Keyword stuffing: Keyword stuffing is the act of stuffing way too many keywords into your SEO keyword copywriting in an attempt to SEO your SEO content.
In other words, when webmasters attempt to improve their search rankings by repeating a keyword or phrase over and over without regard to grammar or syntax, it’s called keyword stuffing. And it most certainly is not the same thing as SEO copywriting.
Why stuff keywords?
Some people claim that to properly search engine optimize a website you must maintain a certain “ideal” keyword density (the percentage of times a keyword appears on a webpage compared to the total word count). Following these guidelines webmasters tend to write content that sounds stilted and spammy.
But the fact of the matter is that search engines don’t even use keyword density as a factor in determining search rankings. So you get little more than bad writing in return for your keyword stuffing.
SEO copywriters don’t stuff keywords
As an SEO copywriter I use keywords. It’s part of responsible search engine optimization. But as a copywriter I am foremost concerned with creating content that appeals to consumers. My number one goal is to persuade your customers to purchase your products from you. And regardless of how it performs in search, poorly written keyword stuffed web copy fails to accomplish this goal.
The right way to use keywords
Proper SEO copywriting takes a Goldilocks approach: not too much, not too little, but just enough keyword repetition to make sense. A few tips:
- Choose your topics carefully. The more closely related your topic is to your keywords, the more frequently it makes sense to repeat them.
- Make use of subheadings. Not only are subheadings boldface (which is good for SEO in and of itself) they can better accommodate clumsy phrasing (particularly useful for those geography-based keywords).
- Use variants and synonyms. Search engines have very large vocabularies. They can make connections between related words so don’t be afraid to vary your useage.
And remember, there is much more to SEO than just the keywords in your text. If you write clearly and create useful content that your readers enjoy, they’ll reward you by sharing your content with others, thereby generating the kind of inbound links that will help your search rankings soar.