorithm.
- Google algorithms have evolved over the last years and most of the keyword stuffing penalties are handled algorithmically as opposed to manually (through a manual action). What it means in practice is that Google simply ignores keyword-stuffed pages.
- Google Quality Guidelines list keyword stuffing as one of the techniques violating their guidelines.
- It is important to have the important keywords in the strategic places of your page (like the body, title, H1 and H2 tags, etc.). This will help Google understand what your page is about and that is enough. Stuffing these keywords 100 times on the page will not make Google rank your page higher. It can only hurt your credibility and ability to rank.
- Don’t do keyword stuffing. Instead, create high-quality content that answers your users’ questions. Happy users mean happy search engines.
Check my other articles about keywords & SEO
I have a lot of other interesting articles and videos with frequently asked questions about keywords & SEO. Make sure to check them all.
