Any SEO novice knows that to get a good ranking in Google and other search engines, you need to make sure you have keywords or keyphrases on the page so that the robots can match the phrase being searched with the content on your web page.
You have probably also heard that keyword-rich backlinks coming into your website are valuable too… the more the merrier.
But is there such a thing as too many keywords?
The answer to this is “Most definitely!”
What makes Google decide that you are spamming them?
Google can detect keyword-stuffing on your web page. If there are too many keywords or keyword phrases on the page they take this as a signal that you are a spammer. They also judge the quality of the text. Poorly-written content and text which also appears elsewhere online, is seen as a spam signal.
Poorly-written content and keyword-stuffing will, of course, also alienate any real visitors that find their way to your site. It is really important to write the content for real people, making it read as naturally as possible, whilst at the same time ensuring that you include keywords that will signal to the search robots what the main theme of the page is. It is a delicate balance!
Make sure that you use the keywords on your pages strategically. Don’t forget to concentrate on basic elements of a web page such as adding the keywords to the blue title bar, image alt tags and H1/H2 headers and link text as well as in the content.
How can keyword-rich backlinks affect your ranking?
Google also uses the backlink profile of a web page to decide if it has spam content. Google will look at several aspects of your backlinks.
- How many are there? – If you have too many backlinks added all at once, this is a key indicator that you’ve paid for the links rather than earned them because other websites think you are worth linking to. This can lead to a loss of ranking.
- Are they all commercial keywords? A commercial keyword is one with a high search volume or a keyword that has a high financial value, “business-class flights” or “car insurance”, for example. If most of your backlinks are on commercial keywords, these would be considered to be purchased links and could be treated as spam. This is because where other sites voluntarily link to you, the link profile would typically include a whole variety of different, non-commercial keywords in the anchor text and many will simply be links on your own website name or url.
So does link building work with Google?
Yes it definitely does, but automated link building can have negative effects. The most successful link-building programme will take time and effort. You need to look for complimentary sites to your own with good page rank .
For example, if you are a florist, getting links back from all the different companies who offer services for weddings would be very worthwhile. Links from car-hire firms, caterers, wedding dress designers, photographers etc would all be valuable. If you are offering reciprocal links these are the kind of companies that your own customers will find interesting when they plan their day.
When looking for backlinks, remember that the page rank of the site that is linking to you will have an effect on the value of that link. A page with a high page rank is worth far more than ten with a low one.
It is also worth looking for listings on directories. Avoid those that are set up just to sell back links and favour those which are well organised and genuinely used by visitors looking for information.
