Keyword Stuffing: What every blogger needs to know!

What is keyword stuffing?

Keyword stuffing is the process of over-optimizing a page of content, for a word or phrase, which is then used over and over again, in order to improve the keyword density of the post. The higher the keyword density, the easier it is for search engines to figure out what that post is all about. The post I just read was 337 words long and repeated the same 2-word keyphrase 24 times!

It’s a low-value form of SEO, as these over-optimized posts tend to achieve very poor conversion rates. Yes, people will find them via search engines, but because they are stuffed with the same phrase over and over and over again, they make little sense. So, people tend to leave those pages as quickly as they arrive.

Focus on conversions, not traffic!

Over optimized, keyword-stuffed posts are tempting for bloggers, who are more focused on traffic than focused on conversions; sales, subscribers, emails, sales inquiries, etc.

Whilst it’s nice to see a few thousand people visit your blog each day, if they leave within seconds because the content fails to earn their attention, what’s the point? It’s a little like sending a huge mailshot out to people, which contains a badly written letter that makes no sense to the reader. It would reach lots of people, yet generate no positive response.

Organic optimization

The reality is that a well-written post, which is on topic and focused around a single idea, can easily be picked up by search engines, whilst being of value to your target readership. Such posts are organically optimized. It’s natural. It reads great. It converts!