16 Nov Avoid Over Optimization — It’s Destructive For Your Website
Excessive of anything good is evil. This ultimate life rule is even implemented for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). No doubt, performing a good SEO is vital for better ranking, but performing too much can have colossal damage to your website.
Now, this might create hustle in your mind but keep calm. I will dive deep into the core concept of over-optimization, teaching you the signs and solutions of over-optimization.
What is Over-Optimization?
When you take the Local SEO practice too far in the right direction and take care of each point of improvement so that the process moves towards declination, this is known as over-optimization.
Whenever a site hits over-optimization, then its negativity affects the organic traffic. So you need to take care that SEO is not destroying your website.
What Was The Origin Of Over-Optimization and How Things Came to Practice?
Every practice has a history, and the same concept is applied in the case of over-optimization. So here is the complete history of the website’s over-optimization.
#1 Over-Optimization Was Fruitful In The Past
Search engines had come far away from the old SEO days when keyword stuffing and spamming backlinks were the keys to achieving higher rankings. Those were easy SEO hacks that don’t work anymore.
#2 No Escape with Over-Optimization Anymore
After tons of broad core updates, the SEO strategies have changed, and you can’t escape with over-optimization anymore. Abroad in the year 2012, the broad core updates of Google went strict with over-optimization penalties.
The websites that used the old SEO methods like keyword stuffing, link spamming, copying the content, etc., were deindexed forever. In the recent time of 2021, we have a huge list of SEO techniques that are blacklisted (black hat SEO), and Google is way too smart now.
What Exactly Does it Mean by Over-Optimization? Does the Industry Still Have the Old Definition?
Whenever I ask any SEO glibly to assure me that they are not over-optimizing the content, they have the typical old answers.
They often say, “I am sure that I am not over-optimizing the content because I follow all the white hat SEO lists avoiding the black hat techniques. Neither I am performing keyword stuffing, nor my website is involved in link spamming.”
Unfortunately, this answer is not satisfactory in the recent SEO industry. Google is evolving each day and becoming smarter. There is a constant update in their SEO rules, search results, set of Information, and webspam team.
So you can’t win the new game with old rules. Even your understanding needs a constant update. Hence, I am here with the ultimate guide to keep you away from Over-Optimization.
Early Signs of Over Optimization that Can Save Your Site from Google’s Webspam Penalties
Below are the early signs that will keep your website away from facing the over-optimization burnouts of Google’s webspam.
#1 Linking in the Wrong Way
Linking is one of the most vital parts of SEO, and if you miss this specific portion, your site will face unnecessary issues. This path consists of many different aspects such as;
- Outbound Links
- Sites linking to you
- Sites you are linking to
- Fixing the broken links
- Types of links you are using
You can add a few more, but these were the significant subtopics to consider while linking. You can cover many links like links from other websites, social media links, in-content links, outbound links, and much more.
Often, site owners take to a specific type of linking, which makes their site suspicious for Google. Try to make your website look natural. Especially be aware of the outbound links because linking to a toxic website with low DA will add your website to the same list. Instead, try connecting with healthy websites from your niche with a strong DA and reputation.
#2 Using of Keywords as Internal Link Texts
Using keywords for merging internal links is the most destructive blunder. Out of all the points, this one leads to maximum damage. Let’s understand this with the help of a few examples.
Article Title – Top Rated Adventure Games Of All Time
Internal link text – Here is the list of top-rated games of all time.
(Actual Link: anysite.com/top-rated-games-of-all-time.html)
Another example:
Article Title – Best Android Games Of All Time
Internal link text – Here is the list of best android games of all time
(Actual Link: anysite.com/best-android-games-of-all-time.html)
I know you might be thinking: “This person is talking rubbish. Those Edu links are good for SEO!”
Of course, they are suitable for SEO purposes, but the issue starts when you use them more often. That’s what the word “OVER“ means. If you do it more frequently, then be ready for penalties.
“Maintaining a positive link profile is the most vital SEO component.” Never risk it.
#3 Using Links at Wrong Place of Your Content
When it comes to positioning, always avoid placing external or internal links to the top-level navigation pages. Instead, try putting those links to deep internal pages.
It’s been found that nearly 75% of the websites place links navigating to their top-level pages, and only 25% of the website take time to build links pointing towards the deep internal pages.
Most people think that pointing the readers to their home pages will increase their engagement by taking time to view other articles. Unfortunately, this hurts the deep SEO. A healthy link profile needs to maintain a 1:1 ratio between links pointing to the top navigation and deep pages.
If someone wants to link with you, they are most likely to link with the articles that you have posted, not to your home page. Stats have shown that people get minor links to top navigation pages like home, contact us, services, and about us.
It makes sense, right? Think of yourself. When was the last time you loved a piece of content and tried mentioning it in your post? Did you hop to their homepage for linking or a particular piece of content?
#4 Using of Irrelevant Keywords
The recent smart Google will not rank you on the number of keywords you are using, but your ranking will be affected by the relevancy of keywords you are using.
Back in the old SEO days, most high-ranking sites were using keywords that were not part of their content. They used these tactics to gain traffic from other niches, but obviously, this will decrease the conversion rate leaving you blacklisted.
Here is an example:
Your niche – Tech
Topic – iPhone features you must try.
Keywords used – iPhone features, iPhone new features, features to explore in iPhone, watching sex in iPhone, hot sexy girls features iPhone.
Your niche is tech, and the topic of your article is iPhone features. Now, as you can see, the underlined keywords are irrelevant to the topic. These keywords have been forcefully stuffed inside the content to steal some traffic from the adult industry.
Unfortunately, this is not going to work with smart Google’s algorithms.
So, never try to steal traffic from keywords that are not relevant to your niche or topic. Stay focused on your niche.
#4 Keyword Stuffed URL
URLs play a crucial role in your site traffic, but that does not mean to put all the keywords there spoiling the balance.
The poser brand name is “Gadzeter”. Your website is all about selling, reviewing, and listing super cheap smart gadgets. Now that doesn’t mean you will use your website URL as ” supercheapsmartgadgets.com”
This URL can never be user-friendly or Google-friendly. You are more likely to be blacklisted soon by Google.
In a nutshell, try to use URLs that define is based on your brand instead of focusing on keywords. In the end, content is the king.
#5 Multiple H1 Tags on a Single Page
H1 is known as the main heading of a page, and it’s great for SEO. However, some people overuse H1 multiple times on their single page, which severely negatively impacts the overall SEO.
H1 must be used only once on a page. Imagine it as your thumb. Only once. However, you can make multiple uses of other tags: H2’s, H3’s, and H4’s.
#6 Keyword Dense Footer
The most underrated position on your whole page is the footer. Google has confirmed that the footer receives the least number of crawlers, and even the click on the footer links is extremely low compared to other positions.
Now, does that mean you will stuff all the keywords for your article on the footer so that you can escape the Google algorithm? Nah! Don’t even think of that.
The footer of your page is a closure, not a Keyword keeper. Using links that can work as a navigation for your website will be more beneficial for your business.
Final Vedits
These were the early signs that can save you from penalties and loss of audience. SEO is the key to higher ranking, but if you overdo it, it will cause your decline. So use it wisely.
– Neyox
