Keyword stuffing: how much is too much?

1. 76

   Hauntyposted 14 years ago

   I'm writing a hub about branding and just to mention all the technical terms associated with it once, it takes well over 30 instances of the use of the word 'brand'. In fact, I'm almost done and I'll be using the word about 100 times by the end of the hub, which will be about 900 words in length. Is this too much?

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      Rhysjcposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I don't think so. The more the better in my opinion!

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   2. 58

      BestWebHosting911posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      you'll never know for sure until Google give you some Insight I.e delete from their list, cause for some reason density keywords is not the main factor to get the first page instead link link...link.. quality backlink,
      
      just matt cutts always said after build a website what you have to do is getting a backlink from quality site I.e High pagerank as the Indicator, if you doing It efficiently, less than one month, you'll get the first pages, but if one moth your not seen any improvement, that's the sign that your SEO activity are Failed, just try another site , or create new projects, don't worry about Content , cause for some reason Google not interest With your original articles, cause the facts is Hubpages never get the first pages, for competitive keywords, no matter how much original and insightful content that always ever hubapges proud of, cause getting first page in big G listing is not about content original or genuine etc.etc though original content will Increase your Adsense and pagerank
      
      Best Regards  From peoples Third World's Country

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      1. 76

         frogdroppingposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Rot. I have plenty of page one listings, some in the top three. I vouch there are plenty of other hubbers enjoying the same, if not more.

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         relacheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         A variety of my Hubs find your above statement to be untrue.

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   3. 61

      saleheensblogposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      will you use the word brand 100 times in a 900 word hub? Is it possible?

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   4. 59

      Flaura78posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      If you are feeling that your content is stuffed, readers will feel the same. Try replacing the order of the words or use variations. I would say anything over 4-5% is very dangerous, but it depends on how competitive the keyword is, because Google will know you are on the offensive! However if it is not a too popular keyword it should be Ok.
      
      I know for sure Ezine Articles stops you at about 2.5% and that includes variations. I keep it at around 2-3 and am doing OK.

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2. 68

   Diane Insideposted 14 years ago

   I think there is such think as too much, after all if google senses, that there is too much it will deem it subpar content.
   
   However, One every hundred or so words is not too much, it would have to be more than that.
   
   Some people use it in every sentence.
   
   About one time every paragraph. Is sufficient.

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3. 89

   Rebecca E.posted 14 years ago

   I am with diane on this one, if you put too many of the same words in your work, it will not seem well wirtten, but in your case 100/900 isn't so bad, especially sine you said it was a technical sort of hub.

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   1. 76

      Hauntyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I wanted to mention every technical term that's oft-used in brand management circles and it yielded a rather unsatisfactory result. It became a technical sort of hub. I'm going to have to rewrite some of it, not because of the 11%, rather its overall feel. Thank you for your response.

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4. 0

   BenjaminBposted 14 years ago

   Everything I have read says anything over 4% for keyword occurrence is bad when it comes to search engines.So at 11% you may be shooting yourself in the foot as it goes well above that.I've tried to go back and change some of my Hubs that were not getting picked up by Yahoo for that very reason,but some things it is a stretch and takes away from the article to replace with other terms or words.

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      Hauntyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Ben. I guess I have to reword and add to the hub to reduce that 11%.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I never worry about keyword density as several people have told me, if you make the Hub a good length, it's likely to happen naturally.
      
      Sometimes I do worry that I mention a word too often - for instance, if it's a topic where there's no other word for what you're discussing, e.g. there's no other word for "pointe shoes", so when I'm discussing them, the word "pointe" gets used an excessive amount.  I don't know if it hurts but what can you do?

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         markoweposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah, agreed, it's really not worth losing sleep over. Some text will naturally need a word mentioned more often, sometimes you can rank in Google just by mentioning the word twice. I think the Google algorithm is a lot more complex than people think, and sure, backlinks are the most important at the end of the day.
         
         Suppose I wrote a single page with just the word 'fresh fish' repeated over and over again. Would I rank highly in the SERPS for the phrase 'fresh fish'? Probably not, or people would be making pages with 'gold bullion' repeated over and over! But what if in the next week 50 top bloggers found your site and wrote about this crazy site that has nothing but 'fresh fish' repeated over and over, and they link to it. Would you hit the top ten then? Probably...

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5. 76

   frogdroppingposted 14 years ago

   It's worth taking into account the fact that there's a difference between a naturally occurring keyword and one that's inserted just for the sake of it. So far as I'm aware, SE algorithms can recognise the difference, to a point.
   
   Stuffing keywords in for the sake of it is bad advice Haunty.
   
   Aim for between 3 - 5%. Are there any synonyms that can replace 'brand'? That's my choice, when an article is difficult to write without constantly repeating the main keyword or phrase.
   
   Try for the middle ground, that's my advice

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   1. 76

      Hauntyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I didn't mean to stuff keywords in intentionally. I know it's a phrase with negative connotations. But the product of my writing often looks stuffed.
      
      Synonyms to replace brand? Hard to find. Never heard any used. But I'll get it sorted. Thank you.

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6. 69

   Tusitala Tomposted 14 years ago

   Let us hope that one day computers become so good, so sophisticated, that the use of key words is not necessary, and that an article is read simply because it has something of real value to say and is well written.   It would realy be a treat to be able to read more Hubs that are not spoiled by words that are repeated ad neuseum throughout both headings and text simply because the writer realizes that unless they're in there, he or she doesn't stand much chance of having even a few people look at their work.

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7. 0

   BenjaminBposted 14 years ago

   Over and over people who want to fancy themselves as elitist writers consider people who target keywords as writing inferior material.
   
   Every word you write in a Hub is a KEYWORD,every word in this post is a KEYWORD and every word that was in your post was a KEYWORD.
   
   Now you notice there was no other way for me to state that without repeating the use of the word KEYWORD.So you see it was done to make a point.
   
   Even the word "and" is a keyword "and" I can guarantee it is one that is overused by everyone. Go ahead and do a search for it,over 13 billion results!
   
   People who target the KEYWORDS and KEYWORD phrases that have a higher potential earning thus are just smarter than the elitist writing crowd for being able to understand what you folks just can't seem to correlate.
   
   I will spell it out simple for you. Any subject you could ever think of done in any style can be done while incorporating a main KEYWORD or KEYWORD phrase. Don't hate us because we have this basic understanding!

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8. 78

   copywriter31posted 14 years ago

   3-4 researched keywords per page is plenty. Google is now crawling sites for good, helpful descrptive phrases, and a well-written meta tag is better. Keyword stuffing does NOT work anymore; beware of so-called experts who would tell you stuffing is still a good idea... Google penalizes stuffing. Provide easy navigation, copy that is helpful and useful to what your conversion is based on and work no more than 4 keywords in your copy along with a good meta tag and you should do fine in the rankings.

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9. 59

   kephriraposted 14 years ago

   Over 10% seems exessive to me. I don't have any figure that I think is right, but I would definitely lower it from what you've got.

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10. 60

    DIY Backlinksposted 14 years ago

    I wouldn't do more than 3%
    Google will consider it spam if you go much over that. Look up keyword stuffing. You can read some about it here http://hubpages.com/hub/increase-search-engine-rank

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11. 81

    sunforgedposted 14 years ago

    I apologize, but who is Yahoo?

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       BenjaminBposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Lol,I wasn't too concerned just seemed odd to me. I know google is the only search engine that really matters.

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12. 81

    sunforgedposted 14 years ago

    ok, i kid - i do forget about yahoo though, yahoo loves my websites, hates my hubs(usually)
    
    
    As I said, in my experience - no effect, but Im sure its possible to hit some point of ridiculousness that is seen by the algo's.
    
    What I find more interesting is - that, 1. You asked HUbpages for direct help witha single hub and they responded! and 2. Hubpages was able to contact yahoo about a single hub and yahoo responded!
    
    I would love to hear the exact wording - did they use a density percentage? - can anyone get yahoo to review a single page?

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13. 61

    Tarinposted 14 years ago

    Sometimes you have to keyword stuff.  Let's say you were writing an Article about the differences between the Movie Death Note, the Manga and the Book.  There's also an artifact in all three called the Death Note.  And there are gods of death.  And there's a lot of deaths.
    
    You'd have to use the keyword death quite a bit wouldn't you?  Sometimes you need to use a particular keyword a lot and I think search engines would understand that.

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14. 60

    makd1788posted 14 years ago

    * First I want to tell you that never go for keyword which have a lot of competition like "brand."
    * Always try for key-phrases which have low competition.
    
    * And to your question is : The ideal density for Google is between 1.5% to 3%.
    * So if you wrote 900 words post then you should repeat your keywords minimum for at least 14 times and maximum for 27 time.
    * Google will bury your post if you have stuff it many times.

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15. 78

    LindaJMposted 14 years ago

    If your post doesn't read smoothly, and if your readers can tell you intentionally used a word or phrase repeatedly, you will lose credibility with your audience.
    
    Focus instead on giving your readers a pleasant reading experience. Use your keyword in the intro once or twice, and at the end, and in the title and description. If possible, also in each paragraph, once. Don't force it.
    
    If your readers don't get their questions answered nobody will respect what you wrote, so writing a helpful and interesting article is the most important goal.

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