Over Optimization - What exactly is it?

[kadesmith]

I keep hearing this term "over optimization" and people assuming they have received an over optimization penalty.  I also hear people say, "You need to optimize every page on your site."

So at what point does a site become "over optimized?"  Are there any good reads around here that explain this better?

[kadesmith]

This is what I thought it was, I just wanted to make sure that what I was thinking was correct.

[TakeshiYoung]

Over optimization typically refers to the "Penguin" Google update, which was originally called the over optimization update. In this context, over optimization refers to having too many links with keywords as the anchor text. A natural link profile contains a mix of anchor texts such as your brand name, URL, and words like "click here". If you have too many links with just keywords, you will drop in rankings for that term, or your entire site could be penalized.

Over optimization could also refer to overusing your keyword on your site to the point of keyword stuffing. There are no hard-and-fast rules here, but if it looks spammy to you, it's probably going to look spammy to Google too. Make sure you use your keywords at least a few times in your content, but don't go overboard.