What is Considered Over-Optimization?
-
Apart from keyword stuffing, what is considered by Google as over-optimization?
For instance, if I link from a subdomain to a page on my main domain with a keyword-rich anchor text, does it qualify as over-optimization?
-
Hi,I would suggest not to forget the Google Webmaster Guidelines, as they are updated frequently:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=enAnd youtube Google Webmasters help channel, for video guidelines, this will keep you updated. Recently there was a question to Matt, about linking multiple domains. As you can guess the answer was something like, if it's really worth to link it from a user point of view do it, anything else might be considered as spam.
Here are some videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0-jw_PfwtY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzaimchdNpMTo my opinion, from now on, anything that links or repeats too much, will be over optimization. I believe the task for google is to get people to act exactly the same online, as they would do offline. So to answer you question about linking, I would say, if you believe this link would be clickable and would help your user to find the content - it should be ok.
-
Hi Stephane,
As mentioned previously, there are a number of factors which can be considered by Google as over-optimization. Most commonly, these can include bad inbound links, cloaking and hidden text, and high keyword density. This can also include excessive interlinking, as evidenced by the article here, so you may want to be careful with how links are built between your domain and sub-domain. However, as long as the links are relevant and with unique content used sparingly, Google will generally not consider this over optimization.
-
all types of keyword stuffing, backlinks with too many exact anchor text, too many backlinks. This the most common I know..
-
Over-optimizing can be a variety of things. Majority of the time if you are doing something for SEO more than for the reader you might be borderline over-optimizing.
Some things Google will easily notice is your domain anchor text link profile, exact match anchor text is no longer as ideal as it would've been a few years back. Now it is more important to make sure your anchor text profile is wide spread and using more generic terms like "click here" or domain match anchor text.
Other similar things could be using too many h1,h2, etc tags and using those tags as exact match rather than something more descriptive of what is being offered in the body of the content. Also using bold and italics when it is not necessary could be easily noticed.
SEO has started to be more about quality and usability and with more updates, they will start weeding out those that are not as user friendly. So just think user friendly optimizing. I work a internet company and we get mentions on Yahoo, CNBC and other highly authoritative sites and we NEVER have our PR guy ask for anchor text links. Everything is done fluidly and at the end that is where SEO is headed towards.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Is it a good idea to optimize for keywords that have no search volume if they're ranked?
Hello Moz Community, I have some questions I hope some of you can help with. We’re doing SEO work for a client that provides outsourced IT and managed IT services in Phoenix, AZ and cities in the Phoenix metro area (i.e. Glendale, Tempe, Scottsdale, etc.) They’re currently ranked for or targeting the following keywords: • consulting phoenix az (1)
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | marnipatterson
• outsourced it phoenix (2)
• phoenix it support (3)
• it services Scottsdale (5)
• it consulting firm phoenix (targeting)
• it solutions phoenix (targeting) We have recommended the following keywords based on monthly search totals, competitive level and difficulty ratings in Moz. • IT consulting phoenix
• it consultant company
• outsourced it
• it support services
• it consulting services
• outsourcing it
• outsourced tech support Questions
1. While I know it’s a good idea to optimize for keywords that you're currently ranked for, there’s no search volume for any of these. So, I recommended non-geo versions since Google provides search results based on the user’s location. Will this preserve the company's current rankings?
2. If not optimizing for their current keywords will hurt their rankings, will using the current keywords as secondary keywords suffice? If so, do we need to include them in the content for keyword density?
3. Since search engine algorithms now focus so heavily on user intent, I assume we’re covered for all variations of a keyword (i.e. outsource it, outsourced it, outsourcing it, etc.) Is this correct?
4. They want to rank for “cloud services” and “cloud solutions.” Both are very competitive with high difficulty rankings. So, I recommended “cloud migration” and “cloud strategy” as alternatives since these are the main services they provide. Will including “cloud services” and “cloud solutions” as secondary keywords help them increase their rankings for both? If you’ve dealt with a similar situation, I'd appreciate your insight and advice. Thanks!0 -
What is optimal sitemap for large website
My website is having more than 3500 posts. Please let me know what sitemap plugin I need to use for the website and what is the best practice for it?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Michael.Leonard0 -
Multi Store On Page Optimization
We have an online multistore which is running in three different countries. For Example: yourdomain.com yourdomain.com/us-en/ yourdomain.com/wo-en yourdomain.com/ch-fr/ Should I create different meta tags for different stores or should I just use Hreflang Tag? Should we create meta tags for individual store?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Envisionecommerce0 -
Tips for optimizing website for one long term keyword
Hello, I have quite specific long term keyword (4 part keyword) for which I would like to rank as high as possible and other keywords would come automatically, I know there's lot to it how to do it properly, but is there any good tips you could help me out with? I have 4-5 different pages with the keyword related product, would it be smart to optimize them all for the one keyword or optimize just one of those pages and leave others with other information, this I believe would be important subject to decide? I know I could add the exact long term keyword since it's related to content to titles, h1 headers, alt tags , file names and url, but would it be smart to use the optimization for that exact long term keyword on all those pages or just one? This is very important subject for my business and any advice will be most highly valued. Many thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bidilover0 -
Is a .tv domain good for video optimization?
Does anybody know of any information or resources that point out .tv domains are helpful for video optimization? Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RosemaryB0 -
Is it Possible to Optimize Another Company Name/Product for Organic Results?
We have a potential new client seeking to rank organically for a company name and brand product who have left the market (still in business as they are a massive medical company, but just moved away from selling this one specific product) and my new client has since picked up their slack and slowly a couple others have entered the market over the past 5 years with different products. My client's product is a direct replacement/alternative to the other product, actually, it's the same, just had to be renamed/rebranded. They are wondering how to get their website ranked for that company and branded product name to show in Google SERPs organically without being slapped with a cease and desist order. We know they can do it for PPC, but how for organic results since we need the content within the site pages or tags. Any suggestions or real life experiences would be greatly appreciated! I look forward to reading your feedback. Patrick
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | WhiteboardCreations0 -
How to structure your site correctly for optimal juice flow?
Hello fellow mozzers. I have a question regarding structuring a site for optimal link juice flow. If you have an existing website that has for instance a contact page, we know its pointless for that page to have any juice at all. In a hypothetical scenario would it be ok to no index, no follow that page? What happens to existing pagerank on such a page? for instance if you have a contact page with pr 4 and you no index, no follow it, I understand the pagerank will disappear from that page but will it be distributed to other pages on your site? What would be the correct way of handling this scenario?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | rightmove0 -
What on-page/site optimization techniques can I utilize to improve this site (http://www.paradisus.com/)?
I use a Search Engine Spider Simulator to analyze the homepage and I think my client is using black hat tactics such as cloaking. Am I right? Any recommendations on to improve the top navigation under Resorts pull down. Each of the 6 resorts listed are all part of the Paradisus brand, but each resort has their own sub domain.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Melia0