SEO Step-By-Step Guide – 185. Effects of Over Optimization

Not many webmasters and SEO professionals agree on the existence of over optimization penalty. Over optimization penalty is the punishment you get for over doing things to manipulate the search engines to get good ranking. Many web masters argue that search engines do not penalize websites for over optimization however what they are concerned about is that you are not using any spammy approach to increase your online visibility. As long as your optimization efforts comply with the search engine guidelines you need not worry. Where as the opponents say that over optimization penalty is real and if you cross the lines, then you are bound to face the music.
Here are some factors that are part of the over optimization debate. The first and the most common factor is keyword stuffing. If you make use of excessive keywords in your web page’s content, then it will trigger the search engine alarms. Your website will be ranked low for that keyword. Many people agree on penalty on keyword stuffing. If you stuff too many keywords in your website, you are bound to make your content look awkward. This will compromise the readability of the text. So it is better to avoid keyword stuffing with or without penalty.
The next factor is modified text or over formatting. We are recommended to make use of various formatting styles to emphasize important keywords by making it bold, centering and italicizing the text or underlining it. If you make all the modifications to your text, then you are likely to get the negative attention of the search engines. So you either choose one or the other modification rather than applying all of them together. If your intention is just to emphasize a certain part of the text, then you will be able to do that with a single modifier. However, not everyone agrees on the existence of penalty for this factor. It is better to be on the safer side rather than getting penalized. So limit your modifiers.
If you have too many links pointing to your website using the same keywords, then this too can get the negative attention of the search engines as they consider it as a clear sign of manipulative efforts. When you are building your links, make sure to use as many variations as possible for your hypertext. This will save you from unnecessary problems.

Over optimization penalty even if it exists will not get your site totally banned unless you do something seriously against the search engine guidelines. It better to be cautious rather be sorry. Take hint from other people’s experience, this will save you from a great deal of anxiety.

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