The keyword stuffing refers to the kind of the Black-hat SEO method that implies loading a page with the list of keywords or numbers to manipulate search engine ranking algorithms and improve the site’s rank positions in SERP. Such keywords are presented in groups or lists, often they sound unnatural (or even out of context). In most cases, keyword stuffing leads to a negative user experience and can significantly harm your site’s ranking once it’s noticed by search engine algorithms.
The most common examples of keyword stuffing are:
- using lists or numbers, that doesn’t have any value for users;
- adding the pieces of content (often entire blocks) of the same keyword to improve the page ranking;
- repeating of the same keywords and word phrases in nearly every sentence, thus making a spam text;
- inserting the irrelevant keywords that do not refer to the page’s topic.
To check whether content doesn’t go overboard with certain keywords, marketers usually calculate its keyword density (KD). The formula to calculate it is quite simple:
KD = (Total number of words in copy) / (Number of times keyword appears in that copy)
Instead of keyword stuffing, search engine optimization best practices recommend focusing on the creative, valuable, informative, and user-oriented content that naturally uses the keywords in context.
